Deun Chongmankhong

Updated: Jan 26, 2018

Actually we don’t look at ourselves as full-time musicians but music is a part of what we do. In many cases we didn’t choose but the circumstances chose us.

Please introduce yourself. Who are you? What are you doing?

My name is Deun. I do a lot of things and one of them is being in a band – Sasi.

How did you become Deun in the band Sasi?

I started writing songs and a musician friend put in the rhythm and the music to our lyrics. That helped us make our own music for a while. One day, we were hanging out in a café on Prasumen Road and we got a chance to talk with the café owner who is also a guitarist. He invited us to play in a band together, and that was the start of Sasi.

What is Sasi’s music genre?

In terms of genre, I think you can’t really categorize it, but my bandmates call it psychedelic folk which I don’t know what it is actually. In the band, we have two guitarists and two drummers.

Why did you choose to do music?


How important is music to you?

There are many cases where layers and music in life affect how fast or slow our time goes by. It’s like an effect on the time in life. It relates to emotions in a certain way, such as when you listen to music when you drive or when you don’t. It’s different.

Do you think music and fashion or music with other art forms have something in common?

Everything has its artistic views, which link everything together. It depends on the lifestyle, it depends on how people link them together. Sometimes we can’t tell what kind of music a person listens to from what they wear.

Besides music, do you have other hobbies?

I like to express my feelings in different forms besides music, such as drawing, taking pictures, or writing. Actually before writing songs, I started with writing poetry which led to writing songs.

If you stop doing music, what would you be doing instead?

I think I will draw. When I was young I thought if I was disabled, if I was blind, I could still sing because I could still do things without that organ. If I couldn’t talk, couldn’t sing, or couldn’t hear, I could still draw.

In ten years, will you still be making music?

In ten years, we would have made a lot of music. We would have enough time to write

music about the things that make us excited even if people don’t listen to it, but I think people will.

If you think IRADA is a song, what Sasi song would it be?

Sasi’s songs are written by a woman. It has a lot of femininity,

the music is tough and soft so I think we cannot choose a song. It is similar to IRADA, it has its femininity. But for us, IRADA is a stronger version of Sasi but it still has its vulnerability.

For example, the song “Nah-Tang” is about a girl who sits by the windows on a rainy dayreflecting her past but doesn’t ask for anything. She understands the situation, in the midst of her sadness she has a hidden strength. Women tend to have different sides and angle to her. When a woman cries, it doesn’t mean she’s not strong. It’s like everyone who has their strong side and their soft side.

Please tell us about your recent song.

Sasi started for a while now but not everyone has heard of it. You can follow Sasi via our Facebook “Sasi”. We will be doing some projects in the future, so please feel free to follow us for more updates.