Mekong Delta Blues E-Program Click on THIS! to see our “works” click HERE
My Mekong Delta Blues I‛ve been in love with rivers since I walked the banks of the Lackawanna River in Scranton, Pennsylvania as a boy-where/how did they begin?, where do they end? As a teenager I watched the news and “body counts” as people we knew were dying in a far away place they called the “Mekong Delta”. I was listening to a lot of Musiq, too, especially the blues of another Delta, the Mississippi. Years later, living in Thailand and employing the phenomenal cultures of the great Mekong River, 5,000 kilometers, I traced it to its beginnings of snow and ice in Tibet where they call it La Qu, down to Kunming where it becomes LanCang and on to the Golden Triangle of Laos, Myanmar & Thailand. The Sacred Serpent, Payanak, guided me further to Cambodia as that Great Kong empties into the lake, Tonle Sap and onto Vietnam where it empties into the South China Sea at that very Mekong Delta. I am honored to share it as a musiqal journey at this Chicago Thailand Festival and thank all-the Thai Consul General, P Chawn, Big Nic, Hon, Ajarn Tong and all the performers who have gathered here to share our cultures-especially our Thai and American Cultures celebrating 190 Years of Kinship. That Mighty Mekong is under threat-dams and the weight of humanity are taking the lives of fishermen and cultures. Go see it soon. I‛ll take you, or at least bring it to you tonight via Musiq, story and dance. Der Nai Der-You Rock, Chicago. Let us all rock on this eternal River of Love we call life! In Peace & Joy, Todd Tongdee
Todd Tongdee Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania and raised in a family of traveling “minstrel” performers, Todd Lavelle went to Thailand as a Fulbright Scholar in Herbal Medicine and Ethnic Studies in the late 80‛s and has since created and produced 5,000 poems, 400 original Thai World Musiq songs on 20 albumsb(Warner Music) and shared them in over 3,000 performances over the last 30 years. His company, Lavelle Entertainment (Le Musiq) has created and produced over 200 World Musiq Festivals, International Seminars, Workshops and Camps with Thai private and government organizations and in coordination with over 60 nations. They have published over 50 books in Thai,English, Chinese and 10 other languages. Over 1,000 TV segments created and/or produced by the Le Team include the hit shows “To Wati” throughout the 1990‛s, “Kun Pra Choi” 2004-2013, Lanna World 2014-2019 and currently their “Good News with Todd Tongdee” is produced with Tero Entertainment and nationally televised daily on Channel 7HD. Each segment includes a new,original song Todd writes for the good news at hand.The ‘Americans in Thailand” textbook features “Todd Tongdee” as Thai people know him as one of the most influential Americans in Thailand‛s 200 year history with the USA. At his home/office in Bangkok-the Joint-he rides a red 1967 Schwinn bicycle and in Scranton drives a 1999 Dodge RAM Van. He still writes 3 pages a day in his journal and enjoys swimming,walking,lifting with his 15-year old son,Anthro. I‛ve been in love with rivers since I walked the banks of the Lackawanna River in Scranton, Pennsylvania as a boy-where/how did they begin?, where do they end? As a teenager I watched the news and “body counts” as people we knew were dying in a far away place they called the “Mekong Delta”. I was listening to a lot of Musiq, too, especially the blues of another Delta, the Mississippi. Years later, living in Thailand and employing the phenomenal cultures of the great Mekong River, 5,000 kilometers, I traced it to its beginnings of snow and ice in Tibet where they call it La Qu, down to Kunming where it becomes LanCang and on to the Golden Triangle of Laos, Myanmar & Thailand. The Sacred Serpent, Payanak, guided me further to Cambodia as that Great Kong empties into the lake, Tonle Sap and onto Vietnam where it empties into the South China Sea at that very Mekong Delta. I am honored to share it as a musiqal journey at this Chicago Thailand Festival and thank all-the Thai Consul General, P Chawn, Big Nic, Hon, Ajarn Tong and all the performers who have gathered here to share our cultures-especially our Thai and American Cultures celebrating 190 Years of Kinship. That Mighty Mekong is under threat-dams and the weight of humanity are taking the lives of fishermen and cultures. Go see it soon. I‛ll take you, or at least bring it to you tonight via Musiq, story and dance. Der Nai Der-You Rock, Chicago. Let us all rock on this eternal River of Love we call life! In Peace & Joy, Todd Tongdee
