Madame X:Music from the Theater Experience

Madonna’s Madame X Tour will be released on vinyl as a triple album on 22nd September. The album cover is reminiscent of Madonna’s Erotica album, and the back cover recreates a shot from the Erotica music video. A limited-edition picture-disc version is also available, with a cover showing Madonna’s eyes closed, as if in ecstasy.

This is the first release of the Madame X Tour on any physical format, as it was previously available only on digital streaming platforms. The digital version was titled Madame X: Music from the Theater Xperience, and the vinyl album has almost the same title, but it uses the conventional spelling of Experience.

The album track listing is: God Control, Dark Ballet, Human Nature (followed by an a cappella version of Express Yourself), Vogue, I Don’t Search I Find, American Life, Batuka, Fado Pechincha, Killers Who Are Partying, Crazy, Welcome to My Fado Club (incorporating La Isla Bonita), Extreme Occident, Rescue Me (a pre-recorded spoken interlude), Medellín, Frozen, Come Alive, Future, Like a Prayer, I Rise, Sodade, and Crave. The final two tracks were not included in the previous digital version.

Pura Luka Vega

Filipino drag artist Pura Luka Vega is facing criminal charges after dressing as Jesus and singing Ama Namin, a Tagalog translation of the Lord’s Prayer. Vega posted a video of the performance on X (the new name for Twitter) on 9th July; the clip went viral, and the artist has since deleted it. Senators in the Philippines have condemned the video as blasphemous, and police are investigating complaints that it violates article 201 of the country’s penal code, which prohibits public indecency.

Artist Mideo Cruz faced the same charge in 2011, when his installation Poleteismo (‘polytheism’) was shown at the Kulo (‘boil’) exhibition in Manila, though he was ultimately vindicated by the Supreme Court in 2013. Kittredge Cherry’s book Art That Dares discusses previous examples of gay and feminine depictions of Christ.

‘Giorgia Meloni... Fascist!’

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is suing Brian Molko, lead singer of the British rock band Placebo, for defamation after he called her a fascist at a concert in Italy last month. During the performance, Molko said: “Giorgia Meloni—pezzo di merda! Fascista! Razzista! Vaffanculo!” (‘Giorgia Meloni—piece of shit! Fascist! Racist! Go fuck yourself!’).

After the concert, at Sonic Park Stupinigi in Nichelino on 11th July, local police investigated Molko for defaming a public institution (namely, the office of the Prime Minister). Meloni has now filed a personal lawsuit against Molko, accusing him of libel. (More than a decade ago, Madonna was sued by French politician Marine Le Pen after depicting her as a Nazi at a concert.)

Rock Home Town

The lead singer of the Chinese rock band 暴力香槟 (‘violent champagne’) has been arrested in Shijiazhuang for ‘immoral behaviour’ after briefly dropping his shorts during a gig at Xiandan Livehouse on 22nd July. The crowd at the Rock Home Town festival encouraged him to go further, shouting: “Drop your pants!” (Earlier this year, a Chinese comedian was detained after using a People’s Liberation Army slogan as a punchline.)

Paranoïa, Angels, True Love

Paranoïa, Angels, True Love, the new album from Christine and the Queens, was released yesterday. Madonna appears on three tracks—Angels Crying in My Bed, I Met an Angel, and Lick the Light Out—as an ethereal narrator known as Big Eye. The experimental concept album is available on LP and CD in a three-disc set, though a single-disc version (without I Met an Angel) has also been released.

Madonna also appears with Sam Smith on their new single Vulgar (released on the same day as Paranoïa, Angels, True Love), and she is featured on The Weeknd’s new single Popular. Previously, she appeared on a remix of Dua Lipa’s single Levitating, in the music video for Ariana Grande’s single God Is a Woman, on Maluma’s album 11:11, on Quavo’s album Quavo Huncho, on Annie Lennox’s album Songs of Mass Destruction, and on Britney Spears’ album In the Zone. She also collaborated with Saucy Santana on their single Material Gworrllllllll!

