A medley for change

WHEN THEY’RE not crooning love songs, musicians tend to be singing about the plight of the common people. War, and often rebellion, are typical themes. Consider Bob Dylan’ “The Times they are a-Changin’” and U2’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song”.
Music can move people, and the greatest songs of revolution unify people in the belief that they can bring about change. And the politicians know this.
On Tuesday night, Day 2 of the Great Bangkok Shutdown, with anti-government protesters occupying the various locales around the metropolis, musicians and street performers took turns entertaining the troops exhausted after another long day of blowing whistles and cheering on speeches.
“Are you happy?” songs-for-life hero Surachai “Nga Caravan” Chanthimathon shouted as he took the stage at the Victory Monument. “There is nowhere else in the world where political protesters are so relaxed and friendly as we are here. While we demand that the prime minister to give up, we can still have fun through music and dance.”
Nga opened a rousing set with “Dok Mai Hai Khun”, a famous Caravan tune inspired by Japanese singer Shoukichi Kina’s “Hana”. No one would call it an outstanding revolutionary song – it’s too sugary and sentimental – but it certainly won loud applause from the crowd.
What moved them more was “Khon Ti Lek”. Everyone sang along. Written in the direst of times in the 1980s, when Thailand was raked by the violent struggle ostensibly between democracy and communism, it served as a simple but highly effective call for an awakening. It’s a revolutionary’s anthem about tyranny gripping the reins of power.
Thirty years on, it seems as though nothing much has changed. Anti-government protesters are again flying the national flag and demanding reform and “Khon Ti Lek” still packs a heavyweight punch. Today’s “tyrants” are accused of taking advantage of the poor and the revolutionaries are back in the streets demanding a better deal.
By the time Nga Caravan sang the final lines – “Ti khao pi, ti khao pai, sang lok sodsai, yom sed dai duay rao” – the song had been elevated anew on the soundtrack for hope.
Amid the heat of the protests, musicians both well known and unknown took turns at the microphone. Among the former were Surachai Chanthimathon, Zu Zu, Marijualna, Kard Muangkhon, Prateep Khachadpan and Loh Phoobantad.
On the stage set up at the Ratchaprasong intersection, engulfed by squatting protesters, Hammer, a folk band popular in the ’70s, bolstered the crowd’s courage and determination with songs that have become almost legendary, including “Bin La”, “Paktai Banrao”, “Mae” and “Raorak Phrachao Yuhua”.
Named for the hammer that locksteps with a sickle in the symbol of the communist labour movement, the band is a mainstay at pro-democracy gatherings and is sure to appear on the various stages while the current protest continues.
The rally on the ribbon of road midway between the Ploenchit and Chidlom Skytrain stations seemed more “festive” when I was there on Wednesday evening, if that word can be used to describe such a boisterous event where outrage bubbles close to the surface.
No vehicle traffic was allowed, of course, so there was ample room across the road for a big stage. When I arrived, the protesters and passers-by were captivated by a mime’s antics, adding to the theatrical, almost circus-like feel.
Graffiti artists and street performers did their thing among the jostling vendors selling hand-made bags and T-shirts bearing the slogans of the revolution. Protesters got shoulder to shoulder with the rambling entertainers to take selfies that were quickly uploaded to Facebook. The merely curious wafted by on fold-up bicycles. Foreign tourists gawked. What was this – a political uprising or a carnival?
Whatever it is, it’s going be in Bangkok for a little while longer, moving the city with political speeches and some marvellous music.

 POLITICAL PLAYLIST
 If you’re watching events from a distance, give your observations a soundtrack. Here are 10 of popular music’s greatest revolutionary songs you should have on your smartphone.
U2: “Sunday Bloody Sunday”
Bob Dylan: “The Times they are a-Changin’”
John Lennon: “Imagine”
Bob Marley: “Redemption Song”
The Cranberries: “Zombie”
Public Enemy: “Fight the Power”
Marvin Gaye: “What’s Going On”
Eminem: “White American”
Tom Robinson: “Glad to be Gay”
Claude de Lisle: “La Marseillaise”