morning light finds visions of night still painted in her eyes colored skin she breathes life in and hops out into day she says, “I have seen the instruments we need I have heard the melodies we‛ll sing” she sings those songs and dances strong her mighty vision moves noon she breaks over Songkla Lake, she fishes for a smile Southern boys finds teasin‛ toys in the monkey‛s shaken dance she says, “I have touched, the sky and earth and such are dreams of men on Southern soil again” she beats those drums and hits those gongs, her mighty vision moves night wakes soon over Pattalung, she perches on a cliff the freedom trees dance in the breeze like the figures of Thalung she says, “black and white are played out in the night but, green and gray are the ways we live our lives” beneath the moon the Bi it croons, her mighty vision moves Norah soars for the Southern sky, her mighty dream it lives Throughout the Mekong Cultural region there are stories and legends of the “Bird-Women” like Kinnaree and in Southern Thailand‛s Pattalung province, the great “Manorah”. I wrote this song on the mountain they call “Cow Ok Talu” “Mountain with a hole in its chest”. It is a gift from ‘Norah”.
morning light finds visions of night still painted in her eyes colored skin she breathes life in and hops out into day she says, “I have seen the instruments we need I have heard the melodies we‛ll sing” she sings those songs and dances strong her mighty vision moves noon she breaks over Songkla Lake, she fishes for a smile Southern boys finds teasin‛ toys in the monkey‛s shaken dance she says, “I have touched, the sky and earth and such are dreams of men on Southern soil again” she beats those drums and hits those gongs, her mighty vision moves night wakes soon over Pattalung, she perches on a cliff the freedom trees dance in the breeze like the figures of Thalung she says, “black and white are played out in the night but, green and gray are the ways we live our lives” beneath the moon the Bi it croons, her mighty vision moves Norah soars for the Southern sky, her mighty dream it lives Chicago morning, soft & clear, down the Mill Pond Road ducks are walking close & near, swaying with the load seems the world is new again, seems the world is slow seems I’m guided on my way, where I just don’t know walking down the open road, barefoot with my love can’t remember how we came or where we should go can’t remember seasons, babe, can’t remember change can’t remember the way back home, Chicago in the rain imagine if the world slowed down, if only for a day to wallow in the love we have, take the time to say thank you for the seasons, babe, thank you for the sky, thank you for this Mill Pond Road, Chicago in the mind, Chicago in my veins
lions look back, what you want & you lack may be here, too take the cub from the pride, but somewhere inside that pride lives in you she gave you life and fire, you added dreams and desire you hunted visions higher, you wanted more you found this village small, something out there called you took her lines and story & headed for that glory of creation all you stalked that urban jungle, got caught in the fight, you wouldn‛t leave that lair if you knew that when it all goes sad,there is hope to be had so glad to have home, my wandering son so let the candle‛s light take you through your nights & let the cloth woven keep you warm here‛s faith & hope you‛ll need as you plant yourown seeds you know the rains that feed the earth can be cruel
from the green fields of Phrae and the warmth of a home she watched him farm, watched him hope for a future of his own he waited patiently and lovingly & asked for her hand 4 cows and promises of fidelity, in the wealth of rains they wed (chorus) like a river that flows without end like the leaves born to the earth again this love has no end it will last beyond our time and lives this tree of love planted and sown never dies, it can only grow strong in the faces of their children, reflections of their love years fell down like teak leaves and melted in the ground as they watched this family tree grow, she asked if love might fade he held her closely to his warm heart and promised her again in the cool of a winter night, they gathered at his bed his children and their own, accepting his sweet end she held her better half’s quiet hand, she knew every crack and line he whispered quietly, “love will flow like the rivers of our lives let my ashes rest on the river’s chest, then watch them float away our love will last like the trees we pass on the waters of our time along those great rivers, there are those will tell the tale of love-from which we are born, to which we will return, the Northern Thai (Lanna) version of this song I recorded with the Queen of the North, Suntari Wechanon. We just last week brought our national TV show to Prae, where I wrote this song 25 years ago.
