Folk /
Grade A Guy
*2025 stock* Sonthaya Kalasin was the male lead singer in in the molam section of legendary producer/impresario Surin Phaksiri's beloved musical troupe Thidso Lam Phloen; his female counterpart was Phairin Phonphibun (EM1147CD/LP). These recordings, the very best of Kalasin's work with Phaksiri, cover the period from the mid-70s to the early 80s and showcase Kalasin's mastery of the traditional male molam lower vocal range. Also highlighted here are Phaksiri's production skills and his penchant …
Banyen Rakkaen
An exciting collection from pioneering Thai molam idol Banyen Rakkaen, featuring her most thrilling performances from the early to mid-70s, with innovative genre-bending arrangements and production from Thepphabut Satirodchomphu. These tracks, all originally released on 7-inch vinyl, showcase her powerful yet alluring voice, revolutionary yet rooted in tradition. Her exciting performance style was revolutionary and shocked traditionalists, but none could dispute the fact that she was a truly gif…
Bump Lam Phloen: Essential Hongthong Dao-udon
How can we explain the power of music? How can songs delivered in a language which we don't understand move us so? This collection contains the very best songs from Hongthong Dao-udon, one of the great Thai singers of the "third generation" of Molam singers, one of the artists who succeeded in fusing Molam with Luk Thung, thus triggering a new generation of singers; in fact she was the first to sing both genres from the beginning of her career, considering herself to be situated happily between …
Never Forget Me
Never Forget Me is the second release on EM Records from Angkanang Kunchai, one of the greatest Thai singers; the original 1979 vinyl release, now extremely rare, was a collection of her self-produced songs, backed by her own band. This radically independent stance, though admirable, caused the album to languish in relative obscurity, due to her lack of support from the business masters of the Thai music scene of the time. "Never Forget Me" is a plea to her fans, and although the original album …
Angkhanang Khunchai & The Ubon Phatthana Band
Born in the province of Ubon Ratchathani in Isan (the northeastern region of Thailand), Angkhanang Khunchai was a young female prodigy who emerged on the molam scene, and became one of the first generation of molam performers who were able to "sing" popular music. From an early age she was mentored by renowned national molam artist Chawiwan Damnoen, and in her mid-teens joined the legendary musical troupe the Ubon Phatthana Band as the lead vocalist.
In 1971 at the age of 16 she released a singl…
The Essential Doi Inthanon : Classic Isan Pops From The 70s - 80s
A revered figure in his native Isan region, and indeed throughout Thailand, Doi Inthanon is a legendary composer, producer, visionary and talent-spotter, a man who combines business acumen with an unerring ability to both predict and engender new directions in Thai popular music. Fittingly naming himself after the tallest mountain in the nation, he has towered over Thai music since the early 70s, and is still active today. This compilation, the first "various artists" collection in the EM Record…
Man on a Water Buffalo
For reasons unknowable, certain places in certain eras become hotbeds of music, fertile in their growth and flowering of musical talent. Thailand in the 1970s was such a place, and Dao Bandon is one of the enduring greats of that era. Born in the farm country of the Isan region, Bandon came from a poor family and was a monk during his teens, two great influences which shaped him, with his farm roots grounding the earthy heart of his lyrics, and his years of monastic chanting lending a unique res…
The Golden Voice of Phnom Penh, 1962-1974
Akuphone and The Cambodian Vintage Music Archive proudly present the first-ever retrospective dedicated to So Savoeun—one of the radiant voices that defined Phnom Penh’s golden age of sound in the 1960s and 1970s. In those vibrant years, the city pulsed with music: rock bands, crooners, and traditional ensembles blended East and West, shaping a uniquely Cambodian pop that shimmered with hope and modernity. Amid this flourishing scene, So Savoeun’s voice stood out—silken yet powerful, intimate ye…
Lam Phloen Songthaew Fanclub
A one-sided 7" single! A great and rare song, never before reissued, an early 80s electric molam classic produced by Surin Phaksiri. This release celebrates "Classic Productions by Surin Phaksiri 2: Molam Gems from the 1960s-80s", an upcoming EM Records compilation spotlighting this legendary producer; however, this song will not be available on the compilation, so get the vinyl or DL, and don't miss this groovily swaying paean to the pick-up truck share taxi, performed by Chabaphrai Namwai and …
Classic Productions by Surin Phaksiri: Luk Thung Gems from the 1960s-80s
This collection of 12 luk thung (*1) songs from the 1960s-70s, all produced by Surin Phaksiri, is a superb showcase of cross-genre/multi-national fertilization, with Latin, jazz, western pop, Indian and Japanese music seamlessly melding with the musical culture of Isan (northeast Thailand), which is strongly rooted in Laotian culture; indeed, the Isan language, as featured in these songs, is a form of Laotian. Esteemed producer Surin Phaksiri, an Isan icon, always strove to drive Thai music forw…
Groove Club Vol. 5: Sinn Sisamouth Vol. 2
Several years in the making, Lion can now finally deliver on our promise of another Groove Club volume dedicated to the deep and moving (and grooving) compositions of Sinn Sisamouth, sung by the Emperor of Khmer music himself, alone or duetting with the other legendary singer of those halcyon days in Cambodian music: Ros Sereysothea, the "Queen with the Golden Voice.”
