Published on August 10, 2005

Thai Luk Thung song fans might be familiar with two similar songs, “Nam Ta Sao Warin” (Tearful Warin Girl) sung by Jintara Phounlap, and “Hak Sao Si Muang” (Love Si Muang Girl) by Lao singer Bounkeut Nouhuang.Lao poet-guru Daoviang Boudnako wrote the song “Hak Sao Si Muang”, which was popular in Laos in 1995-96. The famous song inspired a Thai songwriter on the west bank of the Mekong River, Sala Kunnawud, to make his own Thai version, “Nam Ta Sao Warin”, years later. The rhythm of the two songs is exactly the same and the lyrics are similar.

Daoviang made no complaint about his copyright but later got to know Sala and proposed selling his songs to the Thai singer, who worked for major Thai music company, Grammy. In 2001, Grammy released “Hak Sao Si Muang” in an album of songs from the Mekong sung by Thai singer Mike Phiromporn.

Former journalist Daoviang has been well-known as a songwriter in the Lao music scene since entering the business in 1994 with a band called Sapphire.

The band had a short life as the Communist Lao government disapproved of rock music. Sapphire was banned after returning from a televised concert in Thailand.

Daoviang lost his job and began to earn a living by taking photos for tourists at Vientiane’s Patuxai monument, a Lao version of France’s Arc de Triomphe.

Life was difficult for a year or so, but Daoviang never gave up song writing.

Many songs were heard only by his close friends during drinking sessions until he met a singer named Bounkeut, who later made Daoviang’s “Sao Si Muang” popular.

More than 300,000 copies of the album were sold in Laos and abroad.

The album’s investors and singer Bounkeut, who has had many concert tours in the US, earned a lot of money from the song but Daoviang was still living in poverty.

“What I got from that work is a more popular name. Look at me, while friends drive a [Toyota] Vigo, I’m still riding a Viva [Honda motorbike],” he joked.

Authorities banned some of his songs because they contained lyrics too liberal or politically sensitive for the Lao government. A song to honour Prince Souphanouvong, a founder of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party dubbed the “Red Prince”, was banned while a song to honour late President Kraison Promvihan got the green light.

“They said they don’t like the music style of the Red Prince, composed as rock and roll, but I understand it was a conflict between rival factions who admire [only one or the other of] the two fathers of the Party,” he said.

Despite that, Daovaing’s reputation is still attractive. A lot of singers have come to him asking to sing his songs and some two dozen have been granted permission.

But it’s not easy for singers to get Daoviang’s songs - as he only allows Lao singers to sing them under his supervision and production.

“For Lao fellows, I don’t merely sell my songs to them but need to work with them to guarantee quality, otherwise poor production or adjustment without permission by the singers or producers would damage my name,” he explained.

Thongdam Khamlo, a singer from southern Champasak province, has spent over five years in training with Daoviang in order to have a chance to record his own album, which will hit the market soon.

“With Master Daoviang’s songs, I’m confident that I could emerge as a new star in Laos like other senior colleagues who sang his songs,” Thongdam said.

After years of living in poverty while singers and investors grew rich from his songs, Daoviang has an idea that should allow him to reap the fruits of his labours. He has set up “Daoviang Group” to produce Lao songs for overseas as well as domestic markets.

The group includes music arranger Chaiyo Kotame and studio owner Cong Li, who have joined hands with Lao Banna Music Co in New York to invest in Thongdam’s new album.

The US market is Daoviang’s new goal, since the local market is small and has been swamped with Thai songs.

Furthermore, low-cost CD writers from China facilitate the spread of pirated albums, making music in Laos an unreliable investment, Daoviang said.

The overseas market is sizeable, with some half a million Lao living in the US alone. Many overseas Lao seek something to bind them to the homeland they left after the fall of Vientiane 30 years ago.

If the new album goes well in the US, Thongdam would have a chance to go tour there and this could reap big earnings for the group, Daoviang said.

“I have a gentleman’s agreement with my singer Thongdam that he will give 40 per cent of his incomes from abroad to me, as his producer and promoter,” he said.

“If Thongdam goes well, I dream to have my house renovated, to buy a small piece of land to grow vegetables and raise fishes for food security for my family. Being self-sufficient like that would enable me to have time to write good songs,” Daoviang said.

Supalak Ganjanakhundee

The Nation

Vientiane

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