This is the first composition with symphony orchestra featuring the phin and khaen, traditional instruments popular in northeastern Thailand. The phin is a type of lute, usually with three strings, traditionally played with a thin sharp piece of bamboo. The khaen is a free-reed mouth organ of varied-length bamboo pipes with metal reeds. Thai Composer Dr. Narong Prangcharoen's success as a composer was confirmed by his receiving the prestigious Charles Ives Award 2021 from the American Academy of Arts and Letter, the 2013 Guggenheim Fellowship and the Barlow Prize. Other awards include the Music Alive, the 20th Annual American Composers Orchestra Underwood New Music Commission, the American Composers Orchestra Audience Choice Award, the Tou Takemitsu Composition Award, the Alexander Zemlinsky International Composition Competition Prize, the 18th ACL Yoshiro IRINO Memorial Composition Award, the Pacific Symphony's American Composers Competition Prize, and the Annapolis Charter 300 International Composers Competition Prize. In his native country, Mr. Prangcharoen was recipient of the Silapathorn Award, naming him a "Thailand Contemporary National Artist" Prangcharoen has, thus, established an international reputation and is recognized as one of Asia's leading composers. He has received encouragement and praise from a number of important contemporary composers, such as Paul Chihara, Zhou Long, Augusta Read Thomas, and Yehudi Wyner. John Corigliano has called Prangcharoen's music "contemporary and accessible," and Chen Yi has written that it is "colorful and powerful."
Nuengsaran Prukthaisong received a bachelor's degree in music technology from the College of Music at Mahidol University. He has extensive experience playing the Phin. He was a featured soloist with the Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra and he has performed at the Asian Connections Concert 2022 at Prince Mahidol Hall in Thailand and at 4th The 4th Hangzhou Contemporary Music Festival 2023 in China. He has won numerous awards including Gold medal winner in the high school class at 21st SET Youth Music Competition 2018. The SET Youth Music Contest in Thailand is open to all kinds of musical instruments that do not use electricity, including singing. Which does not limit the music genre in the contest. It can be considered that the SET Youth Music of Thailand contest is the most open music contest in Thailand. The judging principle focuses on the beauty and the ability to express the art of the contestant's music.
Patchaya Nantachai, known in to the Thai public as "Sun Nanthachai," received his bachelor's degree in Thai music education from the Bunditpatanasilpa Institute, Ministry of Culture. He is the band leader of "Makaohang" and Founder of Baan-nok School (charitable music education school) in Bueng Kan province. He has been a speaker throughout Thailand on Northeastern Thai Folk Music and Culture to many schools and universities. He has been performing Northeastern Thai Folk Music in Thailand for fifteen years with performances at Locals Voice Thailand Thai PBS, Kua Thai Transport Only Thailand's Best, Thailand Tourism Festival, Isan Creative Festival, and Thailand ESAN Fabric Expo. Internationally, he has performed in Vietnam, Indonesia, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Philippines, Mozambique, Kazakhstan, Nepal, India, China, Japan, Russia, and Malaysia.