Obituary: Phloen Phromdaen (1939-2024)

One of Thailand’s biggest luk thung (Thai country music) stars, National Artist Phloen Phromdaen (real name: Somsuan Promsawang) died on August 3, 2024. He was 85. He was known as ‘Raja Phleng Phut’ or ‘King of the Talking Song’ for the spoken passages, often very funny, in the middle of his songs.

He was born in 1939 in Prachinburi. Unusually for the first wave of luk thung stars (1960-1973), he was not born in Suphanburi or any of the central Thai provinces. He began his career in 1961 in ramwong (circle dance) music and entered talent competitions and by the mid-1960s had begun his recording career. In 1972 he had a huge hit with ‘Khao Sod Sod’, which made him a national star. He began to talk after a verse in a song, often ‘chatting’ and joking with a comedian about contemporary events and news. 

By the 1970s, Phloen had a big touring band and his wife, Sukantala, created glitzy costumes and hired dancers for the chorus line (called ‘hang krueang’ in Thai or ‘tail of the orchestra’) to create a spectacular show.

Phloen also starred in many movies, such as Fon Tai and Kaen Ai Phloen, and was a prolific composer, for his own shows and for other artists. Some of his hits include ‘Wasana Yajok’, ‘Chom Krung’, ‘Mon Rak Ban Rai’ and ‘Don’t Forget Thailand’. One of his songs – ‘Klua Duang’ – was sampled and remixed by the Butthole Surfers on their single ‘Kuntz’.

During the so-called psychedelic era of the late 1960s and 1970s, Phloen was one of the few singer-songwriters to talk about the ‘highs’ of the era as on his hilarious ‘Wan Maha Sanook’ (Great Fun Day) about the effects on animals and livestock like buffaloes that wear false teeth, drunk monkeys, spliff sampling elephants and cows that want to wear clothes.

He was awarded National Artist status in 2012 and remained popular throughout his career.