Pumpuang Duangjan (พุ่มพวง ดวงจันทร์) was a very famous singer of lukthung, or Thai “country” music in the 1980s who died tragically young in 1992.
What follows is a translation of one of her songs, “The Man in My Dream” (ผู้ชายในฝัน). Historically in Thailand there were folk music traditions that contained sexual content. This song combines that approach with a more “modern” style, both in music and lyrics.
There are more recent renditions of this song on YouTube. . .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1ASuZGWPZI
And while the above girl’s rendition is cute. . . I haven’t found any recent versions that have the same degree of emotion as Pumpuang Duangjan’s original. Maybe people today simply don’t feel “desire” in the same way that people used to. After all, when you have the world in your cell phone, how can you “feel” what Pumpuang Duangjan felt and expressed in her singing?
So enjoy feeling Pumpuang Duangjan’s desire!! (The translation at times is a bit loose in order to capture the spirit rather than the literal meaning of the words).
ตั้งแต่เป็นสาวเต็มกาย
Ever since I’ve been a girl in blossom,
หาผู้ชายถูกใจไม่มี
I haven’t found a man who suits me,
เมื่อคืนฝันดีน่าตบ
Last night I had a quite a dream,
ฝันๆว่าพบผู้ชายยอดดี
I dreamt that I met a real sweetie.
พาไปเที่ยวดูหนัง
He took me to a movie,
พาไปนั่งจู๋จี๋
He took me to sit and whisper secretly,
แล้วพาไปเที่ยวชมสวน
Then he took me to a park,
เด็ดดอกลำดวนส่งให้ด้วยซี
Where he plucked a blossom to give to me.
เสียบหูให้ตั้งหลายหน
He tried to stick it behind my ear,
เสียบหล่นเสียบหล่นตั้งห้าหกที
But it fell off time and time again,
ต๊กใจตื่นตอนตีสี่
Then with a start, I awoke at 4 AM,
แหมเสียดายจัง เฮ้อเสียดายจัง
Oh! What a loss, Ah! What a loss for me!!
ตีห้าไม่ถึงก็จวน
By 5 AM I couldn’t stop thinking,
คิดทบทวนเรื่องฝันชั้นดี
About this beautiful dream,
ผู้ชายอะไรน่าหยิก
And this hot hunk of a man,
กระซี้กระซิกน่ารักน่าตี
Who’s loveable to the extreme.
เพียรมาออดออเซาะ
He has so many sweet words,
คำเสนาะมากมี
That he uses to woo,
ฝันว่าคิดอยู่หวำหวาม
But if he oversteps the bounds,
ถ้าถูกลวนลามจะทำไงดี
What on earth should I do?
ความคิดพอหยุดลงปั๊บ
I put that thought aside,
หมุบหมับหนุบหนับ เขาจับเขาจี๋
And he quickly grabbed and then he squeezed,
ต๊กใจตื่นมาเสียนี่
Then with a start, I awoke,
แหมเสียดายจัง เฮ้อเสียดายจัง
Oh! What a loss, Ah! What a loss for me!!
ตีห้าไม่ถึงก็จวน
By 5 AM I couldn’t stop thinking,
คิดทบทวนเรื่องฝันชั้นดี
About this beautiful dream,
ผู้ชายอะไรน่าหยิก
And this hot hunk of a man,
กระซี้กระซิกน่ารักน่าตี
Who’s loveable to the extreme.
เพียรมาออดออเซาะ
He has so many sweet words,
คำเสนาะมากมี
That he uses to woo,
ฝันว่าคิดอยู่หวำหวาม
But if he oversteps the bounds,
ถ้าถูกลวนลามจะทำไงดี
What on earth should I do?
ความคิดพอหยุดลงปั๊บ
I put that thought aside,
หมุบหมับหนุบหนับ เขาจับเขาจี๋
And he quickly grabbed and then he squeezed,
ต๊กใจตื่นมาเสียนี่
Then with a start, I awoke,
แหมเสียดายจัง เฮ้อเสียดายจัง
Oh! What a loss, Ah! What a loss for me!!
The cover version is OK – it’s even better than OK. It shows great accomplishment, but it comes across as studied. The slowing of the tempo puts the vocal filigree into slow motion so it can be appreciated. When Pumpuang sings it’s like being run over by train — run over in the most exquisite and enjoyable way. Her filigree has a joy, abandon and even recklessness to it. Her vocal intonation is true to the equal tempered 7 note scale of Thai music while the accompaniment is strictly diatonic, so that to a Western ear it seems like this unexpected blue notes that sound wonderfully expressive. The cover singer adjusts almost all those notes back to the diatonic scale.
I think the recklessness is the accomplishment – it seems reckless, but as a performer she’s in control. She captures the sensation being in the throes of powerful, giddy emotions.
I have long enjoyed listening to Pumpuang but never known what she was singing. Many thanks.
What exactly does “vocal filigree” refer to? Is it stuff like the subtle fluctuation of notes/tone?
Yea, if you search on YouTube for the Thai title of the song, you will find tons of versions, but as fun as a lot of them are, they don’t capture the energy of the original.
The first word of the second line is “haa” meaning “to look” (the line is literally more like “looking for a man who suits me but I haven’t got him”). Pumpuang Duangjan just loads that one word with all of the desire for the man and the frustration at not being able to find him, and you get that energy before she’s even told you where it’s coming from. So yes, I think you’re right, it’s like she is almost out of control, but keeps (barely) keeping things together, and that really delivers the feelings behind the song.
In listening to other versions, it’s hard to find anyone who can deliver that note/word with the same degree of power.
That said, this “late night” version is pretty fun. The spirit is definitely there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCJ1aAFzH1c
What I mean is pretty close to what you say – subtle fluctuations in pitch. But it’s generally all of the rapidly sung notes on one syllable. It could also be vibrato. All the stuff that is hard to write down in notation and thus to reproduce. In Vietnamese music there are certain conventions for what kinds of vibrato and ornamentation different notes of a given pentatonic scale should have. I don’t know enough to say whether Thai music has such conventions. Does Pumpuang sing in an Isaan style – which from what I know basically Lao music? Is her pronunciation Isaan inflected at all?
Pumpuang Duanjan was from central Thailand, so no her lukthung isn’t in Isaan style. That said, the lines between different styles are not always super clear (to me) and they get blurred a lot.
The way I visualize it is to see morlam at one extreme, pop music at the other extreme, and lukthung in the middle. Morlam is 100% Lao and in its original form consists of a kind of storyteller and someone playing the khene.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WYSzOHrhys&list=PL58ED7B1B3E1A03EB
Then as you move towards lukthung you add in guitar, drums, accordion, but this is still considered morlam.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IuacyHEzpM
Then when you stop singing in that kind of rhythmic talk-singing and sing in more of a melodic way you become lukthung.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iCykWTB1Y8
If someone sings in Lao, like these ones here, then it’s obviously Issan style, but by the time a song is like the last one above, then how is it different from a Pumpuang Duanjan song? Yes, it’s different, but not all THAT different.
I think it’s kind of like the pop-country stuff we have now. Yea, there are some things that make it “country” – like the topics of the songs – but the lines can really get blurred.