A Voice to remember

Just a few weeks ago, Rangsan “Songkran” Panyaruen was drawing fans of deep-fried meatballs to his modest stall on a busy Nakhon Ratchasima street. Today, with B1 million lining his pockets, he’s drawing a much bigger crowd, all of them eager to congratulate the winner of Season 2 of Thailand’s version of “The Voice”.

“Winning has changed my life and now the boot is on the other foot,” says the 23-year-old Lampang native who was raised in the Northeast. “I can’t sell fried meatballs anymore … I can’t even use the BTS. When I went back to Korat to do some shopping in the local market, I found myself surrounded by vendors, villagers and my fan club. It was a great feeling!”

But Songkran, whose win also guaranteed him an annual income of Bt4.5 million for three years and put him behind the wheel of a Toyota Prius, doesn’t mind this invasion of his personal life. “I’m just pleased to make my mother and grandmother happy,” he says, adding that he shared his prizes with his mum.

At one stage in the show, the young singer didn’t look as though he would reach the next round, never mind the final. None of the show’s four mentoring “coaches”, Saharat “Kong” Sangkapricha, Jennifer Kim, Apiwat “Stamp” Eurthavornsuk and Apisit “Joey Boy” Opasiamlikit, pressed their buttons during the blind audition. Then Songkran performed Carabao’s “Chao Tak” and as the audience erupted in screams. Stamp’s finger pressed down hard on the buzzer and turned his “I Want You” chair to him.

“I was very excited but also suffering from stage fright because I’d never performed this song before. A music director selected it for me to surprise the coaches. Usually, I’m able to convey my inner feelings in the songs I perform but that was impossible with ‘Chao Tak’. I like Carabao and admire Phi Ad [frontman Yuenyong Ophakul]’s songwriting but I can’t say I’m a songs-for-life fan,” says Songkran.

In fact, he had originally intended to showcase his powerful vocals with American rock band Skid Row’s “In a Darkened Room”.

“I love rock,” he grins, “and that’s always been my favourite rock song.”

The only child of a soldier and hairdresser, Songkran has been interested in music since he was a child. He started playing guitar at the age of 12, learning AB Normal’s “Pood Mai Khoi Keng” because, he says, he thought it made him look cool.

“At school I would try and memorise the guitar chords of the songs in my friend’s songbook then practise playing them at home,” he recalls.

He left his hometown of Lampang for Nakhon Ratchasima to stay with an uncle while pursuing his studies at high school. There, he formed a band, the Bantam, with some mates and before long, the youngsters were playing gigs in the area. In his spare time, he studied classical guitar and honed his skills, eventually landing a job as a classical guitar instructor at Kanchana Music School. He also took part in an international classical guitar competition but didn’t place.

When his bandmates went on to his university, Songkran, unable to afford college, stayed behind. The lads got together during their breaks and eventually came up with the songs “Yang Khong Yoo”, “Perd Ta” and “Mee”, the music videos of which were produced by 3D Third World and uploaded to YouTube. 

“The pop-rock number ‘Yang Khong Yoo’ was the most popular. Pop-rock seemed the most obvious genre for us to follow as we all have different musical tastes. The guitarist plays blues, the bassist plays funk, the drummer inclines towards mor lam and I love rock by the likes of Kings of Leon, Oasis and Keane,” says Songkran.

After finishing his term as an instructor, Songkran worked odd jobs, including stints in a shop shoe and a restaurant. He made and sold the traditional Thai dessert, khanom rang phueng (honeycomb candy) before switching to deep-fried meatballs.

“My dad taught me how to make the honeycomb candy but the entire process took so long and required such an early start that I gave it up. It was just too exhausting after playing music at night.”

The idea to enter “The Voice” came from a friend, who handed Songkran an application form and suggested he have a go.

“I had no time to prepare or even change. I just took off my apron and put on a jean jacket over my vest and jeans. I performed ‘In a Darkened Room’ as well as the Thai songs ‘Phae Thang’ by Apirome and the Sun’s ‘Chan Mai Chai’ in the audition. After the interview, I was asked to sing Slot Machine’s ‘Sing Nueng Nai Jai’ and ‘Phaan’,” recalls Songkran.

But while the audition landed him a place on the show, Songkran was forced to carry on selling his meatballs so he could afford to go to Bangkok to attend each round. Exhaustion along with an allergy to the smoke from the fried oil, led to his vocal cords becoming inflamed and singing became a painful effort. 

His efforts paid off though and he won both hearts and votes with his performance of Thanapon “Suea” Intharit’s “Rak Khong Yang Mai Phor”.

“I was dazed when my name was announced as the winner. I couldn’t say anything. I just wanted to hug my mum,” says Songkran who now sports a moustache.

“My band members were so pleased with my win but of course I won’t be able to play with them for a while. I hope we’ll be a team again in the future though,” says Songkran who is now preparing to record his debut album.