Beaches All along the shores of the Mekong, lives born and fading. One life, my friend Awt told before he died of cancer, “we’ll all meet at that Eternal Beach. See you there”. As the dams are built and the beaches fade, I wonder WHERE we will all meet. I came to the shore, hands empty but open hopin life would let me in the game you came from the hills, heart heavy but open showin There was so much more to be learned we earned a friendship overtime, a brotherhood of heart & mind so many shades these ties that bind we laughed so hard i thought we’d die in the moment frozen in memory still makes me smile sing a song of loves we knew-books, music & story honor & glory alive in our words look at all those ladies faces so many loves and places still see your traces in us all then came that new friend, the faker the unexplained widow-maker, comin to take you, naught to do now I see you standing on that beach in the distance tellin me take my time, we’ll All get there where are the waves that bring us back together to love and laugh lifetimes together you swore we had we’ll get to our beaches in time
Mekong Delta Blues you know my melodies are taken from the songs of birds you see the hymns I play are taken from the songs of birds I pull them down from the trees, add my own wind & words you know I worked the fields, laughing til the sun go down so long I worked the fields hoping that the sun would go down one day it blinded me, now I only see the sound let me play for you the colors of a blind man&’s soul let me paint for you the colors of the human soul take the poor man &’s eyes, he & ‘ll paint a world with ears you know so come sit with me, share some sticky rice and beer come sit with us, share the spicy salad and bear I can&’ t see where I &’m goin &’,but, I sure sure am glad we all are here Along this Mekong Rover Route there are places like Nong Kai, Udon, Mahasarakham where the sounds of the Mekong Windpipes-kaen and wote- can be heard. This song os the the true story of one Lung Pen, a great blind kaen player from that area who played for me the “colors of sound” as he heard them.
no need to pack up your ego, baby, where we go there is no self pick up your bootstraps, we’ll hav the last laugh, THIS is Cognitio hail to the revolution, Jah’Y’ALL, the crying time is gone no need to worry, why shoyld we hurry when stop and start are one and we know that we know nothing take on a new perspective baby, broader, deeper too we never bow to the fates now, honey they can’t do what we do but, we know that we know nothing nothing baby no need to pack up your ego, dig it, where we go there is no self we never bow to the fates now baby they can’t do what we do but, we know we know nothing, COGNITIO in the West, we have our MUSES to inspire us, but, on the Mekong River as it flows into the Great Lake of Tonle Sap in Cambodia there are the beautiful Dancers/Mentors they call Apsara-etched on the walls of ancient Khmer temples like Angkor Wat Cognitio
looking at the state we’re in numbers up & down seems we’ve run the course, my friend drove the lorry into the ground well, if you think we’ll carry on, here, place your bet We Ain’t Dead Yet listen to the experts offer expert hunches now confederacy of dunces, out to lunches, I guess that’s how we bow to fates & facts we’ve never met We Ain’t Dead Yet We’re not that far Though I can’t say just where we are We Ain’t Dead Yet I can’t say why กูยังไมตาย goo yung mai thai แตไมคอยสบาย thae mai koy sabai We ain’t dead Yet I wrote this during COVID as a diatribe against ALL loss. In shows over the last 2 years, it’s become a nightclub favorite. We Ain’t Dead Yet
Bring the Light (photons) 6am, still the darkness falls, sun, where are you, can’t you hear us call another fall, another path is closed fought so hard didn’t ask for much, but, lately I’ve been losing touch such is fate, maybe the game is fixed comes a voice within soft & thin, now, soon the din of hope, gather words of wisdom we know, the only way we cope is to believe and sing * bring the light out, all the rays & shades that count down to the day we all can shine again bring the light now, fill the spectrum, colors out-bound we’ll be shinin on again, we will shine as ONE again, isolation, local fear, just who are we, why are we here? to rule it all or maybe to return Gifts and honor, human life, Sapiens nearly got it right Is this the cleansing or the coming light? arrogance & greed we’d breed so, generations on come the guru, pull that curtain, clear our vision strong bring us to the dawn (break) clouds pass the moon and the picture’s clear we start by givin, livin, dissin fear maybe the world to be is movin near, god, can you hear the light? *** Inspired by travels along that Mighty River, especially in the Loei District of Chiang Khan, this song (and 12-song album) became a LIVE! series, a University/School Tour with Singha and TV theme song. Bring your light!
