History – Part II
The story of Asto Na Pai – Part II
All good visas must come to an end however, so Vassilio went back to Thailand to live in a village called Pai, in the north. In the year 2001, Pai was considered a mystic place by travellers, attracting artists and musicians from around the globe, even to this day. New musicians joined the group, like Aedi from Thailand with the didgeridoo and Toni from France with the saxophone. By 2003, old and new Earth Music Tribe members had gathered to record the band’s first album, Utopai, produced by Raoul and marketed by a recording company in Mexico. The whereabouts of this album, which contains only live recordings, are now unknown, but all good things reappear when necessary, so we say Asto Na Pai for now.
Raoul brought his own special blend of Native American music with Toni’s African Jazz grooves. At that time Pin also joined the group. Australian Pin had studied the lira in Greece for many years and so along with Vassilio they highlighted the Greek element making the music sound more Mediterranean with hints of gypsy, Balkan and Indian-Greek latin. By hand of fate, Vassilio then acquired a bouzouki, the sound of which gave the music a completely different feel, further reminiscent of Greek music.
When Bruce joined the group, he began to create lyrics for the songs and now the melodies began to have words. Bruce had been practising with Vassilio for 14 years on and off, however, rarely performing with him and the band.
In July 2007 Earth Music Tribe met Noi, an extremely talented Thai violin player. Noi had opened a bar in Pai, called Phupai. At the same time a Japanese festival was taking place in Pai, where all members from Earth Music Tribe, including Bruce at this point, were playing. As all these musicians gathered in Pai, Vassilio, Noi and the band started to practice new songs, to perform and to record with a new name, influenced by the name of the city Pai. Asto Na Pai was born.
The first Asto Na Pai cd, “Above and Below the Stars”, was finished in September 2007, after 2 months of recording, but only published and sold on a small scale. It is not currently available, though this is to change in the near future. The name of the album was a reflection of the feeling during the recordings, as all the songs were recorded in bungalows, small studios and natural surroundings, enabling the musicians to always play direct from their hearts.
Performances thereafter had fire dancing, chakra dancing, shadow dancing and belly dancing, among others. It was an amazing feeling when one of the dancers once did a yoga session on stage during the band’s sound check. As a result, the feel of the music was influenced by the dancers and the dancers were influenced by the music, all weaving together to produce the magic that is still Asto Na Pai.