MUSIC:
Brushing aside the rumours-or rather bouncing them back-'Pi Bird'
proves he's willing to pay the price of continued fame
"So many rumours of my ambiguous identity. So many questions about my loving nobody. So to get rid of your curiosity, why don't you come closer ..." _ or so invites the introduction of the number one hit song on almost every local music chart: Long Si Ja, by pop superstar Thongchai McIntyre. But try what, exactly?
'So many rumours of my ambiguous identity. So many questions about my loving nobody. So to get rid of your curiosity, why don't you come closer ...."
So invites the introduction of the number one hit song on almost every local music chart: Long Si Ja (Let's Try), by pop superstar Thongchai McIntyre.
One measure of his popularity is that most Thais well know the subtext of those phrases-the persistent rumours about his personal life.
But instead of hiding away in a corner to encounter the questions over and over, Mr Thongchai, who is single, bounced the questions back in the first single of his new album Thongchai Tuplaeng Saman Prajam Ban (Thongchai: Home Jukebox).
"If you choose to be a celebrity, you must succumb to getting wet from the rain. Public figures like me stand outdoors so much more than anybody else. So, unavoidably, we have much less chance to be under shelter. You are in the public eye and subject to criticism and gossip," says Mr Thongchai.
Standing at the forefront of the local music, TV and film industries for 16 years is not an easy way for anybody to reach such a state of acceptance, and this versatile performing artist has faced never-ending criticism.
The worst and latest was in 1994, when he was almost viewed as a falling star for the commercial failure of his Dream album and for not winning any acting awards from his appearances in TV and film.
However, with the 1998 blockbuster of Thongchai Service and Thongchai Tuplaeng Saman Prajam Ban, the 41-year-old star could prove there is a chance that dimming stars can burn brightly again.
Criticised for following the current Latin-style trend on his new album, Mr Thongchai argues that his songs have featured Caribbean influences since the 1991 album Prik Ki Noo (Green Chilli).
"I don't deny that Long Si Ja sounds very Latin, but if you listen throughout the album you can hear various flavours of music, including jazz, pop and dance."
The active Mr Thongchai never stops working for more hits-he's already planning his next year, starting with making more new albums.
He says he can hop around subsidiary labels under the umbrella of Grammy Entertainment, which he has been with since his debut album in 1985.
"It is possible to do rock songs with Moor Music (the label) of the top rocker Asani Chotikul, or I may make standard pop with the Grammy Grand label, and even modern indie music with Genie Records," says Pi Bird, as his fans call him.
His next plan is to run his own company-a music production house unlike any of the above-attached to Grammy Entertainment.
"The main mission of my future company will be the presentation of my own ideas and image," says Mr Thongchai, a member of the board managing the gigantic Grammy Entertainment Public Company.
"However, although I have share in the company, I have no long-term contract with it. I still depend on the system on the basis of album-by-album contracts."
Certainly, one of his plans is to go abroad, and he has already been recognised for taking on a major role in the ongoing production of a film by Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai, which started shooting here in the last two months.
As for jobs in the music industry, "one possibility is to deal with a UK-based company," which he proudly says could bring him not only regional but international attention.
He was already the first Thai to receive the Billboard Viewer's Choice Awards title two years ago.
It is a tradition for Mr Thongchai to follow the release of a new album with a stage performance.
In the past, he has chosen musical variety shows, but this time, in addition to big concerts, he'll be producing his own original musical play, scheduled to be on stage next April.
"Now we are in the process of script-writing and screening for leading actresses. Over 40 rounds of performance will require at least two people to play the role, but the leading actor will be only me," the veteran performer says.
Pi Bird's most interesting stories, however, are still in his brain, and there they might have stayed, because when he tries to write, his hands can't keep up with the speed of his thinking.
"But I've already prepared a ghost writer to put it all on paper. A book would have a comic title, while another book would be my autobiography," Mr Thongchai says. "Most of what I remember are optimistic things."
Braving waves of criticism and image-tarnishing, Mr Thongchai says that he never gets angry in the extreme-if he did he would have sued many people already.
"I have known how to cope with life in the entertainment circle since I acted in a film with Pi Pu, Anchalee Chongkadeekij. It was in mid-1980, when she was at the height of her stardom. At that time, I was as insignificant as her microphone stand. I observed how she coped with scandals and learned my lesson."
Now the millionaire artist lives in the Ban Bai Mai house on Sukhumvit Soi 101, covered in the shade of abundant greenery.
He has stopped running his restaurant business in Switzerland, and promises that he will stay in his home country for good. The artist's only major concern is the health of his 84-year-old mother, who lost her husband over 10 years ago, before Mr Thongchai's booming popularity.
To balance this fame, Mr Thongchai has just a few close friends-he can count them on one hand, he says, but he's also "acquainted with loneliness".
"But there's no way for me to change to being 'behind the scenes'. There are too many names 'behind the scenes' in the music industry right now. What the public lacks is people to stand tall and professionally in front of the chorus line, where I prefer to be," he says.
BY PATTARA DANUTRA
Bangkok Post ( from Outlook Issued: Tuesday December 14, 1999 )