*(chorus) right down the river, I’ll be lookin back for him Big man will save my life & that big, black man is Jim flag down the paddleboat, Mississippi run Mark Twain’s on the comet’s tail headin for the sun O, clara, tell me daddy’s tale, how we worked those liners long out to the West he went alone, to write that miners’ song dig, dig got nothing jumpin from the frogs it could be worse, “stop bitchin ‘bout the world you’re in, cuz that world done got here first” Tom & Huck & Da Big man stuck in a bend Sam cannot see throw a raft to Paige that’s how he lost all those fortunes green a tramp abroad, Orion saw the young boy turn to man take to talkin for his bread, Reaper walkin’, shadow at the bedside stand now I came to visit for this life with the comet’s pledge that I’d be leavin when ol Haley came back round here again I guess I’m goin, lovely Clara, my family & my friends I bid you all to fare thee well ‘til Hannibal calls me back again” From OUR River to YOURS, the Mekong to the Mississippi. I wrote this on a paddleboat from New Orleans up to Mark Twain’s birthplace of Hannibal, Missoura and followed that great river here to Illinois. Our world’s first superstar was Samuel Clemens, Mark Twain and he predicted his own death, saying, “I came in with that comet (Haley’s) and she’ll come back to take me home. Clemens’ Time
New Farmers Plantin’ ชาวนารุนใหม we are the new farmers plantin’ how do you do? we believe in the earth, now, with chemicals we’re through nature and knowledge like dirt and water mix make mud for our roots now, compost for our sticks plans for the future, growin’ in our hands we are the new farmers plantin’, welcome to new land Ang Thong is my home, sir, though half the world has changed what remains of our parents age is the land, the love, the name the land, the love remain we understand the new world’s lies & know for what we stand we know new farmers need to use their heads before their hands to make the best use of this land* the price of rice is gone to hell, Sir, and it ain’t comin’ back the price of life is growin’ up and it won’t be cut down but, that won’t bring us down we stand before our parents place and thank the land for life raise some pigs, chickens and things that spread the profits wide to sow and reap what’s right this song from our Rhythm of the Earth album celebrates the New Farmers of SouthEast Asia who are growing organic and earth-friendly foods for the Planet this story is told over the beat of the Central Thai long-drums and the great village dancers of Pa Moke, Ang Thong, Welcome to New Land! (Thai Ho Rap) if you use chemicals, exchange them for natural compost though life is difficult, we’ll think our way through use what is natural, create less waste if you have hay, we’ll exchange rice husks if you have a daughter, trade her in for a son- in - law we are the new farmers plantin’ welcome to new land
one good world, no one’s alone ours to keep well, our hope and our home โลกหนึ่งเดียวใชของใครคนเดียว โลกหนึ่งเดียวเปนของเราทุกคน
Good News a Brand New Nationally-Televised, Daily Program on Good News and Inspirational Ideas Created, Hosted & Produced by Todd Tongdee for Tero Entertainment and broadcast on Channel 7HD YouTube:Good News Todd Tongdee
Great News out of the Windy City is that there are some very talented young dancers, musicians, performers with Thai roots and family who are adding their strong colors to the tapestry of American culture. In our Mekong Delta Blues show we have coordinated with Miss Picnic and the Thai Classical Dance School at Wat Dhammaram and Miss Pui’s skilled young dancers at the Thai Cultural and Fine Arts Institute of Chicago to create new “Thai-Mekong Dances” celebrating the songs and stories of this great region and river. The New Thai-American Dancers are joined by a Master of Northern Thai and Contemporary Dance, Waewdao SriSook, who has traveled 10,000 miles to share with us her beauty.
