At the second edition of Wonderfruit, a four-day arts and lifestyle festival which begins this Thursday, we don't only have international acts to look forward to. Sure, there's soulful lyricism from rapper Yasiin Bey (AKA Mos Def), the much-hyped R&B duo Rhye whose songs like Open are sure to transport you into a trance, and Com Truise's catchy synth pop. But at the festival our home-grown bands have a lot to offer too.
Pongsit Kampee, Greasy Cafe and Polycat are Thai headliners -- and then there's Molam Bus Project by Jim Thompson Art Center. The colourful Molam Bus refuses to be categorised. The closest description is it's a mobile exhibition as well as a mobile stage with an artist line-up of its own.
Developed as a continuation from "Joyful Khaen, Joyful Dance" -- an exhibition at Jim Thompson Art Center which ended in March that traced the development of molam from its ritualistic roots in Isan to its contemporary presence in Bangkok and internationally -- the Molam Bus is the middle phase of the research and material-gathering project, before an eventual establishment of a molam museum at the Jim Thompson Farm in Nakhon Ratchasima.
"Wonderfruit is our first destination," said Arthit Mulsarn, project curator and molam music researcher. "We believe no one has ever done this before."
Molam Bus is separated into two main parts: one is an old bus converted into an exhibition space while the other part is a six-wheel truck turned into a stage. The design is by Jiro Endo and Woraya Boonyapanachoti.
"At first we wanted to do a travelling exhibition, going to different parts of the country, but that's going to cost a lot. That's when the idea for a mobile bus came up," said Arthit.
"The idea came from how molam bands usually travel around the country with everything on board: the musicians, instruments and the costumes. Only this time, we will also have a mobile stage, with the background set, lighting and sound system."
In order to avoid clashing with main stage acts at Wonderfruit, the concert at Molam Bus will start as early as 5pm throughout the four-day festival. The line-up includes contemporary molam band Taibaan on Dec 17, luk thung Thai folk vinyls spun by John Clewley aka DJ PorYai on Dec 18, khaen master Sombat Simlah on Dec 19 and back to a spinning session by DJ PorYai again on the last day.
On board, aside from videos narrating the history of molam music, video art inspired by a contemporary molam audience and a documentary of The Paradise Bangkok Molam International while they were touring abroad, there are also instruments like the khaen and the bamboo mouth organ phin, or three-stringed lute, on display.
After a stop at Wonderfruit, the bus will travel around Thailand and also neighbouring countries in order to gather more material for the museum and also create a network between molam musicians in different parts of the country.
Inside the Molam Bus.