Vulgar

Vulgar, the new single from Sam Smith and Madonna, was released on streaming platforms today. The song’s main theme—reappropriating ‘vulgar’ as a badge of pride, and not caring what anyone thinks—is hard to argue with. But if Smith and Madonna are trying to provoke, they’ve surely failed: “Do you know how to spell my name? / B-I-T-C-H / Go fuck yourself” feels like a rehash of Bitch I’m Madonna.

Madonna fares slightly better than Smith, with more namechecks in the lyrics (as she had in Into the Hollywood Groove, her collaboration with Missy Elliot). There’s also a callback to one of her biggest hits: “Let’s get into the groove”. Perhaps the best thing about the project is the cover photo, with Smith and Madonna’s initials (S&M, geddit?) and two corsets.

Vulgar is Madonna’s third collaboration this month: she also appears on new albums by The Weeknd and Christine and the Queens. Previously, she appeared on a remix of Dua Lipa’s Levitating, in the music video for Ariana Grande’s God Is a Woman, on Maluma’s album 11:11, on Quavo’s album Quavo Huncho, on Annie Lennox’s album Songs of Mass Destruction, and on Britney Spears’ album In the Zone. She also collaborated with Saucy Santana for the single Material Gworrllllllll!

Popular

The Weeknd’s single Popular, featuring Madonna and Playboi Carti, was released on streaming platforms yesterday. Madonna sings a powerful verse about life in the limelight: “Spent my whole life runnin’ from your flashin’ lights... You can’t take my soul without a fuckin’ fight”. The lyrics echo those of Joan of Arc from her Rebel Heart album: “Each time they take a photograph / I lose a part I can’t get back”.

Popular was recorded for the HBO drama series The Idol, and is Madonna’s third collaboration musical this month. She has also released a duet with Sam Smith (Vulgar), and she appears on three tracks on the Christine and the Queens album Paranoïa, Angels, True Love. A CD soundtrack of The Idol was scheduled for release, though it has now been cancelled.

Previously, Madonna also appeared on a remix of Dua Lipa’s single Levitating, on Maluma’s album 11:11, on Quavo’s album Quavo Huncho, on Annie Lennox’s album Songs of Mass Destruction, and on Britney Spears’ album In the Zone. She also performed a monologue in the music video for Ariana Grande’s single God Is a Woman, and collaborated with Saucy Santana on their single Material Gworrllllllll!

This Is Not a Drill

German police have launched an investigation into Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, who is currently performing a solo world tour, This Is Not a Drill. A Berlin police spokesman accused him of wearing a costume “capable of approving, glorifying or justifying the violent and arbitrary rule of the Nazi regime in a manner that violates the dignity of the victims and thereby disrupts public peace”.

After the show’s interval, Waters returns to the stage wearing a black trenchcoat with a red armband depicting two crossed hammers. The same logo also appears on banners hanging from the roof, in the style of a Nazi rally, as Waters performs the songs In the Flesh and Run Like Hell. (It was first used in Pink Floyd’s film The Wall.)

Waters performed at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin on 17th and 18th May, and has also played at other German cities (Hamburg on 7th May, Cologne on 9th May, Munich on 21st May, and Frankfurt today). Displaying Nazi-inspired insignia is illegal in Germany, though Waters insists that he was parodying Nazism rather than endorsing it.

Madonna’s use of Nazi imagery at a concert also led to a legal challenge. In 2012, fascist French politician Marine Le Pen sued her for defamation after she superimposed a swastika onto a photograph of Le Pen’s face during her MDNA Tour. In an uncharacteristic act of self-censorship, Madonna replaced the swastika with a question mark at her next French concert in Nice.

No Reason

Tattoo Colour’s single No Reason (เผด็จเกิร์ล), released in 2017, was one of the first records to satirise the junta after the 2014 coup. In 2018, Rap Against Dictatorship inspired a wave of anti-government protest songs that continues to this day, though No Reason predates them all. The single was taken from Tattoo Colour’s album สัตว์จริง (‘real animal’), and the CD cover shows the group giving a three-finger salute as an anti-coup protest.

