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This story is a foul cacophony of demon cults clashing in chinkland. Throw in french opera and dot headed cow worshippers, and you end up with a satanic mishmash of God mocking superstition.
Homer myths....demon kings....gooks of every flavor...and a tin-horn military dictatorship made up of little yellow monkeys....the entire thing is typically childish and unGodly.
Is it any wonder that God sends them tidal waves and AIDS to thin their ranks?
Thai gov't censors opera on 'bad omen'
BANGKOK, Thailand - Thailand's new military-appointed government has threatened to shut down an operatic version of the Hindu epic Ramayana, ostensibly over fears one of its scenes may bring bad luck.
Composer Somtow Sucharitkul said Friday that ministry officials approached him a few days before the show's opening to complain about a scene involving the on-stage death of a key character, the demon-king, Thotsakan.
The officials, whom Somtow did not identify, said that portraying Thotsakan's death on stage was taboo in Thai culture and would be a "bad omen," the 53-year-old composer told The Associated Press.
The Ramayana — the Thai version is called the Ramakien — is a Hindu epic that is the wellspring for much traditional Southeast Asian drama. A tale of love and death, good and evil, it is sometimes compared to the classic Greek Homeric myths.
The premiere was attended as scheduled by one of Bhumibol's daughters, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, who requested to speak to Somtow at the end of the second act.
The cast, mostly foreigners since it is a professional Western-style opera, feared the show was being stopped and that Somtow would be taken away, the composer said.
The new opera stakes a claim to being an innovative mix of modern European stagecraft with ancient Asian values. The cast includes Thai, Russian, Dutch and Chinese artists, and the singing is in English.
BANGKOK, Thailand - Thailand's new military-appointed government has threatened to shut down an operatic version of the Hindu epic Ramayana, ostensibly over fears one of its scenes may bring bad luck.
Composer Somtow Sucharitkul said Friday that ministry officials approached him a few days before the show's opening to complain about a scene involving the on-stage death of a key character, the demon-king, Thotsakan.
The officials, whom Somtow did not identify, said that portraying Thotsakan's death on stage was taboo in Thai culture and would be a "bad omen," the 53-year-old composer told The Associated Press.
The Ramayana — the Thai version is called the Ramakien — is a Hindu epic that is the wellspring for much traditional Southeast Asian drama. A tale of love and death, good and evil, it is sometimes compared to the classic Greek Homeric myths.
The premiere was attended as scheduled by one of Bhumibol's daughters, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, who requested to speak to Somtow at the end of the second act.
The cast, mostly foreigners since it is a professional Western-style opera, feared the show was being stopped and that Somtow would be taken away, the composer said.
The new opera stakes a claim to being an innovative mix of modern European stagecraft with ancient Asian values. The cast includes Thai, Russian, Dutch and Chinese artists, and the singing is in English.
Is it any wonder that God sends them tidal waves and AIDS to thin their ranks?
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