Apichat Pakwan - Angkanang

Apichat Pakwan
Angkanang

Single NL 2016 on Animist Records label
Electronic, Folk, World and (Dub)

"Apichat Pakwan is a music collective put together by Olivier Schreuder, an Amsterdam-based musician, DJ & producer. Together they produce Isantronics - a hybrid approach to blending molam (folkmusic of the ethnic Lao, of whom the largest population is living in Isan, another name for Northeast-Thailand), electronic music, dub & hiphop. Their believe is that traditional culture survives by consciously embracing new developments while preserving the essence of the culture. Apichat Pakwan arised from many years of studying the folkmusic of the ethnic Lao and electronic music. Together with two of the best musicians in the region of Northeast-Thailand, Olivier Schreuder recorded an album with new compositions he made especially for them. These musicians are Pongsapon Upani, who plays the Lao mouthorgan called kaen, and Artit Krajangsree, who is an expert on a stringinstrument phin. Robin Koek, also part of techno-duo Artefakt and solo under his alias Cyspe, played the drums. As from 2003 Olivier Schreuder travels through Southeast Asia to study music, and to make music with local musicians. Previously he composed new music for Thai morlam-singer Chompoo Triwises, who resides in the Netherlands. They also toured together. For this he developed an augmented saxophone, an electroacoustic instrument capable of mimicing the sound of the Laotian mouthorgan. He met Pongsapon Upani while searching for an expert on the kaen. Pongsapon is known as a big musical talent and regularly plays with legendary morlam-artists like Chaweewan Dumnern, Ken Dalau, and Angkanang Khunchai. Besides shows on national Thai television he and Artit performed in New York & Tokyo. Artit Krajangsree is an exceptional talent as well, who became an expert on the phin by practicing day and night. The title of the group’s first single, Angkanang, comes from a fieldrecording Olivier made in Thailand and which can also be heard on the record. It’s an anouncement of a liveshow by morlam-diva Angkanang Khunchai blasting through a megaphone on a car driving through the city of Ubon Ratchatani. But the name of the record has another special meaning. Olivier Schreuder met his loved one during the recordings, a Thai musician withe the same name: Angkanang. All musicians of Apichat Pakwan have in common that they are multi-instrumentalists, and electronic music producers besides playing their acoustic instruments. Apichat Pakwan also performs live. In 2017 the group will perform live in Thailand. From June 2017 onwards they plan to tour in Europe. Angkanang will join the group as percussionist. Angkanang by Apichat Pakwan is the first release of the new Amsterdam-based label Animist Records. The dubversion on the B-side is exclusive for this release. The release of the full album Isantronics is planned for the summer of 2017." Taken from Animist Records Bandcamp.

Musicians

	Apichat Pakwan , album by
	Olivier Schreuder perc, composed by, recorded by, mixed by, percussion, electronics
	Robin Koek dr, NL drums
	Pongsapon Upani , khene
	Artit Krajangsree , phin, bass