The music video for the song, directed by Nittakarn Kaewpyasawad and Tanis Pintong, includes various coded references to the military and the monarchy. A book titled “44 RULES” refers to article 44 of the interim constitution, which gave Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha absolute power. One of the book’s rules is “ADJUST YOUR ATTITUDE”, a reference to the military’s euphemistic term for its arbitrary detention policy. A wall calendar shows the date as 20th May, which was the day in 2014 when Prayut unconstitutionally declared martial law. Five men appear in the video, and martial law prohibits political gatherings of five or more people. Most provocatively, a flashcard reading “วันเกิดหมาเธอ” (‘her dog’s birthday’) refers to a notorious leaked video.

In the years since No Reason and สัตว์จริง, there have been more than two dozen songs and albums commenting on Thai politics, including three released this month: Bigboat’s This Is Thailand (ที่นี่ประเทศไทย), Elevenfinger’s Free My Friends (ปล่อยเพื่อนกู), and Rap Against Dictatorship’s I’m the One Who Gets to Decide (คนที่ตัดสินใจคือฉันเอง). Rap Against Dictatorship’s prolific output also includes the singles My Country Has (ประเทศกูมี), Sunflower (ดอกทานตะวัน), Homeland (บ้านเกิดเมืองนอน), Burning Sky (ไฟไหม้ฟ้า), Budget (งบประมาณ), กอ เอ๋ย กอ กราบ (‘k is for krap’), Reform (ปฏิรูป), Ta Lu Fah (ทะลุฟ้า), and 16 ปีแล้วไอ้สัส (‘it’s been 16 years, ai sat’). There have also been albums from The Commoner, Pisitakun Kuantalaeng (in 2020 and 2022), Speech Odd, Elevenfinger, and t_047; and singles from The Commoner, Elevenfinger, Badmixy, View from the Bus Tour, Milli and Youngohm, Getsunover and Three Man Down, and Paeng Surachet.

Oddworld

Thai punk band Speech Odd’s debut album Oddworld was released earlier this year. The lyrics include comments made by King Rama X on royal walkabouts: the track Speech King quotes his answer to a reporter’s question (“Thailand is the land of compromise”), and Thank You quotes his words to a prominent royalist (“กล้ามาก เก่งมาก ขอบใจ”/‘very brave, very good, thank you’). Fucx Coup [sic] begins with a sample of Prayut Chan-o-cha announcing the 2014 coup.

The band’s music is available on a wide variety of physical formats. Oddworld was released on cassette, CD, and vinyl. Their single Control was issued on a 3.5" floppy disk, and its cover is an illustration of anti-coup protester Nuamthong Praiwan crashing his taxi into a tank. Their Promo 2022 EP is on cassette and 5" vinyl.

“The land of compromise” previously appeared as a caption in the video for Elevenfinger’s ไอเหี้ย... ฆาตกร (‘damned... murderer’). “กล้ามาก เก่งมาก ขอบใจ” inspired the title of a song by Paeng Surachet. Rap Against Dictatorship restaged Nuamthong’s taxi crash in the video for their single 16 ปีแล้วไอ้สัส (‘it’s been 16 years, ai sat’). Prayut was also sampled by Pisitakun Kuantalaeng on his album Absolute Coup.

I’m the One Who Gets to Decide

Rap Against Dictatorship’s single 250 Bootlickers (250 สอพลอ)—criticising the 250 subservient senators appointed by the junta—was released two days before Thailand’s 2019 election, and now their new single I’m the One Who Gets to Decide (คนที่ตัดสินใจคือฉันเอง) has dropped six days before the next election. The song encourages people to vote and make their voice count, reminding us that the choice we make at the ballot box is entirely our own. (They’re preaching to the choir here, because many young people are already politically engaged.)

In the music video for the single, directed by Skanbombomb, the band play candidates for the fictional Rhyme Reform Party appearing on a political talk show. Their previous singles include My Country Has (ประเทศกูมี), Sunflower (ดอกทานตะวัน), Homeland (บ้านเกิดเมืองนอน), Burning Sky (ไฟไหม้ฟ้า), Budget (งบประมาณ), กอ เอ๋ย กอ กราบ (‘k is for krap’), Reform (ปฏิรูป), Ta Lu Fah (ทะลุฟ้า), and 16 ปีแล้วไอ้สัส (‘it’s been 16 years, ai sat’).

