What’s your background?
I was born in Chaiyaphum where I grew up and lived until the ninth grade. My father is a tailor in town, while my mother works as a nurse at a local hospital. My parents love to listen to old folk Thai music like luktung and molam so it’s been in my blood since the beginning. It also reminds me of home when I am away from my family.

How did you start playing pong-lang?
I didn’t play pong-lang at first. I taught myself to play the pin (Isaan guitar) at home before I got in a pong-lang band in junior high. Though I was a drummer, my eyes still watched the other instruments’ every movement. So I kind of knew how to play many instruments, just not very well. I didn’t have a chance to play pong-lang until I entered the College of Music of Mahidol University. I thought pong-lang was the best instrument to use in the entrance exam because it was the easiest—and I liked it. So I am the first student to play pong-lang here.

So what are your musical studies like?
I actually study like all other students—all the basics of music, like jazz, swing, classical and more. But my pong-lang skill is special, and none of our teachers know how to play it. So it’s like an experiment for my teachers and I to explore new ways of making the pong-lang more versatile. I’m lucky that my teacher, Nitithorn Hiranhankla, really dedicates herself to help me. She even wrote a song, “Lai Ka Ten Kon,” that has a special pong-lang solo.

Tell us about the Osaka International Music Competition.
My teacher encouraged me to participate. I had to beat a hundred other competitors to be one of Thailand’s final three folk song representatives. I was so excited. It’s an open competition where people of any age can take part. In my category, we had teenagers and grandpas. I didn’t think about winning or losing when I stepped on the stage but it ended up that I won.

Why did you decide to study folk music in the city?
It’s true that you might learn more quickly if you were learning in Isaan, but I think studying in Bangkok gives you an opportunity that you can’t really get elsewhere. There are lots of good musicians out there and it still takes years for you to be known. Here you can learn new ways of playing music and create a network of those who want to take Thai folk music to another level. I am also a bassist of Mahidol band Thaitem which plays contemporary music with Thai instruments. I’m open to every kind of music.

What is your biggest dream?
I want to bring molam to more people. It only appears at Isaan spiritual events, not daily music. I want to mix pong-lang with international music as well as invent new ways of playing it. My teacher and I recently invented chromatic keys, like black keys on the piano, for pong-lang. It’s really cool.