SIRABHORN (TI) MUNTARBHORN (aka Dr. ka-TI)
"A Hard Day's Night"to American artist
James Taylor, who recorded in the U.K. during that time. ["Carolina
In My mind" was produced by Sir Paul McCartney and released on
the Beatles' Apple Label.] It was at Heathfield that she had a private
audience with her spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, of
Tibet, who was visiting the U.K. at the time.
Sirabhorn (or "Ti" as she is known by her peers outside Thailand) crossed the Atlantic in 1971 and attended Endicott College, Beverly, MA, for a two-year Interior Design course at the suggestion of her parents (1971-1973) where she received the Phi Theta Kappa/Honorary Award and placed first (Dean's List) in the College's Art Department. After graduating from Endicott, she enrolled at Berklee College of Music where she received a Diploma in Arranging and Composition [Majoring in Jazz Guitar] (1973-1977). In 1979, Berklee became a fully accredited college. She, therefore, returned to Berklee for one semester to complete her studies for the Bachelor of Music Degree, which she graduated with Honors/Cum Laude (1980). The Seventies at Boston's Berklee College of Music was the most crucial and eye-opening experience of her music career. She studied with Bill Leavitt, the author of Berklee's guitar method books and Chairman of Berklee's guitar department. She also studied guitar with Pat Metheny and privately with Mick Goodrick. She took various music courses with vibraphonist, Gary Burton and Michael Gibbs - the British composer-in-residence at the time. She auditioned and was accepted into Herb Pomeroy's most sought after courses "Line Writing" (limited to 15 students) and "Writing in the Style of Duke Ellington" (limited to 8 students). Her school mates were mostly from what Pat Metheny considered his "star" student Guitar Ensemble which included Mike Stern, Jay Azzolina (both based in NYC), Mike Thompson (L.A.'s top session man), Richard Niles (U.K.-based producer). Other musician friends included Leni Stern (formerly Magdalena Thora), Bill Frisell, John Scofield, Kevin Eubanks, Jeff Richman, Neil Stubenhaus, Victor Bailey, Vinni Colaiuta and others. Years studied (Berklee): 1973-1977 and 1980 Private Guitar Lessons (Los Angeles): 1993-1994 During the mid-Seventies, she witnessed the birth of the "Real Book," created by two Berklee friends she is still in touch with today. She owed it to guitarist Pat Metheny to have introduced her to many up-and-coming musicians, the most important being bassist Jaco Pastorius, who was one of her closest friends. She and Metheny also became such good friends that he named the tune "Sirabhorn" [from the "Bright Size Life" album] for her. After her second graduation from Berklee, she returned to Bangkok and worked as an Entertainment/Concert Manager for Nite Spot Productions/WEA Records. She was involved directly with concert productions of International Artists i.e., (Sir) Bob Geldof and The Boomtown Rats, Pat and Debbie Boone, The Doobie Brothers, Rod Stewart, Sadao Watanabe, Andy Williams, Paul Williams, and several others. She was also a DJ for Thailand's first all English language radio station, FM 107. She returned to the U.S.(1983) with aims of "honing her skills" and was active in the Los Angeles entertainment industry for over a decade. There she earned the Doctor of Jurisprudence [J.D.] Degree and worked as Business Affairs Manager at several entertainment companies including Harmony Gold - located in the heart of Sunset Boulevard. The great Northridge [San Fernando Valley, CA] earthquake (1994) which wrecked the homes [and nerves] of several thousands of industry people including yours truly [her house was near the epicenter!] convinced her to focus on what she loves best i.e., to become a full time musician because, " life is short." In Los Angeles, she began taking guitar lessons once more, this time with jazz guitar great, Joe Diorio. She sold the house, the car, quit her prestigious high paying Sunset Boulevard job and returned to Bangkok, Thailand, to become a full time musician. Now known simply as "Dr. ka-TI," she runs one of the most unique jazz outfits in the Far East, i.e., the "Dr. ka-TI Brazilian Jazz" Band (www.katijazz.com). Thailand's sole lady jazz musician and guitarist, Dr. ka-TI specialises in, of all things, the Bossa Nova of Brasil! Her popularity in such a short period of time [more like an explosion!] is unprecedented by most in this part of the world. With several TV, Radio and Concert appearances under her belt and hundreds of magazine articles including several dozen full-length interviews in English, Thai and Japanese. Her popularity arose, initially, solely from her "live" performances which has expanded beyond the Far East - including interviews in Japan's most prestigious Latin music Magazine "Latina" [two interviews in one year!]. She was also recently interviewed by the U.K-based "Brazilian Contemporary Arts" outfit. Her contributions to the music community of Thailand is unequalled by most. For one, there are no actively performing Brazilian Jazz Quintet in the Far East. This was the first and only band [that she is aware of] that specialises in the Bossa Nova. She spent several painstaking years transcribing from CDs and arranging charts of such unique Brazilian music repertoire. She had a tough job of convincing the all-male jazz musicians of Thailand that it is not so painful to work with a woman band leader! She patiently trained and rehearsed each and every single jazz musician available to interpret the charts so as to sound as authentically Brazilian as possible. The local musicians all thought, wrongly, that they knew what the Bossa Nova was until ... now! While in Thailand (1996-2003) she participated in several
Jazz Workshops, highlights of which were: In order to inspire radio listeners to learn English, she created a unique method of teaching English by song lyrics. The very popular program held daily on FM 89 was simply known as "More Than Words." This also led to the translation of lyrics, where readers can learn new English vocabularies, via several music magazines such as "Channel [V]", "Generation Terrorist" and "Season" music magazines. She holds weekly Brazilian and Jazz Workshops, free of charge, in order to offer Thai music enthusiasts, musicians and students alike, the opportunity to learn and embrace this genre of music so near and dear to her heart. As a result of her dedication and tireless efforts, she received an Artistic Grant from the Fundacao Oriente, of Portugal, and was invited as Artist-in-Residence at the 16th Century Arrabida Monastery, South of Lisbon (2002). She was one of three Grant recipients and the first musician to have been honored with such invitation. Dr. ka-TI is also a volunteer member of the Orpheus Choir of The Bangkok Opera Foundation, where she has performed several projects including the Mozart's "Requiem." On September 11, 2002, the Requiem was performed in Bangkok as a memorial to the 9/11. The Rolling Requiem took place September 11, 2002, worldwide, where Mozart's "Requiem" was performed in every time zone around the globe for 24 hours. Mozart's masterpiece, therefore, reverberated throughout the world during the 24-hour period on that day. Dr. ka-TI is a current and active member of the prestigious National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS - The Grammy Awards), Los Angeles Chapter, which took her to Washington, DC (September, 2005) as an Advocate. There, she participated in NARAS' first-ever "Recording Arts Day on Capitol Hill." Delegations of music professionals from across the U.S. met with Members of Congress and other policy makers at special briefings and in small breakout meetings to discuss the issues that affect the creation and distribution of recorded music. Virtually every facet of the music commmunity - musicians, songwriter, producers, as well as business professionals that distribute music to the public - were represented. The purpose of Grammy-On-The-Hill was to promote the significant impact of the Recording Arts on our culture; the Recording community's contributions to our economy; and the importance of music education to our nation's youth. RECORDINGS (Label) RADIO PROGRAMS MAGAZINE COLUMNIST SPECIAL ASSIGNMENTS
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