Luang Prabang gets into hip hop !

C-Star is now focusing on hip hop bands rather than rock because of high demand on the local market

The flourishing trend of hip hop beats is moving throughout Asia and has finally made it to Laos .

This was why a new recording company, C-Star, decided to put together a fresh group with five dazzling young girls.

“The song from the Luang Prabang hip hop group, L-Zone, is now in high demand by the public, as well as with traders in Vientiane 's Morning Market,” said producer and owner of C-Star, Mr Sonesack Khouvilay...more info

“I'm not just looking for perfect pitch and good looks for this group,” the producer told Vientiane Times. “I'm looking for some real Luang Prabang women to create a new hot new dance movement in the entertainment industry.”

The group could also have a similar flavour to Vientiane 's four pop-dance divas in Princess, from Indee Records.

Sonesack believes Lao audiences are ready and waiting for a new style of music group, and that a five-girl team could easily capture the crowds.

L-Zone's overwhelming hip hop hits Kiknoychai and Sexy Khalay, produced by his company, manage to weave in the familiar Luang Prabang sounds, which has helped to bring the group massive success on local radio, skyrocketing up the hit lists on stations like Music Lover 97.25 FM in Vientiane .

“L-Zone's debut album Kiknoychai has a gold hip hop sound, and has sold more than 6,000 copies with more on order for customers who missed out on the first run,” Sonesack said.

“Songs for the new generation, like hip hop or pop, should be accessible for everyone.”

After the huge success of the L-Zone's first hip hop album, the producer has just completed another, Second Day .

New songs on this album, like Khoy and Than Dum, are already getting radio requests, even though they haven't been formally released yet, and aren't yet on sale.

Sonesack said he had initially planned to bring this album onto the market next month, but has had second thoughts because of the continuing success of the previous album, as he didn't want to harm sales.

“There are heaps of female listeners requesting Khoy every day, even though the song's only been out for five days,” a DJ on 97.25 FM, Khampanya Phengvinaiya, explained.

Sonesack said consumer preference had recently shifted away from hard rock, which is now becoming popular only with niche audiences.

Along with the current hip hop trend, another band is being put together by the Fanfam recording company, which is producing an album with an excitingly original trio made up of three singers, one of them a Lao-African woman, whose highly anticipated debut will take place shortly.

“I now have to accept that rock music is hard to sell in Laos, maybe because Lao rock fans prefer hard rock groups from overseas,” said Sonesack, who himself has a background as the lead singer in hard rock band Hi-Flame, founded in Luang Prabang.

“Most Lao listeners don't really understand the different technical sounds foreign rock bands produce,” he added.

When asked why rock band The Cells has become so popular in Laos and Thailand , Sonesack explained that, like American group Linkin Park , the band has been able to keep a lot of diversity in its sound, incorporating hip hop, R&B and rock with other music styles that can appeal to a greater range of listeners.

“The big issue in producing is to make your business survive. When we are producing we have to understand that our aim is to entertain our listeners, and give them what they want,” Sonesack said.

By Viengsavanh Phengphachan

Posted by samakomlao on 10:43 PM. Filed under C-Star, group, hip hop, L-zone, Laos, Luang Prabang, young girl . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Feel free to leave a response