It’s been a while…

It’s been a while since I last posted something about music video.  But then couple nights ago before I went to bed, I turned on TV and saw this new music video by Ice Saranyu called “คนน่าสงสาร”.  And in this MV, the actress was Taya Rogers and she was so beautiful.  She has been growing up a lot since last time that I saw her in television.  No doubt, she saw really cute in this MV.  It’s a must see.
Besides the song (melody and lyric), the singer–”Ice”, the actress–”Taya”, and the story line, they’re the scenery and cinematography that I really enjoyed.   This MV was shot in Japan, which is one of the countries that I really want to visit.  When you put all of these elements together, you will see one of the most beautiful Thai MVs.
	It is a story about a man falling in love with a woman, who tries to forget her past.  She hopes to feel better and be healed from the hurtful love without knowing that the man whom she just met has already been falling for her.  Each day passes, the feeling inside is getting stronger.  But how can he tell her without risking to lose the friendship they just start?  Will he be able to win her heart?  Will she accept his love?
And with no further a due, here is the MV posted on YouTube.
Well, it’s the beginning of the winter season in Thailand (even though there are still some heavy rains), and it’s normal for everyone to think about love and fall in love. For the ones who have not yet found love, well, it may be around the corner.

Music Therapy

There are a lot of good concerts and shows toward the end of the year; and last night I went to one of them.  It’s “Jim Brickman’s Concert: The Moment of Grace”.  At first, I was really debating if I wanted to go to see the show as I had some other plans to spend my money.  But at the end I still went for it.  At the time I bought the ticket, I thought it would not be a full house concert.  However, last night was the opposite and I was glad that I did go to see it.
I never went to any one of Jim Brickman’s concert before despite he had been to Bangkok for several times.  I heard his song for the first time when I was in the States and it was a big hit.  Then I have been followed his music ever since.  I would like to think of his music as a therapeutic music for myself.  And last night made it for certain.
Other factors that made me decide to go to this concert was the guests–Kob Saovanit Navaphant (Vocalist), Tor+ (Pianist), Siriphong and Apichai (Violinist and Cellist from Bangkok Symphony Orchestra), and John Trones (a vocalist on tour with him).  There were such a great musicians and performers.
The concert started with a piano solo session by Tor+, then it’s all handed over to Jim performing all the hits such as Waterfall, Paradise, By Heart, No Words, Picture This, etc.  Alternately, John and Kob Saovanit sang all the sweetest songs like Valentine, Love Of My Live, Never Alone, The Gift, and Destiny.
In this concert, Jim also sang one song called Simple Things, which was my most favorite song of the night.  I guessed because I was touched by the lyric, which incredibly talked about the (simple) truth of life.  The third session was what I called the string session, where those musician from Bangkok Symphony Orchestra took the stage and perform with Jim.  It really a genuine music made from wood and strings.  Those songs from this session were so beautiful.
I guessed what he said in the concert was really true.  He said he only wrote and composed music about love, hope, life, faith, and joy.  I believed that his music reflected his words.  I felt like I was in one of the therapy session where I forgot all of the crazy things in life and stress and I just let the music took me. I believed that those of you who went to his concert last night would probably feel the same way as me.

Piano Related

What’s your way to free and ease your mind?  For me, it’s the piano.  Around this time last year, I bought myself a piano and seriously started playing it again.   It’s my way to relax and working on my brain cells.

It’s been a long time since I have practiced classical piano and my fingers are not working as easy and smooth as I wished them to be.  First, it’s very frustrated for me not to be able to play some classical pieces that I used to play.  But then it clicks.  This is what I want.  I need to keep focusing and concentrating, which I find it harder to do these days.  In piano world, there is a saying–“Practice makes perfect”.  So I think this is a good time for me to sit down and take it easy.  I also think that it is the way for me to get my mind out of my daily matters.  It’s a kind of a mind therapy for me.

Anyway, over the last couple years I have been inspired by many movies related to piano.  The first one is a Japanese movie called “Shindo” (神童), which I blogged about it earlier.  There are differences between those who are gifted and those who are not.  Under pressure, those talented people can just stop and escape.  Nonetheless, they cannot run away from who they truly are.

