SONGKRAN LOVE BLUES, ARM CALLS ARMISTICE, NUM NABBED
Bad flavour of the month
Businessman and socialite Songkran Techanarong has apologised after admitting he is seeing an actress, amid claims she acted as a “third hand” in breaking up his marriage.
Songkran, who is known for earnest apologies when he falls foul of public opinion, was back in the news again last week after admitting he was getting to know actress Peranee “Matt” Kongthai.
The admission came after earlier denials that they had anything going on, and after Songkran belatedly agreed to sign divorce papers with his former wife, actress Taksaorn “Aff” Paksukcharern, months after she was forced to go public with her request that the troubled marriage end.
Aff disclosed in November last year the pair had been apart for a year and she had been bringing up their only child, Peamai, alone since the little girl was born three years ago.
Songkran, son of Bonanza resort owner Paiwong Techanarong, helps his father run the business in Khao Yai, Nakhon Ratchasima. Amid last week’s revelations they were seeing each other, both Songkran and Matt came under heavy social media fire, propelling the saga to the top of the Thai Twitter rankings.
Matt was pilloried for her earlier insistence that she did not know Songkran personally, despite disclosures that he joined her on a recent trip to Norway, and Songkran for a cryptic comment vowing he did not want to make any more mistakes in romance, which critics took to be a jibe at Aff.
Songkran quickly posted an apology, which failed to ease public interest. “I am the one who approached Matt, and she did not act as a third hand,” he said. “My marriage was troubled for ages, as everyone knows. I would like to apologise to Matt for having to wear all this flak. If that’s not enough, and you still want to criticise, then please level it at me,” he said.
Referring to his comments about wanting to avoid similar mistakes, he said: “I meant I have previously made mistakes which led to my relationship failing, not that I was mistaken in ever seeing this or that person.”
A timeline helpfully provided by the media sleuths shows that Matt declared she had ended her 14-year relationship with her hi-so partner Pat on July 4, and on July 25 made the first of her denials that she was seeing Songkran.
She agreed she had been to dinner with him at his family’s Khao Yai resort, though she said she went at the invitation of a mutual friend, actress Chalida “Mint” Vijitvongthong, who also sees Songkran’s younger brother, Pupaa.
Matt repeated the claim about not knowing him personally on Aug 12. On Sept 25, Aff told the media he had finally agreed to a divorce. On Sept 30, Matt went to Norway on family business, and Songkran followed her there separately. Matt, who agrees with Songkran’s assessment that the two are still getting to know each other, denied he played a part in the end of her 14-year pairing with hi-so Pat.
She held off disclosing more about her fledgling relationship with Songkran because at the time he had yet to complete his divorce. “We got to know each other at the gym. There was no match-maker involved,” she said, adding Mint had been maligned unfairly in the saga.
“I met Songkran after I started having problems with Pat. Nor did I persuade him to sign his divorce papers any sooner. I told everyone in my life I was talking to him, as I knew if the news came out I would look bad, as the woman always does,” she said. The saga continues.
Arm makes peace with label
Teen singer Arm Chutima and her former music label have put aside their differences and signed a new deal in which the look tung artist will get to test her resolve to be an indie performer.
Arm, her former manager, Prachakchai Naowaras, and lawyers for both sides met last week to put aside weeks of acrimony in a contract dispute which dominated headlines and threatened to tie both sides in legal knots for many months to come.
“Everyone needs to move on. We need to make a living, support our families, and we can’t do that if we are fighting,” Mr Prachakchai said.
“Fighting has no purpose, as both sides could end up losing. Society also ends up in turmoil,” he added.
Arm left his label, Hai Thong Kam Records, in the middle of last year in a contract dispute over payments, and has since embarked on a career as an indie. However, she performs songs she wrote herself while still with the label, which has insisted it still has rights to the music and to her as a performer.
Under the new deal, both sides have agreed to replace that contract with a nine-point agreement in which Arm fulfils her wish to be an indie but cannot join another label for the two years and seven months which the original contract has left to run.
Mr Prachakchai gets to keep the copyright to her hit songs for the next nine years, but will then pass them back. He cannot sell them to a third party without her agreement. She can perform them but she can’t put out new albums with the songs unless he agrees. Any future disputes have to go before a joint panel.
As part of the arrangement, both sides have agreed to withdraw legal action. At the height of their row Mr Prachakchai lodged court papers against Arm’s side seeking 21.6 million in damages.
Among those present at the ceremony were celebrity lawyer Atchariya Ruangrattanapong, who came forward to help Arm fight her battle after Mr Prachakchai triggered the dispute when he asked police to pull her aside at two recent concerts for performing in breach of copyright.
The lawyer quickly landed a series of legal blows against her former label, with Mr Atchariya threatening to prosecute for malfeasance any police who tried to nab Arm on stage again. He also lodged court action seeking 5 million baht in damages after Mr Prachakchai posted images of Arm drinking alcohol with friends while still at school.
In other legal manoeuvres, Mr Atchariya asked the Revenue Department to investigate the music label for failing to pay tax; petitioned the AntiMoney Laundering Office to launch a probe into its business conduct; and asked a court to seize 1 million of its shares in a separate matter related to the firm’s dispute with a movie director.
Mr Prachakchai, who came under heavy fire on social media for “persecuting” the youngster but insisted he was sticking to legal principle on behalf of music labels industry-wide, didn’t say how much weight these blows carried in his decision to bury the hatchet. However, he insisted he did not bear any ill-will towards the young singer.
His lawyer, Boontaworn Punyamaneechot, said many people gave conflicting views about the contracts Arm had signed with the label, with the result the firm’s only recourse was to ask the court if they were just or not.
“However, in the end we found we could talk about it ourselves. We also didn’t want the dispute to drag on,” he said.
Arm, who welcomed the decision to set her free, said she has also agreed to do five concerts with Mr Prachakchai’s label every month.
Kala copyright row revives
A rocker is staying mum after his arrest last week at a city bar for performing a disputed song in breach of copyright.
Naphasin “Num” Sangsuwan, from the band Kala, is enmeshed in a copyright dispute over the popular 1990s hit Yam. He was first arrested for performing the song in Pattaya last November, and talks with the owner, Chanin Warakulnukhro, director of Power Treasure Co, better known as Music Bugs, ended in stalemate.
Mr Chanin later laid a complaint with 44 police stations nationwide, which means that in theory Num has to visit each station as he is summonsed to answer the complaint. On Thursday he was nabbed again for performing the song at the Aladin Club in the Lad Phrao area.
Acting on a summons sought by Krabi police, one of the stations where Mr Chanin made his complaint, 10 Kok Khram police turned up at the Bangkok bar after hearing Num intended to perform the song again. They arrested him about 2.30am, after Num had been on stage half an hour.
Police took him in for questioning and two hours later he was sent to Krabi to acknowledge the complaint. Mr Chanin said Krabi police had issued three summons for Num, but he ignored them. The complaint stems from a performance of Yam which he gave in November last year. The firm is seeking 500,000 baht for each copyright breach.
In Krabi, Num, who has denied the charges, was bailed late in the afternoon on surety of 20,000 baht, before heading back to Bangkok. His manager said Krabi is the fifth jurisdiction of the 44 places where a complaint was laid; 10 have been accepted by the courts, and the others are still working their way through the justice system.
Num said his label would comment on the copyright dispute. The saga continues.