Jonas and Christy, The Official Site.

Christy Gibson’s family came to Thailand when she was only 6 years old. They settled down in the northeastern area of Thailand. Christy's family lived in Nakorn Ratchasima (Korat) for over a year, where she first heard the sounds of lookthung and moh lam.

Christy has always loved music, and began to show great musical aptitude in her pre-teen years. When her family moved to Bangkok, she trained with a professional musician from Australia, Michael Creswell, and received her first experience in studio work and recording. Eventually, she joined the small music group Jonas Anderson had formed with his friends and participated in musical programs in Bangkok and upcountry Thailand from time to time.

Eventually, a friend requested Jonas and Christy to learn a Thai lookthung song for a community event Although neither Jonas or Christy had ever sung lookthung before—the vocal inflections and scales of lookthung being very difficult for a foreigner to learn—they bought a tape of the song, “Sanya Gon Lah” (the theme song of a very popular TV series at that time, “Mon Rak Lookthung”), and learned it by listening to it over and over.

Christy smiles and laughs when recalling her first attempt to sing lookthung, saying, “I don't think we sang the song very well at all; it may have even been rather comical, because we hadn't yet learned any of the techniques involved in singing lookthung. But the audience was extremely gracious and gave us a fantastic response. I think they appreciated the fact that even though lookthung was difficult for us as foreigners to sing, we were trying our best.”

As various requests for lookthung songs began to arise at their musical performances, Christy continued to learn and perform lookthung, a style of music that she had by this time grown to love and appreciate. “lookthung is unique to Thailand, and it's an integral part of their heritage and culture. Maybe that's partly why I love lookthung as much as I do.”

Christy was invited to participate, along with Jonas, in the Thai cultural project, “Farang Rak Thai Jai Lookthung.” She accepted the invitation as she felt it would give her an avenue to not only study this unique musical genre in greater depth, but also to express her admiration and respect for this beautiful aspect of Thai culture. In conjunction with this project she was afforded the opportunity perform on the premier lookthung TV show, “Wetee Thai”. This drew the attention of lookthung fans nationwide to the “farang who sings moh lam”. Her popularity grew when she was consequently invited to appear on the prime time TV talk show “Sanya Mahachon”.

Christy trained with the respected professional artists and vocal instructors, Khru Wilai Panom (specializing in lookthung) and Khru Doy Intanon (specializing in moh lam).

Going beyond only learning to sing lookthung, Christy also excelled in the vocally challenging and intricate type of music called moh lam. Moh lam is a form of lookthung that is mainly from the northeastern regions of Thailand with lyrics that are often more Lao than Thai. It is a very energetic style of music which is particularly difficult to master because not only is it not in normal Thai, but it is also sung very fast with long stanzas and little repetition. The melodies and vocal inflections of moh lam are complex but captivating.

Despite the great challenges she faced in learning to sing moh lam and lookthung music correctly, she persevered and even recorded a song in Khmer for her debut album, “Christy Der Ka Der” (“This is Christy!”) launched in February 2001.

Says Christy, “As I grew to understand lookthung better, I realized just how deep-rooted the music is in the context of Thai culture. The sense of the Thai heritage is so strong. It’s so totally Thai, and I believe that for every Thai, whether they know it or not, this music flows through their veins. It is very beautiful and it must be preserved. lookthung comes from the heart. To sing it well, you have to feel it.”

Christy’s second album “Jam Gan Boh Dai Gah?” featured an intoxicating fusion of authentic culture and contemporary appeal, it proved even more popular than her already widely successful debut album.

In all Christy has recorded five albums to date, including two duet albums with Jonas Anderson. She is now working on a new album which takes her early mastery of moh lam to an even higher level having garnered much more experience since her first album which also majored on moh lam.

A versatile performer, in addition to Christy’s ability to sing moh lam and lookthung (which people say she can sing as well as a Thai, something Christy modestly denies, while giving credit to her vocal instructors), she is also an accomplished singer of English and Thai pop songs as well as American country.

Music features prominently in Christy’s charitable projects and endeavors to assist the underprivileged. Together with friends and colleagues, she organizes motivational mini-concerts and drug-awareness programs, and frequently visits homes and institutions for the elderly, physically challenged, ill and orphaned, as well as schools and temples throughout the country. Christy and Jonas both say that they draw their inspiration in joining in these many charity programs from the example of the Thai people’s concern for their fellowman.

Christy finds the beautiful attributes of Thai culture both refreshing and appealing. Charmed with the beauty and graciousness of Thai ways, she feels that as a foreigner she has much to offer and warmly embraces Thai culture and lifestyle in its food, music, dance and art, as well as customs and mannerisms. She says, “I think I am more Thai than farang. I feel more at home here. I hope the Thai people will let me stay!”