fun, different and strangely musical!

Track Listing

1. Thung Kwian Sunrise
2. Temple Music
3. Rainforest
4. Jojo
5. Duo for Renats
6. Big Band
7. Swing Swing Swing
8. Percussion Trio
9. Luuk Kob's Diddley Bow Feature
10. Harmonica Music
11. Heavy Logs
12. Now We're off to Paint
13. Elephant Field Recordings
14. Somneuk & Four Elephants
15. Trio for Theremin & Electric Keyboard
16. Ken's Wind Instrument
17. Big Elephant Saddle
18. Somneuk's Renat Solo
19. Chang Chang Chang

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #115989 in Music
• Released on: 2001-04-10
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com's Best of 2001
Can elephants make music? By the sounds heard on Thai Elephant Orchestra, a collaboration between humans Dave Soldier and Richard Lair and the Thai Elephant Conservation Center (not to mention the six creatures doing all the work), the answer is a resounding, percussive, and unimaginable "yes." Provided with oversized instruments--including a large harmonica, gong, synthesizers, and numerous drums--six elephants between the ages of 6 and 17 were allowed to create whatever racket they wished. The results are astounding and about as avant-garde as music gets. The elephants' free improvising isn't melodic, but the rhythmic interplay here is complex and the instrumental solos are all remarkable. On "Big Band," a somber gamelan-like opening is followed by a spirited harmonica solo, while "Percussion Trio" features a heartbeat-sounding bass drum backed by a crashing thunder sheet. In sum, the elephants perform unaccompanied on 12 tracks; the remainder of the disc features elephants playing alongside humans as well as a handful of tunes about animals performed by North Thailand locals. All of it is entertaining, but the human-led tracks just can't compete with the inventive elephants and their ragged, slow-paced, and off-kilter music-making. Granted, you probably won't want to hear Phrathida, JoJo, and Luuk Kob pounding away everyday, but the elephants probably feel the same way about Cecil Taylor. --Jason Verlinde

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Customer Reviews

A novelty album, but a good one...
It sounds about like what you'd expect - a lot of chaotic, metallic banging. Of course, that's not necessarily a bad thing, at least not to the open-minded and/or art-damaged listener.

This is one of those CDs that you listen to a couple of times and then put on the shelf, until you want to amuse a friend. Which is to say that it's basically a novelty album, despite the avant-garde pretenses.

Track 15 ("Trio for Theremin & Electronic Keyboard") cracks me up; I can just imagine one elephant playing the theremin with its trunk while the others bang away on a giant sampler keyboard. I would LOVE to see this live. The animals' naïve enthusiasm really comes through; although the sounds are not structured in any conventionally musical sense, it is clear that they are made with intent, and that is what makes this recording delightful.

I wish I could get my cats to do something like this, but their musical proficiency is limited to walking across the piano keyboard while I'm trying to sleep.

Incidentally, these same elephants paint. And no, they weren't mistreated. By all accounts they thoroughly enjoy their performances.

what you see is what you get--but it ain't bad!
Take it for what it is: elephants playing musical instruments. The overall impression could be described as the sounds of windchimes and the odd harmonica strain and drum roll, or a toddler gamelon orchestra. For the sheer novelty of it, this CD is fun to listen to. You can't dance to it, but you can enjoy it on a lazy day, or while working. It's not obtrusive, but it is just curious enough to periodically stop and contemplate this or that toot and jangle. It is hard to completely take the context out of the listening experience, which is not a bad thing, since these are out of work elephants who now have a new profession, and everyone benefits. The elephants can bang on their pipes and toot their harmonicas, their mahouts can feed their families, and the rest of us can listen with interest, awe or a sense of transport to an obscure musical moment.

The best thing I have ever heard
Don't go by the name. In fact I got this link as a joke, I heard the music samples, liked what I heard and ended up buying the CD. It was definitely one of my most fruitful blind investments.