============================================================== To reach ALL SJD members, please send to sjd@satjadham.net ... Do NOT include any other addresses when sending to the list... Include as LITTLE of the original messages as possible........ Message sent by: LanXang Siengkhene *** Announcement: *** Please register for SatJaDham Fifth Annual conference at the website http://www.satjadham.org/sjd5sd/ ============================================================== Talking about the Badminton Club, they had once a music band from Vientiane played there. It was the country music band (Lao Banna). I don't remember the name but I did remember that the lead singer was the first one who invented the Lao country music, very much along the line of Thai country music (Luk Thoung). Telling the truth, Lao country music was strange to the ears because I was used to only Pheng Lao Samay. I always hummed the songs such as Leua Phieng Phab (only the picture was left), Hak Heng Nun Me Chom Jay (only if that place has you), etc… still, it was quite an invention. Maybe, with time, Lao country music will be as popular as Thai country music is currently enjoying. I remember that, at my house, we had a gramophone, which we played Lao music as well as Elvis Priestly records. Those Elvis Priestly records were mainly from my exiled brother who was a big fan of him. It was funny that my dad who was an admirer of anything French decided to come to America when things changed for worse in Laos while his elder son who was an admirer of anything American settled for France. That's the way fate actually works. At Thakek, they had only one movie theater. Sometimes, when the rain poured so heavily, it had to cancel the show. As expected, the movies were mainly Thai films and American films. Know what? All shown movies were in Thai language. No wonder the Lao people living across the Mekong River were heavily influenced by the Thai that they didn't have to study Thai to be able to read and understand the Thai language. For me, I could read Thai as well as I did with the Lao itself when I was hardly ten. One would say that it was definitively a blessing or an advantage to be able to do so. To me, as I come to realize later, it was both a blessing and a detriment at the same time. It was a blessing in the sense that my mind was widely open with the Thai materials I had access to. At the same token, it was a detriment because whenever I wrote in Lao, I unconsciously used the Thai words. It might sound unharmful but I knew deep down in my heart that it did affect my psyches making me always realize that I was intellectually indebted and inferior to the Thai. At times, I was even excited with the news that Miss Thailand, Aphatsara Hongsakhoun, won Miss Universe in 1967 as did many of the Lao. That was how effective the Thai influence was on us, the Lao. (to be continued) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com _ ***************************************************************** Visit SatJaDham Homepage at: http://www.satjadham.org (or .net) *****************************************************************