Mor Lum Dancing (Paradise Bangkok)

This happened in February at a club called Sonic on Soi Ekkamai in Bkk. Mor Lum is a style of music from Laos (the country) and Isaan, which you could say is culturally Lao. The band playing is a reunited mor lum band that apparently had a lot of success in the 70's. I wasn't in Thailand (or, uh, born) at the time. I wouldn't really call it a mor lum dance party though, since, while there WAS a lot of dancing going on, most of the crowd didn't really know how to do any mor lum dancing per se. It was a lot of Thai Bangkok hipsters and farangs, hipster or otherwise. That's the kind of venue it is. That the farangs would be out of their element is obvious, but there's also a pretty big cultural gulf between your upcountry Isaan cool kid and your urban (part-time graphic designer) Bangkok hipster kid. The woman on stage, however, was a different story. Watch her go. You'll learn something.

Performers: "Wong Dontri Molam Theppabutr" (8 piece molam band from Isaan/Northeast Thailand)

Featuring Saksiam Petchchompu, Pimjai Petchplachai and Chamnapa Petchplachai

From Paradise Bangkok's promotional material:

"To celebrate Paradise Bangkok third anniversary, Zudrangma Records H.Q. is proud to present the original king of the raw country molam band formed in 1973, 'Wong Dontri Molam Theppabut' have recorded with dozens of key luk thung isan and molam artists such as Dao Bandon, Saksiam Petchchompu, Thepporn Petchubon, Banyen Rakkan as well as on countless productions by molam pioneer Theppabutr Satirodchompu. This will be an exclusive one-off show of raw, authentic molam live and direct from the North East. They will be joined by Sombut Chimla, the king of experimental khaen, Kummao Perdtanon the original phin player of Theppabutr band and the Isan legendary vocalists Saksiam Petchchompu together with the molam duo Pimjai Petchplachai and Chamnapa Petchplachai."