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HEY EVERYONE! KHAEN LAO T-SHIRTS ARE FOR SALE. Only $10. SEE MY PHOTO TO KNOW WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE. E-mail: jonnyplayskhaen@hotmail.com for more info. When I come back from Laos next year 2010 I will make more copies of my album for sell. I will also have a new album where I sing and play khaen solos with other Lao instruments.

Before there was Jonny Khaen Lao, there was punk rock singer Jonny in L.A.O.(Life's All Over), Jonny on keyboards writing songs and lyrics for The First Sort, and MASTER B.A.J. I added some songs. Have a listen! See the many sides of Jonny Olsen. Isn't that a great omen that Jonny played in a band called L.A.O.? Did you also know that Jonny Olsen used to be a skateboarder? Check out his video below from back in 1997! !

I first started to get into Thai and Lao culture by working at a Thai restaurant back in 2002. Thanks to Dean Spunt(No Age) for getting me the job. In the beginning, I didn't know anything about the people, the language, food, or culture but after working for a while, I really got interested and fascinated with it. My Thai and Lao friends/co-workers at the restaurant invited me to go travel in Bangkok. I went and had a great time. I couldn't understand any Thai back then but luckily I met some Thai people who spoke English. Before I left, I bought a souvenir which turned out to be the khaen! It was a small one, more like a toy for babies, but I liked the way it sounded. I remember going into a room where there was no one around and playing it for the first time. Some sort of magic was lifted from my heart and spirit. It was as if I heard the sound before or had some kind of strange past life connection with it. My friend laughed at how small the khaen was and told me I needed to buy a bigger one. I didn't know they came in different sizes!

Anyway I went back to work at the Restaurant, and I told my friend Thongdee I wanted to learn to play the khaen. The people at the restaurant nicknamed me "Fun Pai Gone" which means daydreamer, but I told them "Fun Ti Pen Jing" which means my dream will come true! Thongdee bought me my first khaen and let me stay with his relatives in a village called Hua Fai in Buriram. It was there where I learned first how to play khaen with the old master khaen playing farmers- Ajahn Yoat and his younger brother Yoon. I stayed there for 6 months in 2004.

I remember the village people crowding around wanting to see the "Farang" or white guy play khaen. I was the first white man to ever stay in their village! They were all very nice and encouraging. I had a microcasette tape recorder and I would listen to the khaen and hum the melodies all day and even in my sleep! I was obsessed with the khaen and determined to learn it.

After learning in Buriram, I then decided to travel more and meet more khaen masters. This time I knew simple phrases of Thai and Lao but still not good enough. Luckily I met some people who spoke English again. A teacher/doctor named Jarenchai Chonpairot from Roi Et helped me a lot. I came upon one khaen master in Roi Et named Sombat Simlah, who is a an amazing khaen player and actually is blind! Then I met a master khaen player in Vientiane named Somdee. He makes the best khaens in Laos. I studied the original way Lao people play the Lum melodies over there.

After that I went to Khon Kaen in 2005 and met a famous Morlum singer/songwriter by the name of Ratree Sivilai. She is my first teacher and she taught me how to sing Morlum. She writes songs for me. I come up with an idea for a song and then Kru Mae Ratri writes it in the proper way of the Lum poetry. I went on tour with Kru Mae Ratri in Thailand, Tawain, and Sweden. We also went on Thai TV a lot. After I made my first album in 2005, I did shows in America for the Lao and Thai people. By this time I had been picking up Thai and Lao along the way for 2 years and knew about 30 percent of the language, but I really wanted to sing Morlum! I never went to any kind of school, I just taught myself and asked a lot of people questions. Thank you to everyone who helped me along the way. I didn't know the language well but there was something about Morlum that fascinated me and I really wanted to sing it!

After playing shows in America in 2006-2007, I decided I wanted to make an album in Vientiane with all the original Lao melodies that aren't found in Thailand. I found out about the history of the khaen and Morlum and where it came from. I wanted to do an album that represents the original place of the khaen and Morlum, which is Laos. Now I'm happy I got to make such an album from the help of Ketsana, Mee from Mega Studio, and my excellent teacher and super hit songwriter Sompet Phetvinyanh from Laos. They really helped me a lot and I'm grateful for this album, which is the first by an American to sing Lao Folk music. I want to show people I really love Lao culture and I want to live life like a Laotian. That's why I named my album "Jonny Yak Pen Kon Lao." I hope everyone will have fun and be happy from the music I make.

I have been told that my style offers a new side to Morlum because of songs like "Farang Muk Sao Dum." The song is about a white western city man who becomes attracted by a dark skinned exotic village lady. He finds her beauty and customs very unique to what he has experienced in a western world. He ends up ditching western food like hamburgers and pizza, for Lao food like spicy papaya salad with sticky rice. It's quite common to see a white guy with a darker skinned girl in Laos and Thailand. If you have been to Laos or Thailand, or know the people, you will surely understand this song. The music offers a more modern approach by mixing Morlum with western music. Also another song- "Gued Pit Bon," which means born in the wrong place, is all about how non Laotians have grown to love Laos and feel like they should have been born there. They feel more at home in Laos with the Lao people. They like to live their life more simply and peacefully. They also enjoy the hospitality and kindness of the Lao people. I think I play a great narrating role for these kinds of stories." I also have made a second album that came out in early 2009. One of the hit songs off of the album is written by LOMAX. The song is called "Bor Hoo Ja Wow Jung Dai." It's about how there are many different tones/dialects in Laos and I get confused on which one to speak in. You can listen to this song and others here on myspace. Thank you very much everyone for your support!

DO YOU WANT JONNY TO PLAY IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD?? For setting up a show, CONTACT-jonnyplayskhaen@hotmail.com I put up some videos below. To watch more videos, visit- http://www.youtube.com/mawlummawkhaenfarang

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