On 17 oktober 2001 Carabao (from Thailand) gave a concert in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) as part of the Access to Amsterdam (A2A) festival. Because we cycled through China, Laos en Thailand during the first months of this year it was a nice opportunity to keep the holiday feeling alive.
Carabao are a Thai 'plaeng peua chiwit' or 'songs for life' band. This kind of music came to prominence through the protest songs of the 1970s political upheaval in Thailand, especially from the brilliant Caravan band. Carabao have blended the acoustic/folk style of 'peua chiwit' with other forms of Thai music and western rock music, earning such labels as 'ethnic rockers' and 'Kings of 3Cha'. Their songs often tackle social and political issues, demanding social justice and taking on the causes of the ordinary Thai people, but they have also created love songs and more philosophical songs that carry messages for people everywhere (The description above is derived from the A2A-website).
Because it is better to make use of the effort that different people have already undertaken on the internet I have decided not to do it all over again but to include some links that describe the phenomenon Carabao and their concert in Amsterdam.