Give the kids a break, says generous rocker Maew

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha croons the occasional tune, so maybe he will be interested in finding out why kids singing in the street have to pay a fee every time they cover a song by someone famous. That’s just not fair, Maew says on Facebook.

“A young man once asked me if he could play one of my songs and I said, ‘Why not?’” Being asked for permission struck him as odd. But then he heard that the owners of the copyrights to his songs were fining a rookie band Bt40,000 for playing two of his tunes without permission. “It was Bt20,000 each, but then they were only paid Bt500 each to perform. It was nonsense!” So Maew called the cops, told them who he was, and asked them “to let them go just this time – I’ll discipline them”. By “discipline”, Maew meant “see to it that justice is done”. He paid the copyright-fee collector Bt3,000 out of his own pocket for “wasting his time”, and then turned on the greedy people who make these rules. 

“Music is supposed to be about happiness. You shouldn’t have to suffer just for playing music. It’s not right!” he said. Nor is the fee collection, which lacks transparency and often benefits the wrong people. “They say the fees benefit artists like me. Come on, I’m not a fool, and I know what’s going on behind the scenes!”

 

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Baan Dam will live on

Hello! magazine’s Thai edition has tackled the question of what’s going to happen to Baan Dam, the fabulous dream world of a residential-cultural-religious compound built in Chiang Rai by the late National Artist Thawan Duchanee.

The magazine has a picture of the place on its cover featuring Thawan’s only son, Doitibet “Doi” Duchanee, who’s ready to take care of the 100-rai property and its 40 “modern Lanna-style” buildings. 

Inside, Doi says he’s well aware of what the place means to art lovers and admirers of his dad. He knows what went into it. “He’d work on each house until it was finished and then move on to the next one. There is still a lot of unfinished artwork here too.”

Maintenance is going to be a problem, though. Baan Dam has been open to the public for more than three decades but has never brought in any money. In fact the upkeep is “about Bt1 million a month”, says Doi. “If my dad leaves me Bt100 million, I can only take care of it for 100 months.” 

Regardless, it’s not a responsibility he’s going to shirk. “This place is almost as old as I am, and I’ve always asked myself what I would do if my dad were no longer around.” Thawan never urged him to take over, but he feels obliged as the only son. “I could sell it and have money to last for generations, but my wish is to maintain it as a national asset.”

Since his father’s death last month, Doi has quit a job paying Bt70,000 a month to take care of Baan Dam. He bought five more rai across the road and has opened a small gallery and souvenir shop. “The income isn’t that great, but at least it pays the staff’s salaries.” 

The place has to be run “like a company” if it’s to survive on its own, Doi says. He no doubt knows what he’s doing. It was Doi who organised a birthday fund-raiser for his father a couple of years ago, collecting almost Bt180 million for the upkeep. Thawan was mightily pleased. “I’m ready to die before I die,” he told Doi, meaning he could now die happy.