Thai Elephant Orchestra

David Soldier & Richard Lair (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 10, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Mulatta
• ASIN: B00005B19H
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #235,122 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #4 in Music > World Music > Far East & Asia > Thailand

Track Listings

1. Thung Kwian Sunrise

2. Temple Music

3. Rainforest

4. JoJo

5. Duo For Renats

6. Big Band

7. Swing Swing Swing

8. Percussion Trio

9. Luuk Kob's Diddley Bow Feature

10. Harmonica Music

11. Heavy Logs

12. Now We're Off To Paint

13. Elephant Field Recording

14. Somneuk & Four Elephants

15. Trio For Theremin & Electric Keyboard

16. Ken's Wind Instrument

17. Big Elephant Saddle

18. Somneuk's Renat Solo

19. Chang Chang Chang

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Can elephants make music? By the sounds heard on Thai Elephant Orchestra, a collaboration between humans Dave Soldier and Richard Lair and the Thai Elephant Conservation Center (not to mention the six creatures doing all the work), the answer is a resounding, percussive, and unimaginable "yes." Provided with oversized instruments--including a large harmonica, gong, synthesizers, and numerous drums--six elephants between the ages of 6 and 17 were allowed to create whatever racket they wished. The results are astounding and about as avant-garde as music gets. The elephants' free improvising isn't melodic, but the rhythmic interplay here is complex and the instrumental solos are all remarkable. On "Big Band," a somber gamelan-like opening is followed by a spirited harmonica solo, while "Percussion Trio" features a heartbeat-sounding bass drum backed by a crashing thunder sheet. In sum, the elephants perform unaccompanied on 12 tracks; the remainder of the disc features elephants playing alongside humans as well as a handful of tunes about animals performed by North Thailand locals. All of it is entertaining, but the human-led tracks just can't compete with the inventive elephants and their ragged, slow-paced, and off-kilter music-making. Granted, you probably won't want to hear Phrathida, JoJo, and Luuk Kob pounding away everyday, but the elephants probably feel the same way about Cecil Taylor. --Jason Verlinde

Product Description

Soldier & Lair are co-founders of the Thai Elephant Conservation Center in Lampang, Thailand, and they present the first example of non-human animals creating their own compositions on musical instruments. Starting with the knowledge that elephants enjoy listening to music, they used marimbas, a Theremin, xylophones, gongs, drums & other instruments, and trained the elephants in performance techniques. The compositions are unedited & exactly as the elephants wrote them. The most interesting & strange sound on the album comes from an elephant blowing a harmonica through its trunk.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars what you see is what you get--but it ain't bad! August 6, 2001

By G. Angell

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

Take it for what it is: elephants playing musical instruments. The overall impression could be described as the sounds of windchimes and the odd harmonica strain and drum roll, or a toddler gamelon orchestra. For the sheer novelty of it, this CD is fun to listen to. You can't dance to it, but you can enjoy it on a lazy day, or while working. It's not obtrusive, but it is just curious enough to periodically stop and contemplate this or that toot and jangle. It is hard to completely take the context out of the listening experience, which is not a bad thing, since these are out of work elephants who now have a new profession, and everyone benefits. The elephants can bang on their pipes and toot their harmonicas, their mahouts can feed their families, and the rest of us can listen with interest, awe or a sense of transport to an obscure musical moment.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The best thing I have ever heard April 21, 2001

By A Customer

Format:Audio CD

Don't go by the name. In fact I got this link as a joke, I heard the music samples, liked what I heard and ended up buying the CD. It was definitely one of my most fruitful blind investments.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A novelty album, but a good one... August 21, 2003

By Travis Miller

Format:Audio CD

It sounds about like what you'd expect - a lot of chaotic, metallic banging. Of course, that's not necessarily a bad thing, at least not to the open-minded and/or art-damaged listener.

This is one of those CDs that you listen to a couple of times and then put on the shelf, until you want to amuse a friend. Which is to say that it's basically a novelty album, despite the avant-garde pretenses.

Track 15 ("Trio for Theremin & Electronic Keyboard") cracks me up; I can just imagine one elephant playing the theremin with its trunk while the others bang away on a giant sampler keyboard. I would LOVE to see this live. The animals' naďve enthusiasm really comes through; although the sounds are not structured in any conventionally musical sense, it is clear that they are made with intent, and that is what makes this recording delightful.

I wish I could get my cats to do something like this, but their musical proficiency is limited to walking across the piano keyboard while I'm trying to sleep.

Incidentally, these same elephants paint. And no, they weren't mistreated. By all accounts they thoroughly enjoy their performances.