GPD043 นายบุญตัน บุญชัยธนะ

Nai BoonTun was another of the dozen or so blind minstrels I met in and around Chiang Mai. I encountered him while coming home from a village east of Chiang Mai. He was sitting alongside the road playing for passers-by. I invited him to our home then had a full-length recording session. He was a very cheerful, chirpy kind of person with a large repertory of Sueng songs, which he had catalogued in his mind. During the session he would introduce each song saying “My first song is ……. My second song is ……. (all the way to) My twenty-eighth song is ………”

He could play other Lanna instruments such as the Salaw, the Pi and the Klui. He had a bounce in his step and a very upbeat nature. His Sueng had a carrying handle and a bicycle bell attached which he sometimes incorporated into his songs. All in all he seemed the most perfect picture of victory over adversity I ever saw. I wonder if he seemed the same to himself on the inside. I had this one-and- only session with him and never saw him again.