Caravan(2)

Caravan (Thai: ฅาราวาน, Kharawan), is a Thai folk-rock band that formed out of the 1973 democracy movement. It launched the Phleng pheua chiwit (เพลงเพื่อชีวิต) (songs for life) genre that has since been popularized by Thai bands such as Carabao. The members of the band consisted of Surachai "Nga Caravan" Jantimathawn (vocals, acoustic guitar), Wirasak Sunthawnnsi (guitar, vocals), Mongkhon Uthok [vocals, phin (a kind of Thai lute), wut (a panpipe-like Thai instrument), harmonica] and Thongkran Thana (lead guitar, slide guitar, violin, vocals).

Caravan was known for combining Thai and Western folk music in arrangements dominated by acoustic guitars, but spiced up with Uthok's use of traditional Thai instruments, as well as frequent use of Thai-style percussion. Most of their Thai-influenced songs took the form of folk ballads, but they also made frequent use of the faster and more percussive "Maw Lam" rhythms. In their early days, they often took melodies directly from American and British folk songs like "Song to Woody" "Yellow Bird" "John Barleycorn Must Die" and "A Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall" and adapted them with political lyrics in Thai.

Links To Peel
Peel played a track from the group on his 23 July 1990 show, when a listener sent three Thai tapes with a letter, which Peel had lost. Complaining that he wished he was organised when receiving requests, Peel went on to play three Thai records ranging from classical to folk-rock. The folk rock track consisted of Caravan doing a cover of Bob Dylan's A Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall. with it's melody but adapted with political lyrics in the Thai language. Peel also mentioned that he played the track before on a previous unknown show.

Shows Played
1990
 * 23 July 1990: A Hard Rain's A-Gonna To Fall (The group had a different song title in Thai, but used the melody of Bob Dylan's A Hard Rain's A-Gonna To Fall)