GPD004(2) นายทิพย์ เทพมงคล

This was the very first recording I made of a Pia player after searching for months in and around Chiang Mai. Nai Tip was a silversmith and member of a prominent music group in Chiang associated with the Chiang Yuen Temple วัดเชียงยืน He was a talented, but emotionally troubled man who had trouble with the drink. He was the first of seven Phin Pia players I met in and around Chiang Mai. Three years after this recording was made Nai Tip took his own life by imbibing a beaker of the acid used in his silver smithing work. He had come home in a drunken depression after a heavy gaming loss. He was a skilled player in all the instruments used by the northern Thai (Lanna) people. I recorded him many times in many musical settings.