AllMovie

Written and shot in the mold of such globally acclaimed documentaries as Genghis Blues and From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China, the home release ISAN: Folk and Pop Music of Thailand carries viewers into a strange and majestic musical frontier unfamiliar to the majority of western audiences. The unification of Lao, Thai and Cambodian folklore in the single setting of the Mekong Delta has yielded an enchanting and unusual blend of music and dance known as "Isan." The film ISAN provides a glimpse of this tradition as it exists on multiple levels of Thai society - from the far-eastern instrumentation that helps the Thai people create the distinct Isan sound, to the cabarets and adult clubs where Isan song and dance fills the stages before packed audiences.