Long-time Bangkok resident and master classical guitarist Hucky Eichelmann's latest adventure, Asean Guitar — Fusion Of South East Asian Music (AMI, Thailand), is a musical journey across the 10 Asean countries. The album's release is timed to coincide with the launch of the Asian Economic Community, which is set to commence later this year.
Eichelmann is well-known to Thai music fans for his covers of HM the King's compositions and his annual tours and workshops at universities around the Kingdom. His educational work, which includes workshops and masterclasses, have done much to encourage young people to take up the classical guitar. His guitar tutorials, entitled "Finger Works", have made learning accessible to many young guitar students.
He has played on stage with renowned musicians such as Ravi Shankar, David Russell, John Williams and Richard Harvey, and has worked as a producer with Thai National Artists (the 2-CD set he produced on Isan music is well worth checking out), the Stuttgart Ballet and Martin Taylor. Eichelmann also founded the Thailand Festival of the Arts (1997-2000).
The new album features 16 songs from the 10 Asean countries — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam — plus one track composed by Eichelmann, Techno Toey.
"The music is in no way meant to be scientific research nor an ethnological study, but simply a fun selection of well-known traditional folk, popular and contemporary music from the region, composed and arranged for the ever-popular guitar," he said.
The album begins with two lilting Indonesian songs, the second of which, Menghitung Hari, is a delightful ballad composed by Melly Goeslaw. Two Thai compositions follow, Techno Toey and Duan Phen. Both are outstanding in their own ways. Duan Phen is a well-known Thai classical song. This recording features beautiful harmonics in the middle. Techno Toey is Eichelmann's response to being disturbed while meditating and listening to Isan music from a nearby temple by a "techno truck" blaring disco beats (including Jingle Bells, which ended up in the song). The tune showcases Eichelmann's exceptional ability on the guitar, as he uses his full repertoire of tricks to give the listener an idea as to what was going on his mind while this clash of tradition and modernity was occurring. (A tongue-in-cheek music video of the track is available on YouTube).
Two Vietnamese tunes follow the Thai songs. The second of these, Trong Com, is a traditional tune normally played on a "rice drum". Hucky manages to capture its rhythm and beat on the guitar while simultaneously making it sound like a standard classical guitar piece. The national song of Laos, Cham Par Meuang Lao, comes next, but it is the second of the Lao songs, Lam Saravan, that really caught my attention. This is a very famous lam tune covered by many northeastern Thai and Lao musicians (Angkanang Kunchai's version is a killer, for instance) and Eichelmann really does rock this one, managing to get to the spirit of the tune. I think it is one of the standout tracks on the album.
Myanmar is represented by an intriguing and delicate tune called Mya Man Giri, which means "Mandalay Emerald Hill", and is about a palace and its beautiful surroundings. The Philippines is represented by Anak (Child) and Kapilas Na Giting, the latter of which was written specifically for the guitar by Bayani M. de Leon, showcasing the music of the Mangyan tribe. Anak was written in the 1980s by Freddie Aguilar and remains to this day the biggest-selling song from the region (30 million copies and counting). Both songs are well-suited to Eichelmann's style of playing.
Brunei has perhaps the least-known musical culture in the region, maintaining a strong connection to Arabic music. You can hear this influence in a medley of a fisherman's song, Adai-Adai & Naindong.
"Rojak" is a mixed salad most commonly found in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. In Malaysia it also refers to the mixing of local languages. For the tune Rojak, five folk tunes were blended into one song, which Eichelmann delicately covers. This is another really beautiful tune that features harmonics.Singapore is represented by a cover of the old patriotic song, Count On Me, Singapore, which to my ear sounds better on guitar than it does otherwise.
The album ends with two songs from Cambodia. Brise De Novembre by the late King Sihanouk, and one of my favourite tracks on the album — the jaunty love song, Champa Battambang.
Eichelmann's playing throughout, as you would expect, is first-class. On some tracks, like Techno Toey, he produces sounds from his guitar that you don't expect — his virtuosity is mesmerising. The other thing I like about this album — and this is something I've spoken to Eichelmann about — is the sound quality of the recording, which is spectacular. His commitment to creating good music with a properly produced audiophile sound makes for great listening (for techno nuts, the liner notes contain a full list of all the recording equipment used).
The album is available on CD and later this year on vinyl. You can also buy the sheet music. Highly recommended. Visit www.amithailand.com.
This columnist can be contacted at clewley.john@gmail.com
