His trembling hands work with bamboo wood and turn it into Thai xylophone and gong wong mallets. Despite difficulties as a result of a stroke he suffered years ago, Chalor Jaichuen, one of the country's last craftsmen who still makes Thai xylophone and gong wong mallets by hand, maintains the dexterity of an expert.
With great effort, the 82-year-old also showcased the exceptional sound quality of his mallets by playing Sathukan, the first song he learnt in his life, using his gong wong musical instrument.
Born in Si Prachan district, Suphan Buri, Chalor developed his passion for Thai classical music at the tender age of five and started studying the Thai xylophone and gong wong at the age of seven with famous Thai classical musician Phin Changphuak.
"I have had love for the music since my childhood. When I knew how to play the music, I became interested in the making [of Thai xylophone and gong wong mallets]. No one taught me how to make mallets. I just looked at old mallets, observed and remembered how to make them using traditional tools like bung [a kind of wood shaver] and tabai (files)," he recalled.
According to him, he also introduced his own method to improve durability by tying red threads and linen clothes around the heads of mallets. He started selling handmade mallets in his teenage years.
Over the past 60 years, the price rose from 10-20 baht per pair of mallets to 700 baht for a pair of mai nuam (soft-covered) ballets for all kinds of xylophones and gong wong, 2,000 baht for a pair of ranad ek mai khaeng mallets or buffalo leather-covered mallets for gong wong lek, and 3,500 baht for a pair of buffalo leather-covered mallets for gong wong yai. Meanwhile, some other sellers sell their products for as high as 7,000 baht.
Chalor Jaichuen. Jetjaras na Ranong
To make good mallets, Chalor must select fully-grown sisuk bamboo (Bambusa blumeana) wood and spend two days making each pair of mallets with his hands and traditional tools. In the past, there were only a few Thai xylophone and gong wong mallet makers in Thailand. His regular customers were classical music students of Rajini School and several Rajabhat universities who came to buy goods at his house by the Chao Phraya River near Wat Kanlaya.
Unfortunately, Chalor had to move out of his house and lost almost all of his customers after the temple last year evicted all tenants from its land plot by the river. He and his wife stay with their youngest son in his house in Taling Chan. To continue to earn a living, he recently asked a Thai classical music school, Ban Duriyapraneet in Thewet, to help sell his mallets. Sales have not been as satisfying as in the past though.
Before his retirement in 1995, Chalor enjoyed his full-time job as a Thai classical musician for the Fine Arts Department while making and selling mallets as a part-time job. Chalor always uses two pairs of over-a century-old mallets, which were made of good bamboo wood and rare-to-fine thick buffalo leather and applied with natural lacquer.
Chalor recounted his memories of studying and playing Thai classical music in his childhood and adulthood. "My next-door neighbour was a khruang Thai-Mon classical musical band. At five, I started to visit and see them playing the music. This band was hired to play the phiphart music for religious ceremonies at temples. I began with playing percussion instruments like cymbals for the band," the veteran musician said.
According to him, he did not even finish Mathayom 3 (Grade 9) because he started working at a young age. He was a rice farmer and a rice, firewood and charcoal vendor. He regularly loaded his goods onto a caravan of five to six boats and travelled for a day and a night from his hometown in Suphan Buri to Bangkok. He stopped his boats to sell goods at the pier on the Thewet Canal in front of Wat Makut Kasat.
At leisure times, he strolled the Thewet area. One day, the teenage Chalor heard the sounds of phinphart music from Ban Duriyapraneet, the home of a famous music band, made friends and eventually studied the music with a son of the band owner Kai Duriyapraneet. As each band had their own style and approach, he had to start over all music lessons.
After completing his studies there, he became a likay performance DJ on a public relations radio station where he met Chote Thewaphalin, chief of the Fine Arts Department's Thai Classical Music Division, who suggested he take exams for a permanent job. He finally passed the tests to be a musician for royal ceremonies, the job he worked for three decades from 1966 to 1995.
However, the veteran musician has expressed his worries about the fading popularity of Thai classical music which would have declined more if there had not been music schools to help teach new generations. To him, good musicians must study and practice hard.
Despite decreasing sales due to the lack of stores and showrooms to sell his xylophone and gong mallets, Chalor is still highly confident with the premium quality of his handmade products.
"People say my mallets are of good quality. Compared to more expensive modernly-produced mallets. mine are more durable and give better sound. I have made both mai nuam and mai khaeng xylophone hammers for more than 60 years. I try my best to ensure they are as good as the mallets for my personal use," he noted proudly.
Those interested in purchasing Chalor's mallets may contact Ban Duriyapraneet on 081-558-4397.
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