Yet again, I find this Japanese TV series called Nodame Cantabile (のだめカンタービレ), which is based upon the best selling comic book by the same title, very inspiring.  It’s such a shame that I do not see this kind of series in Thailand.  I think there is only one Thai person who makes it into the world of classical music–Bundit Ungrangsee–comparing to our neighbor countries such as Japan, Korea, and China.  I believe that we can successfully maintain both our national culture and other foreign culture only if we have an appropriate support and a right system from government and private sector.  I just feel like having Thai children to be able to explore the world art forms and high quality inspirational media.

The next one is a Taiwanese movie called the “Secret” (不能说的秘密), directed and starred by a famous young singer, Jay Chou.  I am just stunned when I see the piano battle scene.  I do not know what to say.  It’s just amazing.  What surprised me more was that the scores were composed by a Thai musician named Terdsak Janpan, whom I never heard before. Until today, I still cannot find further information about him.

Another touching movie is from Korea, titled “For Horowitz” (호로비츠를 위하여).  It’s just not easy to live and push your dream in another person’s life, especially when that person is just a child.  This is a good movie to watch if you have time.  I won’t tell you the ending but be prepare to cry.

When seeing those movies, I get an urge to play classical piano again.  Now, getting start is rather difficult for being away such a long while.  I have to start exercising my fingers with scale and Hanon.  Anyway, three months ago, I decided to go back to music school with hope that I can somehow enjoyed my classical music again.

Currently I am practicing a piece called “Etude: Op. 47 No. 21 Adante con moto” by S. Heller, which I find it confusing in terms of finger position.  Anyway everyday I keep telling myself “practice makes perfect”.  I am now learning to be patient and focus for at least an hour everyday in front of my piano.

“Kang Lang Pap” – Behind the Painting: The Musical

It has been an annual anticipating event for many people since the renowned huge success of “Bunlangmek: The Musical” in year 2001.  This year, Thakonkiat Veerawan comes back again with a big musical production ever–“Kang Lang Pap” or “Behind the Painting: The Musical”, which is adapted from a best selling novel by the same title.

Kang Lang Pap was written by Sriburapha, who was one of the most respectful Thai authors and was named by UNESCO as the world most outstanding people in year 2005.  This novel was first published in a newspaper since 1937; and had been made as movies twice in year 1985 and 2001 with equal success.

Personally, I have not seen any version of the movies.  I only read the novel when I was in a high school as a required reading for my Thai study.  This year, before I went to see the musical, I read the book again and it made me realized that how wide was the gap between the language and style then and now.  I forgot how beautiful the language in the old days was.  Many expressions were not used nowadays.  Language is really revolving.

Anyhow, talking about the musical version of this long time famous novel, after the curtain was down and the light went off, I had a mixed feeling between satisfaction and bore.  I guessed it was the theme and tone of the story that made me bored.  I did not say that it was bad; just some moments that were too interminable.  Nonetheless, there were a lot of bright sides that still made this musical worth watching.  One of those was the actors and actresses, who were really good in both singing and acting, especially all the lead characters.  I was expected to see the best performance from Pat Suthasinee Bhudhinund and Rudklao Amaradith; but then Bie Sukrit Visetkaew was surprised me.  He, actually, sang quite well but still needed to sharpen up his acting skill.

Off course, music was the core of the musical and this year they did it again.  However, personally I preferred Bunlungmek to this one.  There were only one song that I liked the most, which was sung by both Pat and Bie on the scene when they both were apart.

This year production was the biggest ever.  The talk of the town scene was the Mitake Waterfall scene where there was real water on the stage.  I was amazed seeing water gradually flowed and covered up the stage then fell over at the front stage where audience were sitting.  It was kind of funny to hear the roaring noise from the audience when water started flowing and almost no one paid attention to the performers on stage, including me.  Wow, this time they really made it!  I felt happy with the producers and creators of the production team.  :-)

One other thing that disappointed me was the classic words by Khunying Kirati, the lead actress–“ฉันตายโดยปราศจากคนที่รักฉัน แต่ฉันก็อิ่มใจว่าฉันมีคนที่ฉันรัก”–“I am dying without one who loves me; but I am satisfied that I have one whom I love”, which was not well portrayed at all in the musical.  In my opinion, there should have been some other way to do it in a more touching and emotional manner than what they did.

