Feature: The sound of Ekalin's dream: a Thai sightless teenage musician's story

Source: Xinhua| 2020-10-29 19:43:15|Editor: huaxia

THAILAND-KHAO YAI-SIGHTLESS CHILDREN-ORCHESTRA

A boy of the Thai Blind Orchestra performs at a summer camp in Khao Yai, Thailand, Sept. 26, 2020. (Xinhua/Zhang Keren)

by Ren Qian

KHAO YAI, Thailand, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- "My name is Ekalin, my favourate instrument is cello, because it sounds beautiful and is relatively easy to learn," Ekalin stood beside his chair, putting down the cello, while talking to Xinhua reporters.

A group of other kids passed by, no one paying attention to him, and he as well didn't seem to be disturbed by the noise. Ekalin is visually impaired, due to his physical disability, he focuses more on his own melody of music.

"I used to play keyboard, but in the band, the teacher wants me to play cello and violin, because I'm too short and couldn't reach the double bass," he said.

Naturally visually impaired, Ekalin comes from Petchaburi province in western Thailand. His mother left him since he was born and his father went to prison for accidental killing. Without caring and protective parents, Ekalin still managed to grow up with his grandparents to become a cheerful and optimistic child.

At the age of seven, Ekalin entered Makutkiriwan School for the Blind (Khao Yai) and started to play keyboard under the guidance of teachers. This was the beginning of Ekalin's musical dream.

But even with his natural talent and passion for music, Ekalin's life could have been that of a typical visually impaired person in Thailand: to graduate from the blind school and later become one of the many blind street performers.

Fortunately, he met Alongkot Chukaew, a Thai biologist and amateur musician who gave him an opportunity and hope to chase his music dream.

Alongkot is the founder and director of the Thai Elephants Research and Conservation Fund, which helps improve visually impaired children's living skills through interaction with elephants. He found out that many blind children had great interest in music. With his own musical background, he decided to create the Thai Blind Orchestra for the blind children eight years ago, helping those who barely have a chance to touch western instruments to show their talents.

"Let's say that many of them have special things to replace what they don't have. Many of these kids are able to identify musical notes from listening. We call this group of people 'perfect pitch'," Alongkot pointed at the kids who just finished playing 12 Variations on "Ah vous dirai-je, maman" of Mozart.

Ekalin definitely is one of the talented ones. While being asked if he ever felt that life was unfair to him, he shook his head and said, "not at all, except for the shoulder pain while playing the violin, I don't really need any extra help from others."

Asked about his dream in the future, he said without hesitation: "I wish I could become a musician, perform on the big stage and on TV," while smiling as if he was seeing himself standing on the center of the stage, leading the Orchestra into the musical world.

Alongkot still remembers how difficult it was in the beginning. "There were no orchestra books for blind kids. We did many research about this, we tried to combine what we have learned from western countries, produce our own practical and simple lessons for them. We spent almost one and a half months until we got 43 chapters, which is strong enough for people just starting to learn about western instruments."

Holding a hand-made score sheet in Braille, Alongkot's face is full of smile and pride. The biologist explained that at the beginning, no school wanted to lend them instruments, worried that the visually impaired pupils would damage them. Now the orchestra has already more than 60 western string instruments, most of them donated by people who want to show support.

Alongkot realizes that the situation of blind people in Thailand is not good. Most of them have very limited occupations to live on, often either being a blind masseuse or a lottery seller. But through his orchestra and the talent and passion that the sightless children have showed him, he sees a better future for the blind.

According to Alongkot, "music is another option for blind people who can play music or perform as a band. Finally we are going to change the picture of the blind musicians here in Thailand, they will have more space and time to present their ability, their intelligence to the public."

Every weekend, some visionless children from the orchestra come to Khao Yai, 150 km north-east of Bangkok, which is the third largest national park in Thailand and where Alongkot's Thai Elephants Research and Conservation Fund is located.

In the morning, the kids practice different instruments with volunteer teachers. Despite the tropical heat in Thailand, the audience can feel the peace and calmness coming along with the breeze, under the shadows of trees, accompanied by a golden retriever, the lifeguard dog.

After practicing separately, all kids gathered in the exhibition hall for the rehearsal class. There were around 15 children, including violinists, cellists and singers. As a young volunteer played keyboard while counting one, two, three, the students raised their instruments and the sound of music slowly flowed out, a bit rusty but appealing.

Outside the rehearsal hall, a young elephant stood about 50 meters away, shaking its tail and head, as if it is dancing while enjoying the sweet and beautiful music brought by the children. Enditem

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