Music From Thailand & Laos

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 21, 1997)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Arc Music
• ASIN: B000001IMF
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #239,654 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #1 in Music > World Music > Far East & Asia > Laos
  • #5 in Music > World Music > Far East & Asia > Thailand
  • #48 in Music > Indie Music > World Music > Far East & Asia

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ethnographic Sampler, October 6, 2008

By 

Giordano Bruno (Wherever I am, I am.) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Music from Thailand and Laos (MP3 Download)

Know what you want before you think of ordering this CD. It's a quick tour of festival music from extremely diverse local cultures of Thailand, a kind of Frommer's Guide to Exotic Sounds for Five Minutes a Day. It's not a concert album to sit down and listen to in rapture.

I spent several months traveling around Thailand in the early 1980s. Even with a funky calendar of local festivals, I was hard pressed to hear anything like the music on this CD. What I heard mostly was American country/western, old stuff at that and played on tape decks with failing batteries. Eventually I discovered my problem. I was going to bed too early. None of this music gets played or sung before midnight!

A lot of the choices on this CD are not Thai in a cultural/ethnic sense. There are selections of Hmong, Miao, Karenni, Khmer, etc. And they are all too brief, the longest being about seven minutes. That's misleading. In my experience, the musicians took longer than that just to warm up. The experience of listening to the music unwind from the musicians over hours, lit by fire or lanterns under a night sky, is hypnotic. I think it's supposed to be mind-altering, a meditation on shadows. And if you're really lucky, you'll be on hand for a shadow-puppet performance with the music in context. But you'll have to stay up way past bedtime.

3.0 out of 5 stars Hard to find international Pop Music, February 12, 2010

By 

I. Martin "banana" (OKC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Music From Thailand & Laos (Audio CD)

I purchased this disc for my Thai/Laos mother. She likes to hear music from her country. The availability of what I was seeking is slim to none. The order came quickly which was great! The music is VERY traditional and "boring" for those seeking more modern Thai music.

3.0 out of 5 stars Southest asian sample, February 14, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Music From Thailand & Laos (Audio CD)

Enjoyable evening music.