Eua Suntornsanan (; ; January 21, 1910, Amphawa,

Samut Songkhram Province Samut Songkhram (, ) is one of the central Provinces of Thailand, provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. Neighbouring provinces are (from the south clockwise) Phetchaburi province, Phetchaburi, Ratchaburi province, Ratchaburi and Samut Sakhon pr ...

– April 1, 1981) was a singer, Thai

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and

bandleader A bandleader is the leader of a music group such as a dance band, rock or pop band or jazz quartet. The term is most commonly used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhyth ...

of the Suntaraporn Band. He was a pioneer in introducing Western music into Thai culture. He started the trend of international style Thai music, or Phleng Thai Sakon. He composed over 2,000 songs that have been popular until today, for example, Rumwong Loy Kratong, many Songkran and New Year songs, and other Thai traditional songs. In 1975, he was given an insignia by the king. In 1981 he died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

. In 2007, the Ministry of Culture of Thailand nominated Kru Eua for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Culture Organization (

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

) to honor Kru Eua Suntornsanan as Personality of the Year on the list of Anniversary of World Personalities and Historic Events 2010-2011, which was granted in 2010.

Early life

Eua Suntornsanan was born on January 21, 1910, in Amphawa, Samut Songkhram Province. His father was Mr. Dee Suntornsanan. His mother was Mrs. Sae Suntornsanan. He had 3 siblings. At age 9, he came to stay with his brother in Bangkok and started his primary education. Eua studied

Western classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

at the Phran Luang School. His first instrument was violin. By the age of nine, Eua was developed enough to play in an

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

Career

Eua published his first written song, “Yod Teong Tonk Lom”, at the age of 20, and it was played in the musical comedy of Mea Ruen, where his unique voice and instrumental talent were discovered. At the time, he was working as a civil servant for the now-defunct Performance Department. He was receiving 20

baht The baht (; , ; currency sign, sign: ฿; ISO 4217, code: THB) is the official currency of Thailand. It is divided into 100 ''satang'' (, ). Prior to decimalisation, the baht was divided into eight ''fueang'' (, ), each of eight ''at'' (, ). The ...

per month for playing in the Big Band. He also worked at the Fine Art Department, and performed at many important events. In 1936, Eua, at age 26, had a chance to perform an original soundtrack, phleng Thai sakol, that would also be used in a film. Where his first song would be recorded, “Nart Naree” . He sang in duet with Ms. Wasana. Afterward, Eua became the directing composer for several Thai films, combining Thai music with Western’s styles like Jazz and Classically music. His style was later developed into a romantic music, luk grung, which translates as “child of the city” and was usually associated with the elite Bangkokians. He also had a chance to record his third song in his life “Nai Fahn” during the making of the movie “Than Fai Khao”. When the company, Thai films, that he was working for was closed years after, His band was transferred to a government office, The Publicity Department of Thailand (later changed the name to The Public Relations Department in 1952). Later he established his own band “Suntaraporn Band”, Suntaraporn was the first Thai western-style band. Eua’s band marked the beginning of the western-style music era in Thailand from the 1940s to the 1970s. The name “Suntaraporn” is from a combination of His last name “Sunthornsanan” and his beloved wife “Arporn”. The official band is used in government official works to perform the music, while Suntaraporn Band is a freestyle band that performs for special occasions. He initially faced a lot of criticism from Thai people for introducing Western sounds into Thai conservative

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

. However, his music was embraced by Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram, whose government was encouraging modernization and westernization in Thailand. Under Thailand’s Public Relations Department, Eua headed an orchestra, performing live on national

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

broadcasts, and also at many government functions and parties. It served as the main orchestra in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He was the orchestra chief and the chief of music section for the Thai PR department. He retired in 1978 because of his illness, after 42 years of revolutionizing Thai music. He was a dedicated and determined artist throughout his career. He died of

on April 1, 1981.

Personal life

Eua Sunthornsanan married Arporn Kannasuth on May 14, 1946. The name of his band came from his surname and her first name combined. They had one daughter, Atiporn Suntornsanan who now runs Suntaraporn Foundation with an aim to promote the life and work of Kru Eua Suntornsanan and Suntaraporn Band.

Feature films

He composed songs in many films such as "Satsanar Ruk Nan Jone" (1950), “Supap Buruth Suea Thai” (1950), "Chai Chart Suea"(1951), "

Naresuan Naresuan (1555/1556 – 25 April 1605), commonly known as Naresuan the Great, or Sanphet II was the 18th Monarchy of Thailand, king of the Ayutthaya Kingdom and 2nd monarch of the List of monarchs of Thailand#Sukhothai dynasty (1569–1629), S ...

"(1957). He was also featured as a starring character in "Ngen Ngen Ngen" (1965).

Tribute

In 2018, he was featured as a

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on what would have been his 108th birthday.

References