Traditional Issarn Festival

Late last week a foreigner in the next village along from mine (In north east Thailand) paid for the most popular band in this region to play at a funeral. It’s nothing like a funeral we have in the west! He also hired the Army and the police force to make sure there was no trouble. Originally I thought it was only a small function, until around 5pm (the show was due to start at 8pm) there were hundreds of motobikes loaded with a family going past the house I stay in. They were all arriving early to grab a seat near the stage. I arrived at around 10pm and to my surprise, there were around 3000 people sourounding a stage in the middle of a field. Apparently, people from all over the province came to see the band in action, as most has never had the opotunity to see a concert before, plus this concert was free! It was a great night, everyone was in a jolly mood!