HEALTH-THAILAND:
Afro-Asian Music Connection Helps AIDS Awareness
Sonny Inbaraj
BANGKOK, Jul 9 (IPS) - The defining moment for U.S.-born Thai
folk-rock musician Todd Lavell Tongdee, in terms of relating to
the
AIDS deaths of African musicians to his own crusade back
home
in Thailand, was when he played with Nigerian Afro-rock star
Femi
Kuti and his Positive Force Band at an international concert in
Beijing, China.
As the country prepares to host the 15th International AIDS
Conference between Jun. 11-16, Todd recalls the moment at the
Heineken Beat Open Air Music Festival in Beijing, China, in
2000.
''That was indeed an experience and I got to know a whole lot
about how Femi's father, Fela, died from AIDS and also his
struggle against a military dictatorship in Nigeria,'' says Todd in
an
interview with IPS.
In August 1997, the contemporary African music world
suffered
a great loss with the death of the continent's most creative Afro-
beat superstar and anti-military dictatorship activist Fela
Anikulapo
Kuti.
Fela, as he was popularly known to his fans, used his music to
take on the Nigerian military regime.
On Aug. 2, 1997, he died of AIDS-related reasons and heart
failure at the age of 58. Fela's social promiscuity and hyper-
sexual
relationships with women, mainly his retinue of dancers were
written about extensively in the local press.
Fela's son, Femi has now dedicated himself to the cause of
creating awareness of HIV/AIDS.
''Femi's message is so powerful and it was a good blending of
African and Asian music in Beijing, with this awareness about
HIV/
AIDS. I was really inspired and moved and could relate to what I
was doing with my music in Thailand,'' he adds.
Todd was one of the pioneers of the 'Artists for AIDS' concerts
in
the early 1990s when HIV/AIDS was in epidemic proportions in
Thailand, with 1991 alone seeing 143,000 new HIV cases - on
record as Thailand's worst year.
That was the time when Todd toured Thailand with the popular
Carabao band and co-wrote a couple of the band's songs - one
of
the hits being ''Yak AIDS'' (AIDS disease).
Recently the music world was, yet again, reminded of the
haunting spectre of HIV/AIDS with the tragic death of one of
Ghana's biggest stars, Kiki Djan.
Kiki first found fame in the 1970s playing keyboards with the
Afro-rock group Osibisa.
On Jun. 10, he was found dead in a toilet inside a church with
the equivalent of 70 U.S. cents in his pocket. Kiki, 47, died of
AIDS
and drugs-related complications.
''For a man who made more than one million U.S. dollars
before
the age of 18, had hung out with Elton John and Mick Jagger,
played for Britain's queen and cruised on champagne-drenched
luxury ocean-liners to island-hop in the Caribbean, it was a
particularly ignominious way to cross life's finish line,'' said a
British Broadcasting Corporation news editorial.
Unlike Africa where the deaths of musicians from AIDS are
well
known, in Thailand, however, it is silenced.
''It's the stigma attached to it here,'' says Todd.
''While Fela's death from AIDS received national and
international attention, the deaths of Thai musicians from the
killer
disease gets ignored,'' he points out.
''That only creates ignorance among young Thai musicians.
Like
Fela and Osibisa's Kiki, many musicians here lead very high-
risk
behaviour and they need to be made aware of the dangers,''
stresses Todd.
But Todd is scathing about AIDS activists who advocate
condom
usage without discussing intimate sexual behaviour.
''It is easy to say wear condoms. But that becomes useless
when we don't address the roots of the HIV/AIDS problem,'' he
said.
One area where Todd is working on is encouraging young
people to be unafraid of expressing their sexuality.
''In my concerts I speak openly about sex and I encourage my
audience, too, to get involved. Many Thais are confused on
whether they are gay, lesbian or bisexual,'' said Todd.
''As a result of this confusion, they engage in high-risk sexual
behaviour.''
One song that is a current hit for Todd on 'Fat Radio FM' - a
popular Bangkok youth radio station - is 'LayDeeBoyZ' (Lady-
Boy)
sung in a mixture of Thai and English.
''The lyrics are openly provocative, reflecting the styles on
transvestites in Thailand,'' he explains. ''The song is meant to
raise the issue, not answer it.''
Adds the musician: ''When we play it live we often have guest
transvestite dancers and people of all sexual colour onstage.''
Todd frequently has jam sessions with musicians infected
with
HIV and one of the groups he has included in his concerts is the
HIV Band.
The HIV Band was set up in 1994 at the Phrabath Namphu
Buddhist temple in Lopburi province, about 115 kilometres north
of Bangkok, by seven AIDS patients who wrote their own songs
and performed in Western-styled rock.
The temple is also a hospice for dying AIDS patients who are
cared for by monks. Two or three patients die there every day.
So far about 60 people have been part of the band and died.
''This band is great. The members keep dying all the time but
the
band itself never stops playing. Other patients in the temple just
fill
in the vacant slots,'' says Todd.
The band's songs are meant to educate people and also give
hope to HIV/AIDS sufferers.
One of the lyrics of HIV Band is:
''I have to carry on, to fight, I must live to give my life meaning, I
must do good before I die.'' (END/2004)
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