Pleng Luk Thung or Music of the rice field children is the plaintive country music of Thailand. The songs about the bad times, broken hearts, and busted dreams appeal to the exiles from Ban Nok or the hicks much like country/western brings tears to the eyes of Okie oil drillers stuck on a drilling platform in the Gulf of Siam.
The music targets not for the hi-so or high society of Thailand, but the lo-so or losers and Suphanburi is its capitol, although stars come from every corner of the Asian nation and today the country lost one of its giants, when Yodrak Salukjai passed away at the age of 51.
The Phitchit native was no stranger to the travails of the common man. Denied his dreams of becoming a doctor, he dropped out of school to sing pleng luk tung. earning a paltry living, until a DJ offered the entertainer a record contract, which blossomed into a career of over 500 LPs.
Yodrak Salukjai shall be missed by all luk thung was fans.
2008 Peter Nolan Smith
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