"Since I was young I enjoyed singing very
much. People in my village gave me compliments and said that my
voice sounded great and that I should become a singer…
"When I was still a very young teenager I
already performed with a Morlam theater group. It was a small group
called "Mek Khala" in my home town Roi-Et. I joined this group
together with my brother. After being with that group for some time
I participated in a singing contest at the Khon Kaen Silk Fair which
is the annual festival of the province. That time I did not win but
there was a DJ who saw me and heard my voice. He seemed to like it
so he introduced me to the boss of the record company, Khun Chai
Sribualert. He has been my boss since the first album until now…
"The first time I performed on a real stage
was the great concert "Isaan Khiew" - 'Green Isaan' which was a
concert organized for promoting the Isaan Khiew project of Thailand
aiming at developing the drought areas of Isaan… Many (super star
singers) performed at that concert. They both were very nice to me
being the newcomer. They took me by my hands and led me to the
stage. I was so excited that I could not speak a single word at that
moment. Working as a singer (at) a big record company, I had to wear
very fashionable clothes. Sometimes I thought that was too much for
a young girl from the Isaan country side like me. At the Isaan Khiew
concert, I had to wear a shoulder-free blouse, I thought I could not
wear it, it was just too 'daring'. But… two super stars told me that
it looked nice and I should wear it. Finally, I had to get dressed
and go out to perform at that great concert.
"Then the second exciting situation for me
was my first performance at "Ched See Concert" - also named 'The
seven-coloured concert' on the Thai TV channel 7. At that time I
could not yet speak the central Thai language very well because I
had just arrived from Isaan where we used to speak our Isaan dialect
in our daily life. When I talked and mixed some typical Isaan
expressions with the central Thai words some people were watching
the concert (most of them came from Isaan too) started joking and
yelling at me because of my confusion and my silliness of mixing the
two languages. Those were my very first experiences with performing
concerts
"I came from Isaan and started working in
the big city Bangkok. I had to learn a lot to adapt myself to the
city life. I met a lot of people and I tried to learn by watching
them how they acted and how they talked. I learned how to deal with
different kinds of people and how to behave in front of the
audience. But one thing has never changed. I am still a rather shy
person, you cannot change it. What has changed is that now I have
more self-confidence and I know more about my role as a singer. And
of course my living conditions are now much better than at the
beginning of my career.
"When I was a young girl I used to dream of
becoming a famous singer. But it seemed so unreal when I lived in my
far-away village."
Concert behind Wat U Thai, Bangkok, May 8, 2003
photo by Geoff Alexander
Recordings
In addition to morlam, Jintara sings
lukthung, string, and several other Thai popular song
forms. Most of her CDs include a mixture of styles. Rather than
purchasing music-only CDs, Westerners are suggested to buy video CDs
(VCDs), which include Jintara visuals, acted story sequences, and
Thai subtitles. Mike Simpson's English-Thai Dictionary is a handy
tool for spot translations. VCDs are in MPEG1 format, and can be
played on commonly found computer-based media players.
Jintara began recording CDs for Thailand's
Grammy company. There were 20 of them, and none were
video-versioned for VCD.
She then moved to Master Tape, where the
Grammy numbering sequence continued, from 21 to 25. Again, these
are music-only CDs.
Her first VCDs are numbered 1 through 7,
and Master Tape refers to them as "Luk Tung Sa On". Master Tape
also sells nearly identical music-only CDs with virtually the same
covers, so western buyers should ensure that the words "VCD" or
"Karaoke" appear on the cover.
Master Tape has begun a new series of
Jintara CD/VCDs, beginning, confusingly enough, with number 1.
Concert behind Wat U Thai, Bangkok, May 8, 2003
photo by Geoff Alexander
Performances/Logistics
Jintara performs each year from September
through May. Each show lasts approximately three hours, and
consists of opening acts featuring comedians and dancers. She
performs approximately 15 songs, and appears last. Her company
consists of over 200 people, traveling in two buses and nine
trucks. Of the performers, approximately 55 will be dancers, 8
comedians, and 12 musicians. Jintara's manager is JangGo, who
began his career as a DJ, is also a song writer (Jintara Taam Kao)
and appears on stage as well. Khun Somsak serves as traveling
manager, responsible for sound, lights, and setting up and removing
staging, a task which often doesn't end until 6 am the day following
the previous evening's concert. Concerts are held generally in
open-air lots, and ticket prices usually run from 40-120 baht ($
1.00 - 3.00 USD). Her 2003 show is documented on new series VCD 1,
Master Tape G-0846068. In addition, she performs occasionally with
String star
Thongchai 'Bird' McIntyre.
Their Fun Fair concerts of 2002 (with additional singers Nat Myria
and Kat English) are available on Grammy VCD G- 0846086.
A new Jintara show is taken on the road
every year. In mid-June, rehearsal for dancers begins, and the
full troupe commences rehearsing at the beginning of August, for
early September concert launch. While actual pay figures are
unknown, typical morlam and lukthung traveling troupes such as
Jintara's pay their dancers 50 baht per day during rehearsal (food
included), and 300 baht per actual show (no food included).
Comedians get a little more, and musicians are paid more than
comedians.
Jintara has performed in Germany, the U.S.,
(San Francisco), and Canada (Vancouver). Her North American
performances took place in Thai restaurants, and she sang a
capella, without accompanying musicians, dancers, or comedians.
The Thai-only website at
www.jintarafanclub.com lists
concert information, press releases, and details on current and past
recording projects.
--- Geoff Alexander, 2003
