Wirat still wants to sing

WIRAT U-TAWAUGHN’S first “gig” was a command performance – some of his fellow students at Thammasat University had a card game going in the classroom and stationed him by the door, ready to “play loud” as a signal that the teacher was coming.

That’s just one of many charming anecdotes from the soon-to-be 72-year-old singer-guitarist-songwriter’s long and remarkable history. Still steeped in the craft as academic-affairs director of the KPN Music Academy and honorary chairman of Music Copyright (Thailand), he’ll be sharing his memories in a sixth-cycle birthday concert at the Sala Chalermkrung Royal Theatre on November 15.

Wirat U-Tawaughn – the name rolls off the tongue like that of another great guitarist, the late American bluesman Stevie Ray Vaughan – has planned a set-list for the “Phom Khor Rong” (“I Want to Sing”) show spanning his whole career. He gave the press four excellent samples recently to promote the concert – Ricky Nelson’s “Travellin’ Man”, the Beatles’ “Here, There and Everywhere”, Frank Sinatra’s “It Had to Be You” and “Kwam Nai Jai”, which he wrote for the TV series “Prissana”.

Born in central Ang Thong province, Wirat took an early interest in music, singing along to luk thung tunes he heard on the radio, back when the big-time voices included Khanron Sambunnanon and Somyos Tassanapan. When the schoolboy moved to Bangkok, he heard a lot more music, much of it coming from overseas, such as Elvis Presley, Cliff Richard and Johnny Tillotson.

“I went to many concerts and I always focused on the guitarists in the bands, and when I enrolled at Thammasat to study political science, a friend gave me his guitar,” Wirat recalls. “I was utterly mystified – I didn’t know how to even begin! But it seemed I was destined to be a musician, because by chance I ran into another friend I knew from Ang Thong, and he introduced me to Khru Por Chuenprayot, the master songwriter.”

Khru Por, a National Artist in the performing arts, specialising in music from overseas, got Wirat plucking the notes from a Nick Manoloff lessons book for Spanish guitar. 

“I was very keen, so I found the same book at the Will Son & Co music shop near the Grand Post Office in Bang Rak and never saw the master again – I just taught myself from the book, all the chords and notes. I also learned a lot from Santi Lunpe, the singer. I’d take my guitar to school every day and play between classes.” That’s when he served as the lookout for his gambling classmates.

By 1963 Wirat was playing in a band that once shared the stage with Silver Sand, a popular group led by Prasit Chamnanprai that did covers of Elvis and the Shadows. Prasit later recruited Wirat to replace his departing guitarist, and he remained a member of Silver Sand for more than a decade.

Wirat then began his career as a songwriter and also produced records for many artists and labels, ending up as conductor of Channel 3’s BEC Orchestra – and its composer. “I wrote the title song for the soap opera ‘Jit Mai Wang’, which won a Mekhala Award in 1981. I was responsible for writing or providing the songs for the different series.”

The work made him famous. “Tae Pang Korn” won the outstanding-songwriter Mekhala Award in 1987 and “Khwam Nai Jai” from the series “Prissana” and the jazz-fusion “Roy Marn” were also hits.

“I was learning different kinds of music. At first I found it difficult playing in a jazz style, but I practised,” he says.

The “Phom Khor Rong” concert, coinciding with his birthday that same day, will feature another group Wirat played in – the 3 Wi’s (with Winai Phanthurak and Wichai Punyayan) – and contestants |from the Sala Chalermkrung |competition – Pasakorn “Spy” Rungrueangdechaphat, Patranit “Meiji” Petooriyawet and Kanthayawan “Fah” Somuam.

“The first part of the show will be a set of international classics that have made a big impression on me, like Andy Williams’ ‘Moon River’. The second part will cover the 1960s, the time when I became a musician, with pop and rock ’n’ roll, like Ricky Nelson. And then we’ll do some Thai music. The 3 Wi’s will form the chorus for the Sala Chalermkrung contestants as they sing my songs, and I’ll play some jazz at the end of the concert.”

 

LIVING LEGEND

Wirat U-Tawaughn’s “Phom Khor Rong” birthday concert will be held at the Sala 

Chalermkrung Royal Theatre on November 15 at 2pm.

Seats cost Bt500 to Bt1,000 at www.ThaiTicketMajor.com and (02) 262 3456.