Rap Against Dictatorship inspired numerous other artists to release anti-government protest songs, most recently Elevenfinger’s Free My Friends (ปล่อยเพื่อนกู) and Bigboat’s This Is Thailand (ที่นี่ประเทศไทย). Previous releases include the albums สามัญชน (‘commoner’), Absolute Coup, Kongkraphan, No God No King Only Humans, and ไม่มีคนบนฟ้า (‘no one in the sky’); and the singles รุ้ง (‘rainbow’), ไอเหี้ย... ฆาตกร (‘damned... murderer’), Thalugaz (ทะลุเเก๊ซ), Next Love, Sun Rises When Day Breaks (ลิ่วล้อ), อนาคตคือ (‘the future is...’), อีกไม่นาน นานแค่ไหน (‘how long is ‘soon’?’), กล้ามาก เก่งมาก ขอบใจ (‘very brave, very good, thank you’), เผด็จกวยหัวคาน (‘get rid of the dickhead’), คนที่คุณก็รู้ว่าใคร (‘you know who’), and Pirates (โจรสลัด).

Free My Friends

Of the many Thai musicians releasing songs commenting on politics, the military, and the monarchy, the rapper Elevenfinger is definitely the most uncompromising. On his track Thalugaz (ทะลุเเก๊ซ), he leads a crowd in the same chant that resulted in charges against Chaiamorn Kaewwiboonpan. The titles of his singles เผด็จกวยหัวคาน (‘get rid of the dickhead’) and ไอเหี้ย... ฆาตกร (‘damned... murder’) are far from subtle.

His new single Free My Friends (ปล่อยเพื่อนกู), released yesterday, is so excoriating that quoting from it would violate the lèse-majesté law. (The lyrics include insults in both Thai and English.) The video for the song, directed by Fook Yosthi, features murals—including a royal portrait by FD7—superimposed onto Chiang Mai’s city wall using CGI, and multilayered clips of riot police clashing with student protesters. The title refers to protesters jailed for lèse-majesté.

Free My Friends is the latest of numerous protest songs released since the 2014 coup, most notably a string of singles by Rap Against Dictatorship: My Country Has (ประเทศกูมี), Sunflower (ดอกทานตะวัน), Homeland (บ้านเกิดเมืองนอน), Burning Sky (ไฟไหม้ฟ้า), Budget (งบประมาณ), กอ เอ๋ย กอ กราบ (‘k is for krap’), Reform (ปฏิรูป), Ta Lu Fah (ทะลุฟ้า), and 16 ปีแล้วไอ้สัส (‘it’s been 16 years, ai sat’). There have also been albums from The Commoner, Pisitakun Kuantalaeng (in 2020 and 2022), and t_047; and singles from Bigboat, The Commoner, Badmixy, View from the Bus Tour, Milli and Youngohm, Getsunover and Three Man Down, and Paeng Surachet.

This Is Thailand

Thai rappers Bigboat released the video to their new single This Is Thailand (ที่นี่ประเทศไทย) today. The video, directed by journalist Cod Satrusayang, begins with a TV set showing clips from the announcements of the 2014, 2006, and 1991 coups. The band perform in military uniforms, and the first line of the song addresses the coup leaders directly: “คุณรู้มั้ยว่าทำประเทศบอบช้ำไปตั้งเท่าไหร่” (‘don’t you know how much you’ve hurt the country?’). Other archive material includes footage of riot police clashing with student protesters on 16th October 2020.

This Is Thailand is partly a state-of-the-nation song, with lyrics such as “ที่นี่คือประเทศไทยมีอำนาศไว้ใช้กดขี่แต่ผู้คน” (‘this is Thailand, where power is used to oppress people’). It’s also a call-to-arms: “ใครเห็นด้วยจงยืนขึ้น ต่อสู้เพื่อเสรีท่าวันนี้เพื่อลูกหลาน” (‘whoever agrees, stand up today and fight for freedom for your children’). Ultimately, the message is: smash the system, as the video ends with a sledgehammer smashing the TV screen. Just as Rap Against Dictatorship’s 250 Bootlickers (250 สอพลอ) was released two days before the 2019 election, This Is Thailand has dropped a week before the 14th May election, when coup leader Prayut Chan-o-cha is again on the ballot. (Rap Against Dictatorship will release another single later this week, as will Elevenfinger.)

