And you think you've seen it all...

They played for the king. And then yesterday they played in Khon Kaen. Quite the occasion. A jazz band way out in Khon Kaen. A New Orleans Jazz band for that matter. For free. One that played at Carnegie Hall. One with a banjo and this guy with a huge afro on sousaphone. For most people in Khon Kaen that is the embodiment of culture shock. But it went down well.

And yes I said banjo. I know. But this was no dixieland. No white guys with weird straw hats, suspenders and bow ties. This was prime marching band -style funky old school jazz with a lot of heart and root and 100% authenticity. It got the (Thai!) crowd jumping on their chairs and I could have sworn I saw some even shake their thang.

My personal fav: an improvised rendition of Parliament Funkadelic's Tear the Roof of This Sucker that popped up amongst a fun mix of traditionals, spirituals, warped standards and swaggering blues tunes. And although Khon Kaen couldn't help but clap on the 'one' instead of the swinging 'and', I'd say the French Quarter was at Khon Kaen University last night.

Want a taste? Here you go!

Morlam camp

Just got back from English camp. In Thailand that does not mean a whole lot of learning English. The emphasis is on fun. Which is way a hall filled with about 140 six-to-nine-year-olds soon turned into a frenzy when the hired (Thai) teacher decided to sing a little morlam and I decided I could play a little drums.

Morlam? Music from North East Thailand/Laos that is. In this case of the fast paaaaarty variety. Because any description would fall short (and also because I couldn't film and play drums at the same time): here's some You Tube Morlam to give you an idea. Imagine 140 kids belting the fast part out and the whole place turning in to a mosh pit that would give Slayer fans a bit of a scare. Got the image? Click play. And yeah: it's karaoke. Don't forget to sing along :)