Well, I will see what will be the next surprise in the coming year from Thakonkiat and his team.

I love the World

Continuing from my last post on walking, a couple nights ago I watched the Discovery Channel and saw its new promotional material about our world with a song that began each sentence with ‘I love…’  And here is the lyric!

I love the mountain. I love the clear blue sky. I love big bridges. I love when great white flies. I love the whole world. And all its sights and sounds. (Boom-De-Yada…) I love the ocean. I love real dirty things. I love to go fast. I love Egyptian kings. I love the whole world. And all its craziness. (Boom-De-Yada…) I love tornadoes. I love arachnids. I love hot magma. I love the giant squids. I love the whole world. It’s a brilliant place (Boom-De-Yada…)

After watching this cool commercial, I was thinking of a song called “รักคุณเท่าฟ้า” (Rak-Khun-Tao-Fah) by Carabao.  This was one of the beautiful songs I ever heard.  Everytime that I heard this song, it made me think of greens, sand and sea, mountains, etc.  It would be such a shame if all these beautiful things were destroyed. This world was so huge and amazing.

รักคุณเท่าฟ้า คำร้องและทำนองโดย เทียรี่ เมฆวัฒนา

Love is as big as the sky Lyric & Music by Theary Mekwattana

หากฉันบิน บินไปได้ดั่งนก If I could fly like a bird.

ฉันจะบิน บินไปในนภา I would fly high in the sky.

หากฉันลอยล่องลมเหนือฟากฟ้า ฉันจะมองลงมายังพื้นดิน While I was gliding in the sky, I would look down on the Earth.

โลกมนุษย์แสนกว้างใหญ่เหลือเกิน This world was so big beyond imagination.

ยิ่งมองยิ่งเพลิน จำเริญหัวใจ The more you looked at it, the more you felt happy.

พื้นแผ่นดินแลดูเป็นสีเขียว พื้นแผ่นน้ำแลดูเป็นสีคราม The land was green and the water was blue.

อาจจะเคยมีใครตั้งคำถาม Someone might ask.

ความงดงามของโลกอยู่ที่ใด Where was the beauty of the Earth?

ความงามความรัก มีมาตามธรรมชาติ Beauty and love were natural things.

เติมวาดแต่งแต้มแสงสีตามในใจคน But they were painted and colored by human.

มีฟ้า มีน้ำ มีดิน หิน ทราย และผู้คน There were sky, water, earth, stone, sand, and human.

ร่วมสุขทุกข์ทน สร้างแผ่นพื้นดินไทย We were all living together on our motherland in good and bad time.

หากคุณบิน บินไปได้ดั่งนก If you could fly like a bird.

ยามเมื่อคุณบินไปในนภา At the time when you were flying in the sky,

ยามเมื่อคุณล่องลอยบนฟากฟ้า At the time when you were gliding up high,

มองลงมาเบื้องล่างยังพื้นดิน And looked down to the Earth.

โลกมนุษย์แสนกว้างใหญ่เหลือเกิน This world was so big beyond imagination.

ยิ่งมองยิ่งเพลิน จำเริญหัวใจ The more you looked at it, the more you felt happy.

กระแสเสียงเพลงนี้จากฟากฟ้า แสนไกล This song was hummed from the farthest corner of the sky.

ฝากความในใจให้มวลหมู่ชน ทุกคน Just wanted to leave hope in everyone’s heart.

อันความเป็นจริง ที่มองเห็นมาจากฟ้าเบื้องบน The truth that could be seen from sky above;

ฟ้าอยู่ค้ำคน คนไม่อยู่ค้ำฟ้า That we would not live for eternity.

ไม่มีใครอยู่ค้ำฟ้า Nobody outlived the sky.

The world is just awesome.