Jintara Poonlarp or Poonlarb (Thai จินตหรา พูนลาภ) is one of the best known mor lam artists of Thailand. She is also sometimes known by her nickname Jin or the epithet sao siang pin (Thai สาวเสียงพิณ) or "lute-voiced girl".

Career

Jintara was born on March 12 1971, in the Ka Vi Sai district of Roi Et province in the Isan region of Thailand. She began performing in her early teens. She made twenty audio-only recordings for Grammy Entertainment and later a further five for Master Tape . She has since made a further series of recordings for Master Tape, variously entitled Luk tung sa on and Mor lam sa on, both in VCD, CD and audio tape formats. A number of greatest hits collections have also been issued, some of which contain videos of songs from the first audio-only series.

In addition to her mor lam performances, Jintara sings luk thung and string music. In particular, she collaborated with Bird McIntyre on the hit songs Ma Tammai and Faen Ja. She tours with a live show from September to May each year and has made several appearances in Europe and North America.

Among her best-known solo songs are Sao Isan plat tin (Isan girl poor and far from home, album 9), which incorporates the typical themes of poverty, homesickness and an unfaithful lover) and Arlai World Trade (Mourning the World Trade Center, album Luk tung sa on 6), which aroused comment in the English language media for the way in which it addressed the September 11, 2001 attacks: " the reigning Morlam superstar of Thailand laments the attacks of Sept. 11 while young, bare-midriffed Thai girls gyrate in front of a surging American flag" [1]. In 2003, the Thai Ministry of Culture proposed banning one of her songs, Tears Of A Lieutenant's Wife (Namta Mia Nairoi) on state-run media [2]. In 2004 she began studying for a degree at Rajabhat Institute Suan Sunandha, Bangkok. Newspaper reports suggested that she was considering standing as an MP for the Thai Nation Party (Chat Thai), but would not be able to do so until she had graduated [3].

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Discography