1.May-Lynn Rose Cheanratanavongsa 2.Khwansiri Jantasungnoen 3.Vanisa June Oupokin 4.Wasinee Siewsrichol 5.KITANA FORSYTHE 6.SUMALEE SUISEEYA 7.LEILA ELLIS 8.MARISA KAENKUMJORN Great News out of the Windy City is that there are some very talented young dancers, musicians, performers with Thai roots and family who are adding their strong colors to the tapestry of American culture. In our Mekong Delta Blues show we have coordinated with Miss Picnic and the Thai Classical Dance School at Wat Dhammaram and Miss Pui’s skilled young dancers at the Thai Cultural and Fine Arts Institute of Chicago to create new “Thai-Mekong Dances” celebrating the songs and stories of this great region and river. The New Thai-American Dancers are joined by a Master of Northern Thai and Contemporary Dance, Waewdao SriSook, who has traveled 10,000 miles to share with us her beauty. The Chicago Ameri-Thai Dancers
Great News out of the Windy City is that there are some very talented young dancers, musicians, performers with Thai roots and family who are adding their strong colors to the tapestry of American culture. In our Mekong Delta Blues show we have coordinated with Miss Picnic and the Thai Classical Dance School at Wat Dhammaram and Miss Pui’s skilled young dancers at the Thai Cultural and Fine Arts Institute of Chicago to create new “Thai-Mekong Dances” celebrating the songs and stories of this great region and river. The New Thai-American Dancers are joined by a Master of Northern Thai and Contemporary Dance, Waewdao SriSook, who has traveled 10,000 miles to share with us her beauty. The Delta Rays It is an honor to work with these artists. Lee Del Ray (drums & a great guitar player) and his partners in crime-Mike Gallemore (guitar) and Scott Merkel (bass) each with decades of experience andskill in creating, producing and performing the Blues of Chicago, and the music’s of Americana. From Thailand, Ajarn Tong (Chamni Sripraram) brings the wind instruments-kaen and wote-and the Mekong Xylophone known as the Bonglang. Mr. Kranum brings his own sound and acoustic colors and our feature guest artist is Mr. Joke (Sopon Suwannakit) on the keys/piano, himself currently finishing his Doctorate Degree in music. This truly is Thai World Musiq (with a touch of the Windy City). Lee Del Ray Ajarn Tong Joke Adisak Scott Merkel Sopon Suwannakit, a jazz pianist based in Green Bay, Milwaukee, and Madison areas, is a doctoral candidate in jazz studies at the University of Northern Colorado (UNC). His academic experience includes successful jazz teaching positions at UNC and Western Oregon University along with workshops and lectures at various universities and high schools in the Pacific Northwest. In 2015, Sopon earned his master’s degree from the University of North Texas where he studied both jazz and classical piano simultaneously. In 2018, Sopon received a funding from AGBU for his research trip to Armenia. He learned to play duduk and Armenian music in this one-month long research trip. Sopon has performed at countless festivals and venues in the U.S., Thailand, China, Malaysia, and Armenia. Mike Gallemore