Suraphol Sombatcharoen

Über Suraphol Sombatcharoen

Suraphol Sombatcharoen, known as the King of Thai Country Song, was the singer who turned luk thung from a regional rural form into a national popular music. Born in Suphan Buri, he recorded more than 100 hits across the 1950s and 1960s, most famously Sao Suan Taeng and the autobiographical Sip Hok Pi Haeng Khwam Lang. He was shot dead in 1968 after a concert in Nakhon Pathom at the age of 37, a killing that has been mythologised in Thai popular culture for half a century. His birthplace in Suphan Buri is now a memorial; every July his death anniversary draws thousands of pilgrims.