My name is Salin. I'm a drummer and producer from Thailand Although I grew up and live here until the age of 19, I haven't really explored most of the musical traditions of this culturally rich country. This is why I'm embarking on a 10-day trip to Isaan the northeastern part of Thailand where I will be exploring the sonic roots of indigenous communities learning about the evolution of local Isaan music and connecting with people and their way of living along the way. We start our journey 6 hours Northeast of Bangkok at the Nyah Kur Village. home to the indigenous tribe that dates back to the Kmer kingdom. The Nyah Kur still practices their tradition to this day but much of it is slowly disappearing. Uncle Plean is part of the Nyah Kur tribe and an advocate for the preservation of their culture. He is a leader in the community and is trying in every way to promote the language and traditions So this dessert is called "Lin Ma" in direct translation to English is tongue of a dog and as you can see is literally the shape of a tongue of a dog. It's made of banana coconut and sugar and then they mix it all together and then after they made to this little ball here and a and then you're going to put Sesame on top so the Sesame is actually for the flour not to stick together. You guys want to make one? tastes like bananas After the tribe fed us we were ready for some music We brought a USB powered interface and a couple of mics so that we can record wherever we went. After a couple of soundchecks we were ready for some performances This rhythm is called rum tone. It is a traditional Rhythm found in the Nyah Kur tribe that would accompany a dance Rum means dance in Thai and tone is the name of the drum as a matter of fact you'll hear the same Rhythm quite often in Northeast Thailand and Laos. It is also one of the basic rhythms of modern Isaan music which I will show you in later episodes. \ The second rhythm is called Pa-ray-ray. It is a rhythm unique to the Nyah Kur tribe. It would often accompany a poem or song for men and women to flirt with each other notice that the pattern has a rhythmic pulse a push and pull effect to lure in the opposite sex. Another traditional wood read instrument is called puaj. It's a bamboo jew harp found in many different indigenous cultures around the world. A version of this is also played by the Nyah Kur tribe. As a matter of fact I was so inspired by his performance that I sampled it and used it in one of my songs with his permission of course. According to the Nyah tribe they used to play this instrument to send signals to each other in the forest. It's a signal that was well known to the tribe and which in some cases men would also play to invite women Today we're diving deeper into the world of musical instruments and traditions of the Nyah Kur tribe here in Northeast Thailand and what better way to start a day of learning than with some local snacks. This is miang or one bite wrap. It's a traditional snack found in several southeast Asia counties. Even though there are many different versions of miang in Laos, Malaysia and Central Thailand this particular version is made of The way to eat it is to take the "Bai toon" or "Bai tua" put a little bit of each ingredient into it and then eat it in one bite. With our taste buds fully awakened we were ready for some more... um... Leaf action. One could simply pick the leaves use them as food but also produce some pretty interesting sounds with them normally they use any type of leaf they could find in the forest but in this video the closest tree to us is the lamduan or white cheese wood. Blowing into the leaf in a certain way is how the Nyah Kur would imitate the sound of certain animals such as a fawn attracting the mother deer that they would then hunt It was also the way that the Nyah Kur used to communicate with each other from a distance whether it was calling a friend to rest after a long day of work in the rice fields or even to flirt with a potential mate We all take our turn to try to blow into the leaves but to be honest none of us were able to make any sound at all. This is harder than it looks. After a little walk in the Village Market followed by little nap, we met up with some local villagers to witness another plant which the Nyah Kur would have also repurposed into an instrument. So we're going to go inside to record another set, playing the juppeng which is the bamboo. This is Juppeng. It's made of large fresh cut bamboo. They cut the bamboo into three different sections the top the middle and the end which give them three different sizes and produces three different sounds. In the early days the Nyah kur played juppeng to chase away birds or any other animal that would threaten their crops It is our final day with the Nyah Kur tribe and we are taken into the forest by a river where they used to live. Nyah Kur in their own language means Mountain Folk . Back in the day, they would live in the mountains deep inside the jungle go where they would live off the land by hunting, fishing, and foraging all while enjoying a simple life style with nature. We feast on grill meats, the mandatory sticky rice and some surprisingly delicious leaves foraged by the Nyah Kur people. With our belly's full the elders are ready to have some fun in the water and invite us along to witness a unique activity, water drumming. Water drumming can be found in several cultures around the world some most notably in Africa but to our surprise Nyah Kur people also do it fun. After cooling off in the river I surprised the Nyah Kur people with the track I had made the night before with the sound which I had sampled the previous days the Juppeng, the leaves, the vocal