Caravan

Über Caravan

Caravan, formed in 1972 by Thammasat University students, invented phleng phuea chiwit — Thailand's songs-for-life genre. Their 1974 debut album Khon Kab Khwai, recorded during the student-led democratic uprising, fused American folk-rock guitar with traditional Thai melody and political lyrics that quoted Marx, Mao, and the rice fields of the central plains. After the October 1976 massacre the band fled into the jungle with the Communist Party of Thailand and continued performing for guerrilla units until the general amnesty of 1983. They reunited as a recording act in the 1990s and still tour for student and labour movements.