A Benefit Concert

Tonight I attended a benefit concert at North Chiang Mai University for a local hospital. I went with Pi Mai, a woman who works at my volunteer placement, and I took Laura with me as well. I thought the concert was going to be at Chiang Mai University, so when we were driving to the campus, and it turned into about a half hour drive, I was rather surprised. When we finally arrived at the building, all we saw were tons and tons of stair cases--a slight problem since Pi Mai has polio and uses a wheel chair a lot of the time. Luckily, when we went around to the other side of the building, there was a ramp.
The concert started with a group of people who had previously stayed in the hospital. They performed a few songs, and then another band took the stage. This band was composed of teenagers--16 to 19--and they were quite good! After these two acts, several gifts were given. The entire concert was in Thai (except for two songs which just happened to be covers of English songs), so a lot of the time, I had no idea of what was really happening. I looked around a bit to see if there were other ferans there, but it looked like Laura and I were the only non-Thai people. Strangely, I felt like we were stared at less than we are when we go to markets full of foreigners.
I think my favorite group came after the gift giving/intermission. This was an acapella group from Chiang Mai. I was very happy to hear them since I've gotten used to hearing live acapella groups at school back home, but I also was amazed by how well they sang in tune. Pi Mai told me that one song they were singing was telling their girlfriends not to eat too much because they would get very large, though instead of saying this, they would go "do-do-do" to imitate the girls growing. It was funny to watch and listen to, even if I wasn't sure what exactly they were saying. I would love to hear them perform again.

There were several more performances after the acapella group, and the concert ended with a singer and saxophone player who appeared to be very famous. I might have lost a bit of hearing from the people sitting behind us who were screaming almost constantly during this part of the concert. It was all really great music, though, which made me happy. A lot of times, we'll go to a restaurant or bar, and there will be live music, but it's rarely been impressive--at least not like this!
At the end of the concert, Pi Mai went up to the stage and presented the female singer and a keyboardist with presents. It was both of their birthdays, and the rest of the band sang and played while they were presented with cakes.

I am very happy that I got to attend this concert, though I wish it had been a bit shorter! It started at 5 pm, and we left around 10:30, and the concert was still going! I had Pi Mai drop us by the Sunday Night Market so we could get some dinner, and then we headed home.