This is the latest of numerous protest songs released since the 2014 coup, most notably a string of singles by Rap Against Dictatorship: My Country Has (ประเทศกูมี), Sunflower (ดอกทานตะวัน), Homeland (บ้านเกิดเมืองนอน), Burning Sky (ไฟไหม้ฟ้า), Budget (งบประมาณ), กอ เอ๋ย กอ กราบ (‘k is for krap’), Reform (ปฏิรูป), Ta Lu Fah (ทะลุฟ้า), and 16 ปีแล้วไอ้สัส (‘it’s been 16 years, ai sat’). There have also been albums from The Commoner, Pisitakun Kuantalaeng (in 2020 and 2022), Elevenfinger, and t_047; and singles from The Commoner, Elevenfinger, Badmixy, View from the Bus Tour, Milli and Youngohm, Getsunover and Three Man Down, and Paeng Surachet.

Sunflower

Rap Against Dictatorship released their latest single, Sunflower (ดอกทานตะวัน), this morning. As a ballad, it’s quite a departure for the group, though it’s just as political as their previous singles My Country Has (ประเทศกูมี), 250 Bootlickers (250 สอพลอ), Homeland (บ้านเกิดเมืองนอน), Burning Sky (ไฟไหม้ฟ้า), Budget (งบประมาณ), กอ เอ๋ย กอ กราบ (‘k is for krap’), Reform (ปฏิรูป), Ta Lu Fah (ทะลุฟ้า), and 16 ปีแล้วไอ้สัส (‘it’s been 16 years, ai sat’).

Sunflower is named after Tantawan Tuatulanon, a pro-democracy protester whose first name means ‘sunflower’ in Thai. Tantawan and another protester, Orawan Phuphong, went on hunger strike on 18th January in solidarity with lèse-majesté suspects facing pre-trial detention. They were themselves charged with lèse-majesté last year, after conducting an opinion poll asking whether royal motorcades caused inconvenience. They voluntarily revoked their own bail last month, and called for the abolition of the lèse-majesté law.

The song, performed by 3bone (who was also featured on Ta Lu Fah), refers to the hunger strike—“กับน้ำที่เทเพื่อให้ได้ดื่มกับสารอาหารที่ขาด” (‘having water to drink but no nutrition’)—and, indirectly, to royal motorcades: “รถที่ติดชนชั้นระหว่างผู้คนข้างทางรถนำขบวนที่ฝ่า” (‘traffic jams while a convoy passes by’). Similarly, The Commoner released a single dedicated to another protester, Panusaya Sithjirawattanakul, who also went on hunger strike, in 2021.

Kongkraphan

Kongkraphan, the new album by artist and musician Pisitakun Kuantalaeng, commemorates the military’s violent suppression of red-shirt demonstrators in 2010. The titles of each of the eight tracks refer to dates on which protesters were shot by the army, and they include samples of audio recorded during the protests. The album title translates as ‘invulnerable’, a reference to the military’s impunity.

The opening track, 10/04/2010, begins with the sound of a protester on 10th April 2010 imploring the soldiers: “Why are you shooting?” The remaining seven tracks cover the final week of the conflict, from 13th to 19th May 2010, with each song representing a different day (13/5/2010, 14/05/2010, 15/05/2010, 16/05/2010, 17/05/2010, 18/05/2010, and 19/05/2010). 13/5/2010 revisits the death of Khattiya Sawasdipol, a former army officer who was shot by a sniper after he joined the red-shirts. A prolonged car horn can be heard in 15/05/2010; the driver was shot, and his head slumped onto the steering wheel, setting off the horn. 18/05/2010 was previously released on the album Tetra Hysteria Manifesto.

