International Street Show In Bangkok

The 2009 International Street Performance Festival brings together more than 40 groups of performers from around the world and sets out to introduce the phenomenon of Street Performances to local residents and visitors.

The Street Show or Street Performance is a form of theatrical performance and presentation in an outdoor public space without a specific paying audience. Street performers typically earn a small income as individuals in the audience drop coins, and occasionally bank notes, into a hat, as a gesture of their appreciation and support.

Street Shows can take on several forms — for example, mime, clowning, juggling, acrobatics, balloon modeling, contortions and escapes, fire eating, sword swallowing, puppeteering, and others.

Street Show Festivals are gaining popularity around the world. The world’s best travel cities noted for their commitment in promoting art and culture all have their own Street Show Festival, such as the Daidogei World Cup in Shizuoka in Japan, World Buskers Festival in New Zealand, Hailfax International Buskers Festival in Canada and Street Performance World Championship in Dublin of Ireland.

One of the most interesting aspects about the street show is its unique experimental performance in order to attract a crowd of curious spectators. Buskers are natural entertainers and frequently demonstrate a variety of individual skills that may include acrobatics, balloon modelling, card tricks, clowning, comedy, contortions and escapes, dance, fire eating, fortune-telling, juggling, magic, mime and a mime variation where the artist performs as a living statue, perform various solo or group musical performance acts (vocal, or instrumental), puppeteering, snake charming, storytelling or recite poetry or prose as a bard, street art (sketching and painting, etc.), street theatre, sword swallowing, animal tricks, or present a flea circus.

Most encourage some form of interaction with the audience. This ultimately creates a new edge and different atmosphere every time they perform.

Street performances in each of the cosmopolitan cities around the world tend to reflect the local cultural heritage, while entertainment bridges the language barrier as well as cultural boundaries. Street show festivals therefore help to promote cross-cultural exchange. They also help to raise greater visibility, public awareness and interest in pantomime shows, thereby helping to spur future growth.

The staging of the Bangkok International Street Performance Festival presents a new cultural experience and new forms of entertainment in Thailand. This further re-inforces Bangkok’s international standing as a vibrant “City of Culture”. The festival also provides the opportunity and venue for Thai street performers to develop their potential within the international standard.

Introducing the “HOSTS”
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and Workpoint Entertainment Public Company Limited together with the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, the Tourism Authority of Thailand and Beauti Drink product proudly present “Festival of Happiness” as a ‘gift’ to all Thais and international visitors this coming festive season. There will be 40 national and international group performers joining the session. This will be their first time in Southeast Asia.

From this year onwards, the event is expected to become an annual event hosted every third week of December. The organizers hope to eventually transform the Bangkok International Street Performance Festival at Lumphini Park into a world event.

TRICKS to TREAT the Show:

-If you like front row, please sit down. Yes, you can stand if you are at the back.
-Please kindly pay attention to children, women, and seniors.
-If you like what you see, (don’t forget to fill the hat) show your appreciation by tipping to the amount that you feel the show deserves and/or what you can afford.
-No need to be quiet but please pay attention.
-No telephone conversation during the show will be appreciated.
-No talk but whisper with care.
-Please take photos with flash off.
-Bring your own mat for sitting down.
-Smoking and drinking alcohol are not allowed in the public area.
-Please use public transportation due to limited of parking lot.

with thanks  to : TAT

Royal Flora Ratchaphruek Festival 2009

More than 200,000 visitors are expected to attend a grand festival designed to celebrate and honour His Majesty the King, now the world’s longest reigning monarch, who will be celebrating his 82nd birthday on 5 December, 2009.

The opening ceremony will be held on 30 November, and the entire festival will run from 30 November — 10 December, 2009, at the Ratchaphruek 2006 Garden in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai. His Majesty the King ascended the throne in June 1946 and was coronated in May 1950.

Organised by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, and Chiang Mai Provincial Administration, the festival is expected to attract thousands of Thais, expatriate residents of Thailand, and international visitors to the northern region of Thailand.

