He taught the songs
Stars, businessmen and even a politician croon hits of the '60s in remembrance of Lek Wongsawang
More than 2,000 music fans, most of them in their 50s, turned out to Siam Niramit last Saturday to celebrate the life and career of the late music guru Lek Wongsawang, whose “IS Song Hits” books taught an older generation of Thai musicians how to play foreign tunes.
Featured some 30 songs dating back to the 1960s, the three-hour charity concert began with an old-style show put on by five “Academia Fantasia” alumni that was itself divided into two separate chapters.
Chapter 1 featured songs by Buddy Holly, Bobby Vee and Ritchie Valens and included “One Last Kiss”, “More Than I Can Say” and “La Bamba”. Chapter 2 saw the five young people singing Doris Day’s “Que Sera Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)”, Ricky Nelson’s “Travelling Man”, BJ Thomas’ “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head”, Tony Orlando’s “Tie a Yellow Ribbon ’Round the Old Oak Tree”, Roy Orbison’s “Only the Lonely” and the Winners’ “Sha La La”.
With the stage set up to look like a studio, the silhouette of a producer in the background and the monitors showing commercials of yesteryear, the audience was carried back in time to Lek’s heyday in Thai radio.
Veteran vocalists and guests took over the stage for the second half of the concert, which kicked off with Satawat Tungkarat in black leather and Vasu Sangsingkaew in a gold lame suit performing a tight set of Elvis Presley numbers. The two drew loud applause and cheers for their convincing covers of “Jail House Rock”, “Don’t Be Cruel”, “Wear My Ring Around Your Neck”, “Teddy Bear” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love”.
Lek didn’t only achieve fame through his radio programme but also by launching “IS Song Hits”, a music pocketbook with song lyrics and guitar chords. Most of the concert’s veteran vocalists used this book to learn Western songs.
“Thai singers really needed that pocketbook to be able to sing foreign songs. There was no Internet or YouTube back then,” said Thitima “Waen” Sutasunthorn, before singing the ballads “End of the World” and “Sad Movies”.
“Phi Lek sent his pocketbook to us while we were performing in Hawaii and helped us with the pronunciation of the English words,” recalled former the Impossibles’ Vinai Panthurak, who sang the Lettermen’s “Put Your Head on My Shoulder”, followed by Paul Anka’s “It’s Time to Cry” and Cliff Richard’s “Theme for a Dream”.
Suda Chuenban and Chanthana Kitiyaphan joined up for the Lennon Sisters’ “A Love’s Concerto” before going solo on Georgia Gibbs’ “Seven Lonely Days” and Brenda Lee’s “Dynamite”.
Hair stylist Somsak Chalachol took the stage for Cliff Richard’s “Daddy’s Home” and Neil Sedaka’s “Oh! Carol”, while Dolchai Boonyaratavej, the president of Brandscape agency, had fun with “Sweet for My Sweet” before handing the microphone to ICC International president Dr Boonkiet Chokwattana, for Andy Williams’ “(Where Do I Begin) Love Story” and Frank Sinatra’s “My Way”.
The last VIP guest was Korn Dabbaransi who closed out the concert with the country standard “Always on My Mind” as popularised by Elvis. When the curtain was raised for the encore, Korn holding a bass guitar and led the band in “Scarborough Fair”, “The Sound of Silence” and “Blowin’ in the Wind”.
“I will sing this song [‘Blowin’ in the Wind’] every day if the Thai people don’t split. The questions may be hidden but the only answer is ‘the answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind’,” explained Korn before persuading the audience to step up on stage and dance along to Paul Anka’s “Diana” and Chuck Berry’s “Go Johnny Go”.
Before finishing his show, Korn said he’d like to see the Beatles’ “All My Loving” and the Bee Gee’s “Smile” as the theme for the next old-time concert.
All in all, the concert went well though the concept of using a “shadow” band, like in the old days, wasn’t really necessary.
