Most folks in America assume that the American music landscape is more sophisticated and varied than such places as, say, Nigeria, Egypt, India and Thailand. But this is not necessarily the case. When I was living in Nigeria in the 1970's, I heard--just by walking down the street--many African musical styles including juju, Afrobeat, highlife, apala, traditional Hausa music, Congolese styles etc, reggae, American funk/soul, country music, Indian film music, and more. The fact is many countries around the world are exposed to a wide selection of American and European pop styles, due to the powerful commercial interests that export them, but also various local traditional and pop styles and the music if other parts of the world. So musicians around the world have been influenced by the likes of Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, and Michael Jackson, not to mention Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie and George Benson (ask an African guitarist who he is influenced by and you're likely to get "George Benson" as an answer!). So an artist such as Thomas Mapfumo of Zimbabawe, whose unique "chimerunga" sound was important to the Zimbabwe independence movement, can speak of imitating Elvis as a youth. Musicians outside of Europe and African have routinely incorporated elements of Western pop into their music. The result has often been some strange and wonderful hybrids.
I mention all this because I just received a copy of a CD compilation entitled "Siamese Soul: Thai Pop Spectacular Vol. 2 1960's-1980's", released by the estimable Sublime Frequencies (www.sublimefrequencies.com). I played it with no little skepticism because it has often been the case that musicians in far-flung locales have absorbed a Western pop influence by simply replicating a Western pop style and substituting indigenous lyrics for English. The results are often uninteresting, to me at any rate. Hearing the Iranian singer Gougoosh sing Sly Stone's "I Want To Take You Higher" did nothing in the Seventies for me. But "Siamese Soul" does something else. The opening cut kicks off with a fair approximation of a mid-Sixties R & B groove...but the vocal comes with with a completely Thai melody that somehow meshes quite synergistically with the groove. The result is something fresh. The fifteen cuts on the CD, culled from rare vinyl and cassettes released in Thailand, are vitually all fresh, beguiling, and sometimes hypnotic. It is rare to have such a high standard for a whole compilation. The Thai lyrics, as translated/explained in the liner notes, range from astonishingly familiar ("it doesn't matter if I don't have a girlfriend as long as I have my bong and marijuana") to more idiosyncratically Thai ("quite drinking alcohol and try drinking milk instead/ if you don't like cows milk, try your wife's breast milk. It's fresh and it's free"). Another song is about a woman who loves her 80 year old husband, as well as his son and his nephew! And we thought American was decadent! Nonethless the CD is a delight and something you don't hear every day.
Look for a new musical treat posted that will feature two tracks from "Siamese Soul" shortly.
And check out www.sublimefrequencies.com They have a slew of fascinating stuff from remote corners of the world and the quality is generally quite high!
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