Mrs. Juthaporn Rerngronasa, TAT Deputy Governor for Marketing Communications, said “TAT is very proud to host such a magnificent event for our beloved King. The event is designed to honour His Majesty the King and to publicise and promote tourism to Northern Thailand, especially the “Ratchaphruek 2006″ Garden. It fits in perfectly with our plans to diversify our range of destinations, spread visitors around the country, and raise the incomes of rural people.”

The festival will help boost domestic tourism, raise hotel occupancies in Chiang Mai, and give extensive exposure to North Thailand, projected to be a bridgehead for Thailand’s future economic development plans and linkages with the Greater Mekong Subregion.

The official opening ceremony will be on 30 November 2009, with welcoming parades from all four regions of Thailand. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva will deliver the opening address and then join the people in releasing 999 Kom Loi (Sky Lanterns). This will be followed by Thai classical dances from the four regions with 99 performers from each region.

The number nine is considered lucky for the Thai people. A slight variation of its pronunciation also means “progress” or “advancement” in Thai.

The grandest part of the festival will be held on His Majesty’s birthday on 5 December, with the lighting of thousands of candles, offering of prayers and blessings for his continued good health, and singing of congratulatory songs, followed by a magnificent display of fireworks and a light and sound show.

Throughout the festival, visitors will be able to enjoy a wonderful horticultural exhibition of flowers, trees and fruits, and sales and competitions of agri-products, handicrafts and village-made souvenirs. Orchid lovers will find this festival a particular delight.

The Ratchaphruek Garden was originally built for the Royal Flora Ratchaphruek 2006, an international horticultural expo, held in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai as part of the celebrations commemorating the 60th Anniversary of His Majesty the King’s Accession to the Throne. Roughly 2.5 million plants and flowers, including some rare species of orchids, were on display at the expo and received over two million visitors.

Chiang Mai is the economic, communications, cultural, and tourism centre of Northern Thailand. In recent years, it has undergone considerable economic development but still retains its historic heritage. It is also becoming increasingly well-known as a centre of traditional Thai massage, meditation, spas, health, and wellness.

Today, Chiang Mai is served by Thai Airways International, Bangkok Airways, Nok Air, Thai AirAsia, Silk Air, Lao Airlines, China Airlines, and Korean Air.

At the same time, the Asian Highway network now taking shape throughout Southeast Asia will, in the not too distant future, link Singapore with Kunming, via both Bangkok and Chiang Mai.

The city is also winning international magazine awards for its charm and lifestyle. The Ratchaphruek Garden continues to be a major tourist spot.

In addition, a number of the “Royal Initiative Discovery” projects which highlight the sufficiency economic concept of His Majesty the King are located in Northern Thailand, and are well-worth checking out.

with thanks to : TAT

Time To Saddle Up

Thai Denmark Farm aims to make the plains of Saraburi the wild west of Thailand as it hosts the annual Muak Lek Cowboy Festival this weekend. ; “We’re aiming to build a stronger brand image for Muak Lek district as a real cowboy town,” says Arunsak Ongla-Or, the founder of Between Millennium, the organiser of the event. “Previously, it was more of a big party. Now it’s a major festival with movies and music in addition to the cowboy shows.”

With a budget of some Bt10 million, the festival will have outdoor screenings of 16 cowboy films, as well as nine shorts by nine new directors and starring nine veteran performers, among them stuntman John Islam, who died of heart failure last Thursday. All the shorts focus on “cowboy nai roi Thai” – cowboys in Thai film.

“The idea of these films is to give the new generation some knowledge about the cowboy culture,” Arunsak explains. “We are also producing a new Bt5-million film, ‘Phu Chai Thit Tawan Tok Kap Dek Narok Jak Thit Tawan Ok’ ['The Western Man and the Eastern Badboy'], which tells the story of an old-time cowboy and a boy in the cyber world. It stars Pawarit ‘Bank’ Mongkolpisit and Pattarawarin ‘May’ Timkul.”

