If you are new to Carabao go check out the music. If you are a long-time fan of Carabao, Thai music, and Thai language you may come backstage to learn more about these topics:
HOW THAI SONGS ARE PUT TOGETHER
Add Carabao Explains How to Compose a Song
The Rhyming Scheme of a “กลอน”-Style Thai Poem or Song: A Fun Illustration
Use of metaphors. Bamboo, butterflies, crows and seagulls, buffalo, rainbows, hidden stars, the full moon, and an overpass: Symbols used and reused in Carabao and other Thai songs
IMPORTANT ADD CARABAO INTERVIEWS TRANSLATED
Add Carabao clarifies his religious position
Old Add Carabao interview from around 2004, translated
Add Carabao talks about Prem Tinsulanoda, who had just died, and how Prem influenced his life
Add Carabao talks about marijuana between songs at a concert at SR Residennce Hotel, Petchabun, in June 2019
AWESOME COVER OF CARABAO SONG IN ENGLISH: USES TRANSLATION AT THIS SITE
Awesome English-language cover of “วณิพก” “Wanipok” by Michael P. Albert
INTRODUCTION TO OTHER THAI ARTISTS THROUGH CARABAO
Phongthaep Kradonchamnan พงษ์เทพ กระโดนชำนาญ
CARABAO FANS, DID YOU KNOW?
Add Carabao can do a huge range of musical styles
Carabao played with Santana twice. Hear the back story and see the video.
On multiple-of-five anniversaries of the band, a special song is released to celebrate the band with the fans. Check out these remarkable songs.
Carabao once performed an amazing English version of “Made in Thailand” in the US
English-language Carabao songs written in 2020 – It’s NOT Good . . .
THEORIES ABOUT THE ORIGINS OF TWO SONGS
Add and Lek Carabao write songs that apologize for the Song “Ganja.” PLUS my own theory about the origins of the song “Ganja.”
Was “ทะเลใจ” (“Telay Jai” or “Ocean Heart”) Inspired by “Heart of Gold”?
CONNECTIONS BETWEEN CARABAO SONGS
A series of 10 songs across the first 10 Carabao studio albums, the “Tuk Kwai Tuey” songs, tell the story of a farmer, Manohk, who is forced off his land after the death of his beloved buffalo Tuk. MUST HEAR.
Lek Carabao posts about his feelings for the song “Tuk.”
A set of a similar songs across the first 4 albums: About the rice harvest and carts
OTHERS TRANSLATING CARABAO
Announcement: All Songs through “Made In Thailand” ALBUM Fixed by GREAT Translator
Nigel Hawkins also did some Singable English Translations of Carabao Songs.
Tom Vamvanij offers his own translation of “ทะเลใจ” “Telay Jai” with advice for translating this and other songs.
ANAYLSIS OF CHANGES IN ADD CARABAO’S MUSIC OVER THE YEARS (off-site)
Aed Carabao: Made in Thailand” by Heni Lemieux At Din Deng, in their Understanding Thailand series. Draws on material from this site, but it wasn’t me!
MISCELLANEOUS CARABAO STUFF
Some Carabao Songs that “Feel Like” Some English-language Song
Good G’s poem for Pao Carabao, who passed away July 14, 2017.
The movie “ทองปาน” (“Tong Bpan”) (1977) may provide some context for the Carabao songs about poverty in Thailand.
WHY AND HOW I BECAME A TRANSLATOR
AT another website (Women Learning Thai) is my explanation from 2015 of how I translate the Carabao songs: Translating Thai Song Lyrics: How I Do It, and You Can Too!
For the backstory on how and why I learned the Thai language, see the post in Catherine Wentworth’s Interviewing Successful Thai Language Learners series: Successful Thai Language Learner: Ann Norman