The Royal Anthem

Not much has been happening here recently...a lot of rain (it IS the rainy season, after all) and hanging out at home. We need to post some info about our recent trips to Singapore and to the beach here in Thailand (Cha-Am, about 80 miles southwest of Bangkok)-- the pictures are up on our Flickr page, if you want to look at them!

One thing I did do today was walk the block-and-a-half over to Bumrungrad Hospital, for the 2008 "Living in Thailand" Fair. This is an annual event geared to expatriates living here, at which exhibitors from clubs, schools, companies, restaurants, etc. all set up booths and stand ready to ply you with flyers and free gifts. It's like a trade fair, only where the trade is being a foreigner. Fun!

(Plus, it serves as advertising for the hospital. I believe I've posted about this before, but all of the major private hospitals actively market themselves much more like five-star hotels or even getaway destinations rather than a place solely for fixing what ails you! We got a brochure in the mail inviting us to join Bumrungrad's "Healthy Living Club", which gets us discounts on inpatient rooms, medical supplies and lab tests, and health screenings, not to mention items at the hospital gift shops and meals at the numerous restaurants. Yes, I said restaurants: we have actually gone over there to eat dinner on a couple of occasions! It's a bit out of the Twilight Zone...)

Anyway, one of the events as part of the fair today was a series of performances by various music groups, including the Bangkok Music Society choir and the Orpheus Choir (which, I believe, serves as the chorus for the Bangkok Opera). Directing these was Somtow Sucharitkul, who I have mentioned before on this blog: he's the artistic director of the Bangkok Opera and a prolific composer AND sci-fi/horror writer. (I got to meet him, which was fun!)

Which brings me (finally) to the title of this post: one of the pieces that all the choirs performed was a new arrangement of the Thai Royal Anthem by Somtow. You can see a recorded performance of it (from another event) here. This is the King's anthem, and it's played before all performances, including movie showings...so we have heard it a lot, probably more than the actual Thai National Anthem, which is played at 8 AM and 6 PM daily on public intercom systems, radio stations, and many TV channels (I guess we just aren't tuned in at the right times for it). That's fine by me, because I think the Royal Anthem is a very nice piece of music- Josh and I find ourselves humming it in unison on random occasions!

(If you're interested, here's the Thai text and English translation for the Royal Anthem.)