There will also be music. On Friday from 6, it’ll be veteran artists Pongpat Wachirabun-jong, Billy Ogan, Somchai Khemklad, Pong Hen Lek Fai, Tanapol Intharit, Pe Hi-Rock, and the Rang Rockestra.

Cowboy reggae will be performed on Saturday from 3 to sunrise, with Job Banjob, Madagascar, Gold Red, Supergrass, Ta-Mone, the Exotic, Deep O Sea, Ska Chance, Alum Sum Sum, Joy Boy Saran and Ska Caravan.

A TIP OF THE HAT

>> The Muak Lek Cowboy Festival runs from Friday to Sunday.

>> Tickets are Bt900 per day if Bt1,500 for a two-day pass. Get together a group of 10 friends, and you qualify for a 50-per-cent discount.

with thanks to : NATION

“Uncaged! The Art of Ability” Exhibition Increases Awareness Of Cerebral Palsy

“Uncaged: The Art of Ability,” an exhibition displaying the artwork of two talented young artists opened Saturday November 14 at the Mute Mute Gallery on Tha Pae road. Presented in the exhibition are over 60 pieces of two courageous Thai children, Mai Aeju and Wichai Gavilla. These two young boys have been literally un-caged from the confines created by their cerebral palsy, poverty and the ignorance surrounding their condition with the help of Cultural Canvas and Baan Piranan, a resident care facility for individuals with cerebral palsy.

Cultural Canvas Thailand worked together with Baan Piranan to teach the boys how to express themselves through their art. Their creativity and ingenuity shines in their artwork, expressed in multiple mediums.

What started as weekly art workshops to teach the two boys art grew into a full blown exhibition featuring their art. Mai and Wichai, with the help of Baan Piranan, overcame great hardship, abuse and neglect to transform into two lovely boys with a yearning to learn, to express themselves and to take part in the world at large.

Cultural Canvas Thailand is a volunteer organization that hopes to foster equality, community interaction and social change through artistic outreach and volunteer services in conjunction with local organizations. Cultural Canvas volunteer Aimee Aubin said, “Art and therapy have given these children a voice, something to call their own. They’re no longer trapped behind stigmas and stiff bones. Today, they’re not patients- they’re artists.”Mai and Wichai,as well as other residents and artists of Baan Piranan, were on hand to greet exhibition goers According to Piranan Singjalai, the occupational therapist in charge of Baan Piranan, the children under her care at the residential facility had suffered neglect and abuse until their rescue.

Mai was quite literally caged, spending his life in a small bamboo cage under his mother’s wooden hut when Piranan found him. He is now a bright, alert boy whose determination and personality shine through.

Mai and Wichai’s artwork is displayed along with information and stories pertaining to cerebral palsy. Audience members are invited to take a journey through two floors of exhibition space portraying the boys’ stories, their art, and presenting their experience through multiple mediums. The exhibition’s goal is two-fold: to increase awareness and understanding about cerebral palsy and to raise money to continue the support of organizations advocating for struggling social groups.

All of the artwork displayed is for sale by donation. Audiences’ donations will go directly to Cultural Canvas Thailand and Baan Piranan, continuing to provide them with the resources necessary to transform the lives of ale by donation. Audiences’ donations will go directly to Cultural Canvas Thailand and Baan Piranan, continuing to provide them with the resources necessary to transform the lives of struggling social groups in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The opening exhibition will run at the Mute Mute Gallery until November 30th.

with thanks to : CM-MAIL

The View from the EU

The long-running European Union Film Festival brings Bangkok|23 movies from 17 countries

First held 12 years ago at Bangkok’s Sala Chalermkrung Theatre, the annual European Union Film Festival opens at 8 tonight with “Zozo”, an emotional drama by director Joseph Fares about a boy who emigrates from war-torn Lebanon to Sweden.

