Showing 11 - 20 of 22
Beware the online culture warriors
News, John Lloyd, Published on 22/10/2018
» The news media in the Western world remains dominated by newspapers, magazines and broadcasters still known as the mainstream. The most vivid proof of their continued reign over public opinion is in the figure of US President Donald Trump, whose repeated attacks on "failing" publications like The New York Times and the Washington Post as "enemies of the people" is a backhanded tribute to their continued power.
The kids are all right
News, Alan Dawson, Published on 28/10/2018
» Prathet Ku Mee is no slapped-together concert song. It wasn't made, so much as crafted. The accusatory lyrics are set against the shameful, hovering background of the 1976 dictators' massacre at Thammasat University. The rap song's finale brings the background image of the hanged, beaten student to the front of the picture, before fading out to the hopeful message, "All people unite".
Call off rap song probe
News, Editorial, Published on 30/10/2018
» Just as the sun rises every day, the Royal Thai Police and its Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) were predictably quick to pounce on the flash-mob popularity of song sensations Rap Against Dictatorship (RAD).
'My country's got' these socio-political ills
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 02/11/2018
» The explosive Rap Against Dictatorship music video that has taken Thailand by storm has raised myriad socio-political questions and issues. Known in Thai as Prathet Ku Mee, the sensational music video has been viewed on YouTube more than 25 million times in just 10 days in a country of 69 million people, a feat in its own right and a record for its artistic kind in Thailand. How this five-minute rap song in the Thai language has done so much says a lot about where Thailand has been and where it is going.
From a cultured cabbie to the Albert Hall
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 23/09/2018
» The recent column on the musical tastes of Bangkok's taxi drivers prompted quite a few comments from readers relating assorted cab rides featuring the joyful strains of Cliff Richard, Boney M and even Pavarotti. However, Elvis remains the favourite amongst the veteran cabbies.
Say a little prayer for the Queen of Soul
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 19/08/2018
» One sunny morning in 1968, I had settled down to my customary reading of the Sunday newspapers on Hampstead Heath in London, when a couple sat on the grass near me. I was a little irritated when they switched on a transistor radio and was pondering giving them a lecture on the sanctity of peace and quiet. But then I heard the piano intro to I Say A Little Prayer and all was forgiven. A rare sunny day on the Heath with musical accompaniment by Aretha Franklin -- what more could one ask for?
Walls close in on free press
News, Editorial, Published on 06/04/2018
» With news reports and commentaries swapping between praising and criticising the ruling regime, most mainstream media staff survive direct state intimidation. But two senior journalists recently ran foul of the junta.
First they came for those who 'twerk'
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 17/06/2017
» The police this week visited several cultural spaces, to appreciate the art and to mete out censorship. Next they'll give out art prizes -- to those who toe the line and serve the official ideology -- like the propagandistic communist states did in the last century.
No, really, Big Brother is watching
News, Alan Dawson, Published on 25/06/2017
» The Big Three of International Computing have convinced tens of millions of customers to spy on themselves. Considering this, what's the big deal when the government listens in too -- well, apart from the going-to-jail part -- at least?
America's estrangement from Thailand
News, Nicholas Borroz, Published on 18/09/2015
» The American public increasingly thinks of Thailand as unstable, a perception fueled by official criticism of Thailand's politics. Although this criticism is partially driven by developments in Thailand, it is also a result of uncoordinated and reactionary foreign policy.