Morlam in Bangkok

[lukylok]

Last night I was taken by a thai friend to a Morlam, in Bangkok.
It was held at Wat Ta Nakam (?), up Rama II, a good 30 minutes drive by taxi from Surawong.
I had read about Morlam on the boards, but really had no idea how fantastic it was.
A huge band of 14, about 50 dancers, -and some very good looking boys- and about 8 singers.
Beautiful and numerous costumes.
My friend told me that in Pattaya the audience is three time as big, but the Wat being small ....
Issan music of course. And if you are tired of watching the show, there is also plenty to see in the assistance !
Beer was flowing freely in cans and whisky in plastic bottles, to avoid glass, under the benevolent look of half a dozen boys in brown, Big Buddah day or not.
Great atmosphere, everyone dancing, shouting, flirting, giving flowers and tips to the performers.
Being the only farang there, I received many smiles, compliments and proposals of all sorts !
Fantastic evening, but after 4 hours I was glad to put my ears to a rest !

For those who have never seen a Morlam, I can only advise to try it once if they have the occasion. I guess in Pattaya they are easy to find, here in Bangkok, I think it's very difficult without a guide.

[cdnmatt]

Just wait until you end up with morlam performances in your living room all the time. You won't like morlam for much longer. :)

[newalaan]

For those who have never seen a Morlam, I can only advise to try it once if they have the occasion Yes lukylok well worth a visit at least once. The whole event is fun, not only the show on stage, in fact the 'show' offstage is always much more entertaining.

Just wait until you end up with morlam performances in your living room all the time. You won't like morlam for much longer. :) Same if you go to a karaoke and let 2 or more boys decide which songs will be sung. One session many years ago at Si-saket karaoke put me off for life! 2 hours of what to me was basically the same song, couldn't tell the start of one from the end of the last. They just piled in a 'stack' of 10 baht coins and the next 2 hours were set. A very valuable lesson gained early on in my Thailand adventures never to be repeated. Good job the company was cute and the whisky flowing that night. For that reason alone i allow only 2 morlam songs in a karaoke session, the songs are unbelievably tedious, same tune, same love/love-scorned 'story', same chords, 2 morlam songs an evening is about as much as i can take. However the live concerts are still fun provided they are spaced out over a year. Attending them is more about the fun with your party and seeing the fun around you than the actual songs. Really don't know how you can stand morlam in the living room day in day out cdnmatt! One of the many Issan-hazzards you grow to 'accept' living there i suppose.

Also when going on a longish day trip with freinds/family in the pick-up around the NorthEast, i always 'forget' the pile of CDs left out for me to take. I suppose my western music choices are as boring to them, fortunately there are enough thai bands/singers in the middle ground we all like on the car stereo.

[colmx]

Yes lukylok well worth a visit at least once. The whole event is fun, not only the show on stage, in fact the 'show' offstage is always much more entertaining..
Agree

I have probably been 20 Morlam concerts... can't say i ever remember the show...
But i always remember the boys and the smiles :3some:

Pattaya Morlam on April 18th is usually one of the most fun nights of the year... especially as its the night before pattaya Celebrates Songkran... so its doesn't take long for the water to start flying!

Don't expect to get home without several good soakings and powderings!
After that head to Dave manClub for the Foam party (presume they will have a few over Soingkran as usual)
Stop off at the beach DJ after Dave....and finally head to Walking street to join the carnival there till dawn...

Sleep till midday and then start it all over again :party

(bet that sounds like a nightmare to a lot of people on here!)

[cdnmatt]

Also when going on a longish day trip with freinds/family in the pick-up around the NorthEast, i always 'forget' the pile of CDs left out for me to take. I suppose my western music choices are as boring to them, fortunately there are enough thai bands/singers in the middle ground we all like on the car stereo.

hehe, I can somewhat relate. When they start blasting the Issan music downstairs, depending on my mood, I'll sometimes start blasting some Led Zeppelin, U2, Tom Petty, or whatever from my office. It's always good for some bewildered looks. :-)

Kim and his friends aren't very fond of Led Zeppelin, I know that now. :)

[joe552]

Not so much a nightmare, Colmx, as just plain exhausting! I can do a night like that once or twice per trip, so I'll leave it to you crazy youngsters.

[colmx]

Kim and his friends aren't very fond of Led Zeppelin, I know that now. :)

Think i would prefer to listen to the Luk Thung songs than Led Zeppelin!

Matt were you brought up in a hippie commune?

[cdnmatt]

Think i would prefer to listen to the Luk Thung songs than Led Zeppelin!

Come on, what's wrong with you? They were one of the greats! Remember an era when music played live sounded the same as on the CD, versus today where everything has to get digitally edited?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9TGj2jrJk8

Or how about this. You can't possibly tell me this isn't worth listening to. At least it has some meaning to it, versus the brilliant lyrics of today of, "baby, baby, baby".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFl0nlHaWa4


Matt were you brought up in a hippie commune?

Ummm, I guess kinda, yeah. :-) When I was like 10, it wasn't uncommon to come home from a friend's house to find 60 people partying in the house, with CCR blasting, the cops in the driveway, and someone laid out on the front yard soaked in blood. I think I learned all about life a little quicker than most of my friends, that's for sure. :)

[pong]

everything has its limits, of course. TOo much/wild etc is over the top.
On gaybutton board I added a little about a mor-lam village in/near Ubon (maybe Amnat Charoen) where you can go and visit and get tours-they house many of such groups.
here in BK its indeed hard to find without the proper source-but most young Isany's will know somewhere.
And-it can be much fun if you know some basic Thai-also good to help you learn more. Its not just all about lost loves-do you know the funny one about the Motosy going crashes? And it had to be a Japanese one, Thai no good!
Bus 76 links Silom and RamII-often in much less as 30 mins.

[martin911]

The first morlam i went to i found fun -- for the cruising and all the horny thai boys lettting off steam !!

A long term friend of mine that lives in Pattaya (10 yrs .and he is a total slut ) said that morlams for him is lke going through old photo albums !!! :laughing3:

[ceejay]

On gaybutton board I added a little about a morlam village in/near Ubon (maybe Amnat Charoen) where you can go and visit and get tours-they house many of such groups.

It's called Ban Pla Khao and it's in the Muang district of Amnat Charoen. There are also (according to the blogs) a lot of other morlam bars spread out along the Yasothon/Amnat Charoen/Khemmarat road. I'm planning on visiting some of them in May when I'll be in the area. I'll post a trip report.