Pisitakun previously documented the final week of the massacre in a series of posters and stickers, released as a box set titled Ten Year: Thai Military Crackdown [sic] marking the tenth anniversary of the events. His album Absolute Coup was equally political, with each track named after the various institutions that he deemed responsible for laying the groundwork for Thailand’s numerous military coups.

Sex

When Madonna released her notorious picture book Sex in 1992, she caused a worldwide sensation. Never before had a mainstream entertainer (let alone an A-list celebrity as famous as Madonna) posed for such explicit photographic portraits. Thirty years later, the book is finally being reprinted, and a selection of Steven Meisel’s photographs will be on show at Saint Laurent Rive Droit in Miami, Florida later this month.

Sex remains perhaps the most sought-after illustrated book ever published. Madonna has always been provocative but Sex attracted an unprecedented level of controversy and led to an unexpected backlash. Madonna responded to her critics in the Human Nature music video: “Absolutely no regrets.” She later reinvented herself as a children’s author, writing The English Roses Collection.

อีกไม่นาน นานแค่ไหน

Two Thai bands, Getsunova and Three Men Down, collaborated on the single อีกไม่นาน นานแค่ไหน (‘how long is ‘soon’?’), released this time last year. The title is a despairing reply to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s lyric “ขอเวลาอีกไม่นาน” (‘give us a little more time’) from his propaganda song Returning Happiness to the Thai Kingdom (คืนความสุขให้ประเทศไทย). Prayut’s song promised that his junta would not outstay its welcome; the bands’ response is: after all these years, how much longer will it be?

Like Paeng Surachet’s กล้ามาก เก่งมาก ขอบใจ (‘very brave, very good, thank you’), อีกไม่นาน นานแค่ไหน uses heartbreak as a political metaphor. Paeng’s song is about splitting up with an unfaithful partner, though it could also be read as a statement of the singer’s feelings about the monarchy. Similarly, อีกไม่นาน นานแค่ไหน describes the agony of waiting for a girlfriend to change her wayward behaviour, just as Thailand waits in vain for Prayut to improve the country:

“เธอขอเวลาปรับปรุงตัวเองข้อเสียทุกอย่าง
แค่ขอเวลาไม่นาน
เธอสัญญา เธอสัญญา จะทำตามอย่างว่ามา
ฉันก็รอ ฉันก็รอ อดทนอย่างไม่ท้อ
ยอมให้โอกาส ปล่อยเธอทำผิดซ้ำๆ
ให้ฉันต้องเจ็บและช้ำจนใจมันเริ่มหมดหวัง
เพราะผ่านมานานแสนนาน”

(‘she asked for time to improve herself
only asked for a short time
she promised she’d do as she said
I waited patiently without giving up
I let her make the same mistakes over and over
it hurts so much and my heart’s lost all hope
because a long time has passed’).

In the อีกไม่นาน นานแค่ไหน music video, three young children present their progressive ideas to improve Thai society, only to be dismissed by their conservative teachers. The three kids look remarkably like younger versions of anti-government protest leaders Panusaya Sithjirawattanakul, Parit Chirawak, and Arnon Nampa: could the video be an origin story for the protest movement? A schoolchild’s progressive policy ideas dismissed by an authoritarian teacher was also the central theme of Duangporn Pakavirojkul’s short film Demockrazy (ประชาทิปตาย).

“ประเทศเรากำลังจะพัง...”

Charges against five musicians were filed with Thai police on the same day, 27th September. Sonthiya Sawasdee, a former MP from the pro-military Palang Pracharath Party, accused four singers of violating the Computer Crime Act after videos of their concert were uploaded online. And the royalist King Protection Group filed a lèse-majesté charge against rapper P9D in relation to one of his songs.

Pramote Prathan (known as Oat), Pongkool Suebsung (Pop), Pongsak Rattanaphong (Aof), and Thanakrit Panitchwit (Wan) performed together at the I Will Survive (4 แยกปากหวาน ตอน) concert on 17th September at Royal Paragon Hall in Bangkok. Coincidentally, this was the same venue at which comedian Udom Taephanich held his Deaw 13 (เดี่ยว 13) show, which was also the subject of a recent police complaint.

