On some afternoons, Thep Kengvinit would walk to Central Pinklao, sit down at an electric piano in an electronics store, and play random songs from the 1960s. "I walk because it helps loosen my joints," said the 74-year-old grandfather, "and I play because it's relaxing".
Someone saw him at the piano, and that's how Thep came to join a band of septua- and octogenarian musicians in a special project aimed at dispelling the stigma of ageism. The speciality band called Bennetty is made up of six musicians -- the youngest at 65 and the oldest at 87 -- who released a single earlier this month and have become a viral sensation due to their indie-rock beats and stylish music video. A documentary about the band and its members was released last week and can be seen now on YouTube.
Bennetty -- a wordplay on Tony Bennett, a legendary 91-year-old American crooner -- consists of Thep on the keyboard; Boonserm Chuchuay, 87, a Korean War veteran who plays the mouth organ; Wachara Na Ranong, 80, the lead singer; Siri Deelan, 69, on bass; Thanakorn Jiasiri, 66, on drums; and Thitichai Sawaswej, 65, who once played the guitar in GI camps in the Northeast during the Vietnam War.
"I was surprised that we've received such an enthusiastic welcome," said Wachara, the lead singer who still has a spring in his steps and an earring dangling. "We thought it was just a campaign to promote old people. Now our faces are online and on television!"
The formation of Bennetty is a project by the Thai Health Promotion Foundation to promote activities for the elderly and combat the stereotype of senior citizens. The band was created to represent the faces of a generation often thought to be past their prime -- and to prove that they still have a lot of mileage left. A producer wrote a song for them, and the musicians recorded it themselves in a studio for online release; meanwhile, their lives are recorded in a 72-minute documentary. Bennetty, in short, is a non-profit advertising campaign conceived to inspire.
Their single, Jood Derm (The Same Point), has a modern indie-rock sound that's in stark contrast with the apparent ages of the band. The song and the visual that defines it, however, isn't a starry-eye, naive celebration of old age -- it's not an attempt to deny the truth of mortality by presenting a band of trendy granddads to sooth everyone's mind. Jood Derm is a love song, but it acknowledges the tyranny of time and how "something is beautiful only when we look back at it". The music video has a hipsterish vibe, but it also features a shot of a crematorium and a shower of pills raining down on the members -- it's a song about love and mortality.
"The idea is to have a band of senior people who can connect with the younger generation," said Komsan Wattanavanichakorn, the creative mind at Chujai, who oversees the project.
"There's a lot of talk about an ageing society. But when we talk about 'helping the elderly', we usually talk about financial help or welfare support. What about other kinds of support? I believe when we work on a project about the elderly, we should approach it the same way as when we work with children: we have to create a space for them and let them connect with the world. This isn't about welfare or charity. We're not feeling sorry for them; we acknowledge their ability and let them do what they want."
This is not, Komsan added, an attempt to romanticise old people and try to make them something they're not. The music video has become such a hit because it has found the right look for these elderly: a realistic appearance of your grandfather-next-door, but also with a hit of defiance and nonchalant cool of someone who doesn't try or care to be cool.
"We want to inspire people, yes, but we also want to be practical. We want people to feel related to the band. These are not some old people who are forced to be unnaturally youthful or colourful. They're real people who love music and want to play," Komsan said.
The project began by auditioning a lot of senior people, and the eclectic mix of the final band members represents the broad sketches of Thailand's ageing population: there are some from a well-to-do background, some ex-business owners, a war veteran, a couple of weathered musicians who once played Deep Purple and Grand Funk Railroad for American combat soldiers, and there are those who have to be accompanied everywhere by their grandchildren. It wasn't easy when they first met and played together -- their tastes also vary from luk thung music to Frank Sinatra -- and yet they came together in the end, through their ages and experience it seems.
Thailand is an ageing society, as defined by the United Nations, which means a country's population consists of more than 10% of elderly people. Based on 2015 data from the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, around 11 million Thais are over 60, which means 16% of the entire population. The Thai Health Promotion Foundation has initiated various programmes to prepare society for the demographic shift that will continue to affect economic, social and cultural environments of the country.
Recently, for instance, it released a mobile app called Chara-Heyo (chara meaning old) to promote exercise, and set up a network of School for the Elderly to promote learning activities among senior people.
The band Bennetty, however, seems to be the only project that generates a real buzz, and one that also tries to find a connection with the rest of society.
"I didn't feel old," said Thanakorn, the 66-year-old drummer. "It's not because we're this old or that old and we feel inhibited from doing something. It should be the opposite; we should do whatever we want because we've lived long enough to this point. And music is what we want to do."
Komsan, the producer, said that the band is now preparing to play live for audiences, though they still need to practice for more confidence. The Bennetty project is looking to have a longer life than he first set out to do because the reception has been so overwhelming. For him, the fact that young people show interest in the band is an achievement.
"This is something we can look at in the big picture," he said. "For instance, there's a mutual benefit when a company hires people over 60. It's a win-win situation. If society can work together and embrace the differences in ages instead of just one group 'helping' other groups, it's a win-win situation for us all."
- Watch Bennetty's music video by searching Jood Derm on YouTube.
- The band's documentary is also available on YouTube.
