Lam Phloen World-Class: The Essential Banyen Rakkaen

Banyen Rakkaen of Thailand is a pioneering singer who raised the profile of molam music from the north-east region – called Isan – to national prominence when she emerged with the band Rang Si Mun in the early 1970s. Guided by her producer and then-husband Thepphabutr Satirodchompu, she released a series of popular singles and starred in TV shows.

This compilation is the latest in a series of recent molam releases on the Japan-based EM label. It features singles produced by Thepphabut in the early to mid-1970s. About half of the 12 tracks have already been released on the 2012 compilation Theppabutr Productions (reviewed in #90), which is disappointing but for fans of Banyen there are some standouts from the rest. The racy ‘Lam Phloen Bar Girl Banyen’ is both moving and funny while ‘Lam Phloen I Don't Love You’ opens with powerful khaen (free-reed mouth organ) chords and features some terrific phin (Isan lute) playing. But the standout is ‘Lam Phloen Daen Isan’, which immediately hits the groove that dancers loved in the mid-70s and over which soars Banyen's magnificent voice.