Episode 21: Ranat, the Thai Royal Instrument

August 1, 2025

Ranat, the Thai Royal Instrument

A legendary craftsman making instruments for the Thai Royal family. 

📍 Bangkok, Thailand

His Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/SomchaiThaiMusic/?locale=th_TH 

Thoughts and Reflections

This meeting with Somchai Champarlee was incredibly fortuitous. Jean, my amazing tour guide, had reached out to them, but welcomed us but didn’t follow up. So we were unclear if/when we were going. We almost tried visiting a different instrument-making company, but that spontaneous visit didn’t go as planned. So on a whim, we went to visit Somchai, and it turns out that not only were we welcomed, Mr. Somchai himself made the journey to Bangkok just to meet with us. One regret was not being able to visit his bigger factory in the other province where the majority of his instruments are made. He was a joyful person to chat with, as well as his wife.