myspace
http://www.myspace.com/garunaอาร์ตจับไมค์!ร้อง-แต่ง กรุณา วานิตี้ โปรเจ็คต์
โดย ข่าวสด วัน จันทร์ ที่ 18 ธันวาคม พ.ศ. 2549 02:02 น.
http://news.sanook.com/entertain/entertain_67346.phpเพิ่มอีกหนึ่งบทบาทให้ตัวเอง นั่นคือ การจับไมค์ เป็นนักร้อง สำหรับสาวมากความสามารถอาร์ตพนิตนาฏ ฉัตรวิไล ที่หอบอัลบั้มแรกของเธอ GARUNA VANITY PROJECT (กรุณา วานิตี้ โปรเจกต์) มาเยี่ยมเยือนเรา
เธอเล่าถึงจุดเริ่มต้นของอัลบั้มว่า อาร์ตได้รับการติดต่อมาจากคุณคริส(คริสเตียน กอทเฮลฟ์)อาจารย์สอนด้านการตลาดที่มหาวิทยาลัยเอกชนแห่งหนึ่ง ว่าต้องการหานักร้องที่ร้องเพลงอังกฤษสำเนียงไทย และอยากทำเพลงดนตรีอิเล็กทรอนิคลงเว็ปไซด์ ก็สนใจ อาร์ตเลยเอาเพลงเค้ามาฟัง
ตอนแรกร้องไม่ได้เลยเพราะดนตรีเป็นอิเล็คทรอนิค หาท่อนเข้าไม่ได้ แต่พอได้พูดคุยรายละเอียด เมื่อบันทึกเสียงผ่านก็ได้เอาอัลบั้มเพลงส่งไปที่สิงคโปร์ ทางนั้นแนะนำมาว่าควรหาที่มาที่ไปของอัลบั้ม เมื่อคนร้องเป็นคนไทยก็ควรมีเพลงไทยผสม เมื่อคริสได้คุยกับคุณเปี๊ยก ดีเจ.สยาม เลยตัดสินใจเอาเพลงสากลออกครึ่งหนึ่ง แล้วเอาเพลงไทยใส่ครึ่งหนึ่ง ซึ่งเนื้อเพลงไทยจะมีอาร์ตและคุณหนิงแฟนคริสช่วยเขียนเนื้อร้องให้คล่องปากมากที่สุด แนวเพลงเป็นอิเล็คทรอนิก้า เฮ้าส์
ท้ายสุดเจ้าตัวฝากงานอัลบั้มชุดนี้ อาร์ตอยากให้ลองฟังผลงานเพลกรุณา วานิตี้ โปรเจกต์ดู เป็นชิ้นงานที่พวกเราตั้งใจทำมากๆ และมีหลายบทเพลงที่สะท้อนสังคม อย่างเพลงโซ-ไฮ ถ้าฟังแล้วสามารถแสดงความคิดเห็นได้ที่ www.garuna.org ค่ะ
The story of the Garuna project
http://whatismatt.com/garuna-interview/They aren’t cool, they don’t have tattoos, they don’t know how to DJ, and they recommend you have low expectations of their lives shows. Garuna are not exactly a pop-sensation (yet), but for everything they lack in flamboyance, they make up with understated style and a paradoxical approach to their music.
The founding members of the band are 28-year-old Art, a Thai female vocalist, and 40-year-old Kris, a Danish teacher working at Bangkok University who has lived in Thailand for 12 years. “My friend introduced me to Kris around three years ago,” says Art. “She told me that Kris had been looking for a girl to sing his songs.”
“When we first met, we went to a karaoke booth at a Cineplex,” says Kris. “I fed the machine with 10 baht coins and Art just sang anything from the menu. It was clear right away that her voice had something special.” For close to a decade, Kris had been obsessing with electronic sounds, using Thai songs as the basis for making bootlegs and remixes. In 2004 he decided to start making his own music, and thus Garuna was born.
Garuna are music enthusiasts first and foremost: “I’ve been in love with music since I was three-years-old,” says Art. “I’m a music lover, but I can’t play any kind of instrument, a bit of piano maybe, but I’m really just a singer.” She may be just a singer, but she has a made-for-pop-music voice that complements Kris’ conceptual vision perfectly. It could be the future sound of Bangkok, as some fans have been saying. Others have likened Garuna’s music to modern day lullabies.
“We have a desire to explore, to do something new,” says Kris. “We want to try to break down the barriers of what Thai music should sound like, or what electronica should sound like.” Garuna exemplify that there are artists in Thailand making music that not only sounds good, but charters new waters. “Making music was, and still is, a hobby and a passion,” continues Kris. “We have put out very little music, so you could say we are just getting started.”
