New Thai Documentary

Underground
1

Yusul:

This is a filmed documentary for television and eventually video release I believe. I will try to get more info in the next few weeks.

The book Muay Thai Legacy just came out a little while ago. Someone here posted the website it could be bought from. I believe the publisher is Spry publishing. Asia books carries it as well. It has a heavy price tag at $40 in the USA and roughly 1250 baht($30 US.D) in Thailand. The book is in color and the photos are very well shot and reproduced. The first section is an overview of the progression of thai boxing from the old days to the modern stage. The first part is the only reason to buy the book as the second half is terribly disappointing.

I liked the first part even though it does not go into much depth about the systems and the teachers. It discusses alot of points about the progression of the stadiums and historical moments, etc that was interesting. It features my teacher the late Kru Tong and my current teacher Ajarn Lek in chaiya boxing which is nice to see them acknowledged. There are errors of course I believe in the photos showing muay lopburi and muay korat, the photos are not correctly labeled. The muay lopburi photo is actually muay korat and vice versa. The authors are not practitioners of the art and though their research yielded them so interesting information they seemed to gloss over alot of apparent material that could have added tremendous depth while still being direct and straightforward.

The second half is current muay thai technique progressions which are mostly very, very basic and so are the combos. Some of the material seemed a bit strange to me as I rarely saw them taught in a modern kai muay. The book is for beginners. I see it as a simplistic overview of muay thai. I discussed my opinions with many others including scholars and other writers and alot of practitioners, and they seemed to concurr. There are so few books out that I have a hard time saying anything too negative, so I will say its one of the better books for the moment. It will open the doors for others to surpass it. I'd be interested what others on the forum have to say about the book.

There are two other excellent books in the works that will be detailed and very thorough. I will talk more about these when I interview the authors in coming weeks.

2

TTT
I want to BUY that issue!

3

pahuyuth, is the documentary filmed for video/tv, or is it going to be an article in the magazine?

and can you give any more info about the book muay thai legacy? (content, bio, release date?) thanks.

4

The team from National Geographic is here in Bangkok prepping a new documentary on the thai martial arts. The author of the new book Muay Thai Legacy is helping them with research. I know it will include a section with my bare knuckle teacher of chaiya boxing and another with my krabi krabong teacher. Hopefully, it will be a real glimpse into the arts themselves. But we will have to wait and see.

5

Will you (or someone) please post additional information (air times, release, etc.)when it becomes available.

Thank you,

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ttt

7

I gotta buy that book!

Anyone have the web addy?

8

ttt

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ttt

10

It should air in 12-18 months. A guy from my hometown is helping them to the research right now.

11

ttt

gichen, what's up? hope all is well with you and family and job!

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Samboboy:

It that the older gentleman. Balding, stocky? I think he was at the krabi krabong school with the director.

Paulm:

www.sprypublishing.com

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Hello,I'm new to your forum. My name Dave Rogers I'm not here to insult anyone and want to say "thanks to pahuyuth" for his Book Review to "Muay Thai A Living Legacy". (I'm the US Distributor) The book was published last year just around the time of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Not an easy accomplishment to get it into the USA after that.We appreciate that he gave it an honest review and we again thank him for it. I might add that it is the 1st book of a 3-book volume and that might be one reason he finds "basic Muay Thai technique" in it. Also I might add that, if you aren't lucky enough to train under a knowledgeable source or teacher it is very important to have something to base your art on, that being the "basics". I have been teaching the art for awhile myself and I find that I usually go over the basics, again and again, once the "student" has progressed into the "ring-sport" because they serve him well under pressure.The other points he makes about the old styles, I will pass on to Kat, the author. She busted her butt to put out the best product she could and went through 50 drafts and approx 400 rolls of film over 2 years before they finally had to say "enough", and go to press. Every book has some mistakes, regardless of how hard you try, so I'm really pleased if that is all he could find in 300 pages.My job was to edit this book into "US" English, find typos and do my best to make it as user friendly to the martial artist as I knew how. I'm proud of what the authors and publisher accomplished. Spry Publishing in Thailand oversaw production of the book and there were enough experts involved to produce a legit representation of this Thai art. One more point about "basics" if I may. Many people today want to go right to the training and skip all of the history and the culture, one reason is because everybody is in a hurry to get to the best stuff first. The shame of that, I think, is that they miss what is probably the best part of training. Understanding the Culture, or at least having an overview, is often times missed with the neophyte. I say that after I myself have committed the sin. In my youth I was impatient, still am a little, and felt that I didn't have time to waste on all that other stuff. I hope I never get too old to stop learning, even though at some point you start to get a little complacent you want to move on to other stuff. Some of my best training sessions are usually the ones that cover the most ground with just the basics. Now that I have survived into "Middle-Age" (man, I hate saying that) that old saying applies, "Life is a journey, not a destination." Enjoying the journey is what's important after all.Later,David RogersThai Boxing Association USAkalimuay@fgi.net Spry Publishingwww.sprypublishing.com

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The documentary should surface in about 12 to 18 months from now roughly(Feb 2002).

In answer to Mr. Rogers misreading of my post, regarding the book he releases and my own observations please check Muay Thai Book thread for my answer.