A Decade of Wonder: Music as a cultural language

Music is one of the oldest ways we tell stories to each other. It’s the channel through which we communicate between generations and communities. Songs aren’t just songs—they’re rituals, traditions and knowledge passed down.

In 2022, our elemental exploration of Sonic Elements with MSCTY_Studio included the element of earth, represented by Hear & Found’s soundscape within the rammed earth structure of Embrace. Their interpretation of earth was captured through recordings of ceremonial natures from ethnic minorities in Thailand, including Tai Song Dum, Muzer and Hmong.

Led by Mae Sirasar Boonma, Hear & Found amplifies the voices and traditions of Thailand’s indigenous communities. Maternal love sings through traditional lullabies, weaving stories of love, nature and life. Mantras and chants communicate with the spirit, mediating between the living and the sacred.

Since it was introduced to The Fields, Embrace has continued to be a space for sharing and learning from indigenous cultures in the region. Hear & Found hosted community workshops, such as the making of Tae Na Gu stringed instruments from the Karen community, passing on the instruments that create indigenous music. Wonderers also learned to make DIY musical instruments assembled from found objects and natural materials collected around the site.

Molam World started out as a place to share Thai folk music and Molam traditions, first appearing in The Fields in 2015 as the Molam Bus.

As a musical tradition that spans several centuries, there is a wide variety of Molam music that bands, artists and singers share. In the past decade, we’ve invited local legends like ‘The God of Khaen’ Sombat Simla, celebrated vocalist Pimjai Petchpalanchai and “The Original Molam Queen” Angkanang Kunchai. Molam Theatre has also seen bands that blend acoustic Molam instruments—khaen and phin—with psychedelic sounds and electronic interpretations, including the Paradise Bangkok Molam International Band, Rattanakosin Breakin Crew and ToomTurn Molam Group.

By 2024, it evolved into a space for cultural exchange, sharing root music from international artists like Japanese Sakahalin Ainu artist Oki Kano, Indonesian 70s psychedelic collective LAIR and Afro-jazz Isaan-soul composer Salin.

Over the past decade, The Fields has been filled with the music of cultures from all corners of the world. Wonderers have heard Thai artists who mix classical sounds with electronic, lo-fi and hip-hop music, including Nisatiwa, ASIA7 and Tontrakul.

Tinariwen, a collective of Tuareg musicians from the Sahara region of southern Algeria and northern Mali, filled Creature Stage with the sound of desert blues in 2023. In 2024 Sur Sudha, a folk group from Nepal, brought traditional Nepali Kirtan to different venues in The Fields, blending devotional chants and melodies, using the flute, sitar, tabla and guitar to bridge tradition and modernity.

Huun-Huur-Tu performed twice in The Fields that year, blending traditional Tuuvan throat-singing with contemporary classical music with Carmen Rizzo at Creature Stage, while at Polygon Live, collaborated in an unrehearsed performance with electronic musician Photay.

Our beautiful boudoir has been a perennial home to the purveyors of house, disco, funk and global grooves. The roots of these genres are planted in countercultures born to escape rising social and economic issues, created in spaces carved out by queer communities and ethnic minorities.

Forbidden Fruit has come alive with high-energy music from underground collectives and a diverse range of communities. Since 20214, the venue has hosted takeovers from Kuala Lumpur’s even if., FuFu from Hong Kong, Japan’s Rainbow Disco Club, Ed Banger Records from France and Bangkok’s own Transport. Queer communities have transformed the dancefloor into micro-universes of music, drag and dance, including Shanghai’s Medusa, Snug x Peach from Vietnam and home-grown GO GRRRLS.

Starting in 2015, Intermission is an annual program that platforms new sound creators and unsigned artists in Thailand. Each year’s selection of artists always includes different genres, ensuring a dynamic showcase of emerging artists.

Reviewed by our music team and Howie B (known for his collaborations with Björk and U2), chosen artists receive mentorship from Howie B before stepping onto the stage, including refining their sound, getting stage ready and honing their craft in studios. Artists over the years have included Roots Tone, Darasami, Rainytoast and more.