Kris and Art are just ordinary people making songs. They refuse to masquerade themselves as bastions of cutting edge, which in itself makes them cutting edge with their normality. Art mentions which singers she listens to: “I like Beyonce, Mariah Carey, Lisa Ono, Cecilia Bartoli, Richard Clayderman, Jim Brickman, Rain, Jay Chou, and Boyd Kosiyabong.” For being part of such an experimental band, Art has strikingly regular taste.
“I think of my self as quite common,” she says. “I have not seen much nightlife for a long time. Usually I hang out at shopping malls and go to party at restaurants. I don’t even have a special plan for New Year’s Eve. I might go to my church for some singing.”
“I’ll probably be at home playing with loops,” adds Kris. This isn’t the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle most of us dream of, but then this isn’t rock ‘n’ roll.
“In my spare time I love going to church, to fitness, the cinema, the theater, and shopping malls,” says Art. It was in these shopping malls that Garuna spent a great deal of time rehearsing in similar karaoke booths to where Art first auditioned.
As a collective, Garuna soon expanded after Art and Kris first met. The group became an ensemble of musicians, artists, writers, dancers, singers, and anyone who had the potential to add some creativity to help shape music designed to accompany life in a contemporary urban metropolis. Lyrics were written in malls, sounds were recorded on the side of the street, and the whole scheme was largely orchestrated via SMS. Friends of friends became involved, and recruiting was often done through MySpace. The music they were making came together as the beginnings of Vanity Project, the group’s debut album, which was first released at this year’s Fat Festival.
“We wanted this album to really reflect the lives of people living in Bangkok,” says Kris. “We can proudly say we didn’t use any samples on the CD. So instead, we recorded sounds indoors and outdoors. It was fun.”
The artwork for Vanity Project depicts cosmetic products. If you didn’t know any better, you might think Garuna was a brand of moisturizer. The CD cover features Art lying on the ground, only her shoulders and head visible, while her eyes seem to look at both the viewer and a white cosmetics bottle in the foreground. The CD itself shows Art looking into a red mirror, with her mouth almost formed into a smile. “It’s about we as humans being vain,” says Art. “We are surrounded by things without true lasting value.”
“It shows the fact that you can self-indulge through these things,” adds Kris. “You can buy it, so it’s a jibe at that. With consumerism, I think it is everywhere, but in Bangkok it really is embraced as something new and fun, as a past-time.”
Rather than denouncing consumerism as an evil, as some assume, Garuna are poking fun at part of everyday existence in the City of Angels. “I don’t like Bangkok,” says Art, “but I love it very much so at the same time. Everyday life and everyone we meet inspire us. There are a lot of shopping malls in Bangkok instead of museums and cultural centers. However, I like to go to shopping malls because I’m a shop-a-holic. This is my confession.”
“I love the malls,” says Kris. “They give us a place to meet, and they inspire us to write songs. They are everywhere, so you might as well embrace them, don’t you think?” Garuna strive to be different while conforming to regularity. It shouldn’t work, but it does. Vanity Project is 15 tracks of dreamy, simple melodies, infused with Art’s sugary vocals. It is pop music at its most fundamental, but it is presented with enough grace to make it stand out.
“The Thai music scene was conservative and rather predictable for a long time,” says Kris, “but that is changing now. There are so many exciting new bands coming out with really interesting new stuff. It’s a great time for music here and it’s fun to be a part of it all.”
Vanity Project is now on sale throughout Thailand and the next album is already in the pipeline. A series of live art shows exploring light, movement, and interactive sound clips is planned for 2007. “Wonderful topic isn’t it?” says Kris about the art scene in Thailand. “It is a goldmine of talent. We are working with some visual artists. They are young and just insanely creative. You can already see the results of Thai art in advertising, design, and film. The scene will just grow and grow.”
“We are not cool enough to perform live,” says Art. “As with our music we want to do something unusual rather than being live on stage or DJing, so that is why we are looking at art shows.”
While they may not have tattoos, it is their lack of cool that makes them cool whether they like it or not. Once again, Garuna are a paradox.
Garuna “Vanity Project”
http://www.thailand-podcast.com/blog/?p=7Garuna is the studio project of my friend Kris.
The debut CD, “Vanity Project”, was released in 2006.
Kris produced all the basic tracks in his home studio, then recorded some live instruments and vocals with the help of professional engineers.
