You are legend?

Rachada has never been this dark or curry-free.

It’s the Friday night before a four day weekend, and the streets of Bangkok are uncrowded. It feels like a dream. I’ve come back from our trip to Pattaya with my coworkers, Teera and Kwang, in their Almera.

We’ve just checked into a hotel on Rachada soi 20, and will go out exploring the empty city in a while. I’m looking forward to not feeling crowded in this city for once.

Buddy Rich, John Bonham, Yoyoka Soma


The world needs hungry and talented drummers, even if most current music doesn’t employ real drums. There’s a story of past giants, as well as promise for the future laid out in these vids:

There is a self-intro from the girl on the Vimeo page where it was uploaded that wasn’t carried over to the YouTube version embedded above (and it’s a shame that Vimeo has never gotten to the level of reliability of YouTube, since it kicks ass in so many other areas):

My name is Yoyoka Soma. I am 8 year old Japanese drummer.

youtube.com/user/kaneaikaneai

When I was a just small baby, my parents had a home studio and there were various kinds of instruments. My parents were performing music activities as amateur singer-songwriters and they cradled me with their music. When I listened to their songs and guitar performances, I was eager to join them and couldn’t stop beating out a rhythm. That was why I started playing the drums. The drum was the first instrument in which I felt an interest in my life. My parents’ music peers often visited us to play together. I was glued to the powerful and dynamic performances by the drummers. At age 2, I was playing the drums as if I were playing with toys. At age 4, I started performing at concerts. At age 5, my family band “Kaneaiyoyoka” was formed by my parents. We have released 2 self-produced CD albums so far. Not only the drums, I also play the keyboard and perform as a vocalist. I compose lyrics and music as well.

My favorite drummers are John Bonham, Chris Coleman and Benny Greb.

As a drummer, I enjoy being groove, tones and try to support vocalists carefully. My dream is to be the best drummer in the world. In addition, I want to be an artist who can do anything: playing all instruments, recording music, mixing the sound and designing the CD album jackets. As I am aiming at overseas activities, I am studying English conversation. I want to become friends with people all over the world through my musical activities!

As HLAG is a contest only for women, I definitely can’t lose it. I want to be the best female drummer. Thanks to the great support by my family and fans, I can continue the practice and other musical activities. I want to show the best result of my daily practice and come out on top of this contest!

Social Network:
facebook: facebook.com/kaneaiyoyoka/
Twitter: twitter.com/yoyokadrums
web: kaneai.jimdo.com/

Smoked Pork Roast

There’s a new butcher shop between my house and work that opened half a year ago. They sell pork only. The quality of meat is better than anywhere else, and the prices are cheaper as well… So I’m in there a couple times a week.

Most Thais do not like the well-marbled cuts that I go after, so there are usually a few choice ones in the displays. The staff will also go get whatever you want from the back, if it’s not on display.

I asked them about a whole pig last week, and they gave me a number to call… I’m toying with the idea of a barbecue pit. Just need to find a steady supply of my favorite lamyai wood.