This year’s edition arrives at Bangkok’s SF World Cinema after a 10-day run in Chiang Mai, where crowds packed the Vista theatres. In all there are 23 movies from 17 countries. Most are being screened in digital format, with only two – “Ben X” from Belgium and “Roman De Gare” (”Crossed Tracks”) from France – taken from 35mm reels.

The movies from Germany, “La Paloma – Longing Worldwide”; the Netherlands, “Hannah Hannah” and “Alles Is Liefd” (”Love is All”) and Poland, “Drzazgi” (”Splinters”) have English and Thai subtitles, otherwise the films are subtitled only in English.

British spirit

The exception to the subtitle rule is the British documentary “Sounds Like Teen Spirit”, which has no subtitles. It goes behind the scenes of the youth music spectacle, the Junior Eurovision contest, where contestants aged 10 to 15 compose and write their own entries then sing them in their country’s language.

The German-French production, “La Paloma – Longing Worldwide”, is an award-winning documentary that investigates the rich history of the evocative song “La Paloma” through archival footage and interviews with people from Cuba to Romania, Germany and Tanzania.

Eastern bloc

Festival-goers will also get to see rare gems like the Romanian film “Silent Wedding”, which tells the story of a ceremony arranged for the day on which Joseph Stalin died and which has to be temporarily postponed.

Another must-see from Romania is “Nesfarsit” (”California Dreaming”), winner of the Un Certain Regard Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Set in 1999 during the war in Kosovo, it depicts what happens when gangsters in a small Romanian village try to seize an American-guarded military train.

Lithuania’s “The Collectress” is a psychological drama based on a true story.

Other films are “Gibellina – The Earthquake” from Austria, “A Farewell to Hemingway” from Bulgaria, “Citizen Havel” from the Czech Republic, “Christmas Story” from Finland, “Adventurers” from Hungary, “Good Morning Heartache” and “The Viceroys” from Italy, “Irina Palm” from Luxembourg, “Mataharis” and “Obaba” from Spain and “The Linnaus Experience” from Sweden.

with thanks to : NATION

The Bangkok Community Theatre Offers ‘Blood Brothers’

With the uplifting ‘Blood Brothers’, the Bangkok Community Theatre offers some cash-crisis consolation ; The Bangkok Community Theatre hopes to cheer up everyone with “Blood Brothers”, a rousing musical about twin brothers separated at birth to lead “prince and pauper” lives.

The brothers fall in love with the same woman and tragedy looms, but this is ultimately “a bright, high-energy, uplifting show”, says director Marion McDonald.

“It’s been a long, tough year for many in Thailand coping with the impact of the global economic crisis,” she says. “‘Blood Brothers’ reminds us that we can achieve greater happiness without material wealth.”

Don’t like musicals?

Declared “best new musical” when it debuted in 1983 and still running in London with ex-Spice Girl Mel C in the cast, “Blood Brothers” has been called a musical for people who don’t like musicals.

The music and lyrics are by Willy Russell, the playwright behind “Educating Rita” and “Shirley Valentine” but not a songwriter.

“Every moment of the action and every song drive the story forward,” says McDonald.

“‘Blood Brothers’ was written in the era of ‘Hair’ and ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’, borrowing the styles of rock and pop music. It’s set in Liverpool, in the era of the Beatles, but the theme is timeless – families, secrets, class and the consequences of the choices we make.”

Liverpool in Bangkok

McDonald promises the show is an emotionally gripping journey and “an experience you never forget”, and says the “fantastic” local talent is re-creating the show faithfully.

Camilla McDonald, a former West End stage professional who knows the script well, has the lead role of Mr Johnstone.

Chanawee “Boom” Suthibutr, an 18-year-old student at Ruamrudee International School, and Justin Brooks, who directed for the recent Fringe Theatre Festival, play the brothers of the title.

“We’ve been rehearsing for three months,” says McDonald. “We know it’s feeling right when we get goose bumps in certain scenes from the emotional struggle.”

with thanks to : NATION

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