Funeral Gongs Ceremonies in Ratanakiri, Cambodia
Tip! Those recordings of Gongs Orchestras were made during Funeral Ceremonies in two Kung villages and one Jaraï village in Ratanakiri province, Cambodia by Laurent Jeanneau (Kink Gong) in 2003 and 2004, at a times when jungle had not been replaced by rubber plantations. Focusing on funeral's ceremonies, those hypnotics pieces are intense and haunting harmonics sonic experiments.
"Adventure brought me to south-east Asia, not academic research. I was based on and off in Banlung, capital of Ratana…
Exploring Gongs Culture In Southeast Asia, Mainland And Archipelago
Tip! *In process of stocking* 'Gongs have played an integral role in the mythogeography of Asia. This is not music that aligns with national borders or ideas of homogenous populations, let alone racial stereotypes and exotic clichés. What connects all of these tracks is a simultaneous feeling of entrancement and social cohesion. Communal and collaborative, its form is hypnotically repetitious, melodies and rhythms spread out among the players using the technique of hocketing in which a flowing l…
Canon Singing in China, Vietnam, Laos
** Limited edition LP comes with a two sided insert of photos and liner notes with extended track descriptions by Laurent Jeanneau ** Other-worldly Canon singing from Mien (Yao) hill tribes in China, Vietnam, and Laos. Raw, ethereal, and cosmic – for fans of Bulgarian choir and Javanese Court Gamelan & Sundanese styles of vocal ascension. Although their name comes from a pejorative Chinese expression that means “dog” or “savage" – stemming from a legend that they were founded by a dog who saved …
Malam Minggu: A Saturday Night in Sunda
Akuphone resumes its reissue operations with its latest compilation, Malam Minggu: A Saturday Night in Sunda. This release brings us once again to Southeast Asia, with a stopover in the Indonesian archipelago – to the region of Sunda in western Java. As its name suggests, this collection immerses us in the vibes of Sundanese nights at the turn of the 1980s. During the post-independence climate of the 1960s, Presidents Sukarno and Suharto encouraged artists to renew and innovate traditional Indon…
Music of Northern Laos
Music of Northern Laos, subtitled Provinces of Luang Namtha et Phongsaly. One part of Akuphone's collection of Laotian music. Includes liner notes in English, French, and Japanese and a download code. Akuphone presents a collection of recordings of various musical practices from the Laotian provinces of Champasak, Attapeu, Sekong, Saravan, Luang Namtha and Phongsaly. These documents are a perfect introduction to the traditional music of South Laos minority groups. Popular modern music is widely …
Ethnic Minority Music Of Northwest Xinjiang, China
Laurent Jeanneau and Shi Tanding have returned from the northwest corner of China's Xinjiang province with an amazing batch of recordings collected during the weeks leading up to the volatile Uyghur uprising of 2009. Armed with their trusty audio gear, the couple was set on getting married and recording various styles of regional ethnic music near the Chinese border with Kazakhstan. However, the local authorities suspected that the pair had other intentions, shadowing and interrogating them wher…
Ethnic Minority Music of Southern China
The fifth Sublime Frequencies volume in Laurent Jeanneau's amazing documentation of vanishing indigenous music of the rural Asian frontiers, this CD focuses on ethnic minority groups of Southern China. Presented here are 17 tracks of supremely infectious vocals and folkloric instrumentals played on a wide variety of local traditional instruments. The centerpiece of this collection is the 13-minute "Do Djui Atsei" (track 5), an absolutely epic male and female group choral vocal piece which is imp…