Sonthiya accused the four singers of publishing inaccurate or misleading information online, which would be a violation of the Computer Crime Act. He cited lyrics such as “ประเทศเรากำลังจะพัง” (‘our country is about to collapse’), “แปดปี ไม่มีความหมาย” (‘eight pointless years’, describing Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s time in office), and “นาฬิกายังไม่คืน” (‘the watches have not been returned’, a reference to deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwan’s claim that his luxury watches were merely borrowed from a friend).

On the same day, the King Protection Group filed a police complaint against P9D, alleging that his song Kuay Rai A (ควยไรอะ) violated the lèse-majesté law. The pressure group intentionally avoided naming the track, hoping to prevent the ‘Streisand effect’ whereby censorship paradoxically draws more attention to the forbidden material. This was unnecessary, though, as the rapper—mindful of the severity of lèse-majesté sentences—has since deleted it from all social media and online music sites.

Ad Carabao

Yuenyong Opakul, better known as Ad Carabao, is facing a defamation charge after insulting the governor of Suphan Buri. Yuenyong, a veteran singer/songwriter and founder member of the iconic ‘songs for life’ band Carabao, is Thailand’s most famous rock star.

While playing a concert at a birthday party in the Song Phi Nong district of Suphan Buri on 12th October, Yuengyong criticised governor Natthapat Suwanprateep, who was in the audience as a guest at the party. Calling the governor “ai sat” (a strong insult), the singer complained that he had been denied permission to perform at the annual Don Chedi Royal Monument fair earlier this year.

The governor has since issued a video statement, saying that Suphan Buri had been subject to coronavirus restrictions at the time of the fair, which prevented large public performances. Yuengyong apologised via a written statement on Carabao’s Facebook page two days ago: “จึงขอกราบขออภัยท่านผู้ว่าฯ... ส่วนเรื่องคดีความผมพร้อมอ้าแขนรับความ” (‘I apologise to the governor... regarding a lawsuit, I am ready to face the charges’). Natthapat yesterday filed a criminal defamation charge against the singer, and police are currently investigating.

16 ปีแล้วไอ้สัส

Rap Against Dictatorship released their new single 16 ปีแล้วไอ้สัส (‘it’s been 16 years, ai sat’) yesterday, on the sixteenth anniversary of the 2006 coup. The title echoes a lyric from another recent single, Long Live the People—“7–8 ปีแล้วนะไอ้สัตว์” (‘it’s been 7–8 years, ai hia’)—and the จะ4ปีแล้วนะไอ้สัตว์ (‘it’s been 4 years, ai hia’) concert. (Ai sat and ai hia are both strong Thai insults.)

In their most famous music video, My Country Has (ประเทศกูมี), Rap Against Dictatorship recreated an infamous photograph of the 6th October 1976 massacre. For the 16 ปีแล้วไอ้สัส video, they have recreated the moment when Nuamthong Praiwan crashed his taxi into a tank to protest against the coup. The song is dedicated to Nuamthong, as was the documentary Democracy after Death (ประชาธิปไตยหลังความตาย), and the video includes extracts from his suicide note, as does the short film Letter from the Silence (จดหมายจากความเงียบ).

The 16 ปีแล้วไอ้สัส music video also features archive footage of some of the major political events of the past sixteen years, including the Ratchaprasong massacre, the announcement of the 2014 coup, and a Harry Potter-themed monarchy-reform protest. Young Ohm’s single Bangkok Legacy (บางกอก เลกาซี่) also includes a reference to the Ratchaprasong massacre: “คงแยกไม่ออก ระหว่างทหารกับฆาตกร” (‘there is no distinction between soldiers and murderers’).

16 ปีแล้วไอ้สัส features guest vocals by Chaiamorn Kaewwiboonpan, whose single 12345 I Love You has become an anthem of the anti-government protest movement. Footage of the recent protests also appears in two previous Rap Against Dictatorship music videos, Ta Lu Fah (ทะลุฟ้า)—which references Chaiamorn in its lyrics—and Reform (ปฏิรูป).