A Little Bit About Me
My name is Phetkhanya (Pronounced: pet - caan - nyuh Thai: เพชร์กันยา, Lao: ເພດກັນຍາ, Hangul: 펮간야). My name consists of two Thai words: "phet", which means "diamond" and "khanya", which means "September" -- I wasn't born on the month September, by the way. I was born in Vientiane, Laos, and subsequently lived in Thailand til the age of eight; after which my family moved to the United States -- Broomfield, Colorado is the place I have called home ever since. I don't like to talk about myself much -- that's really not what this site is about. This site (along with the Youtube and Facebook pages) is about my music -- nothing more and nothing less.
Music Theory
Everything I know about music is entirely self taught and my musical style or lack thereof stems from the lack of discipline and guidance in learning. I learned to play guitar without the desired notion of becoming a great guitar player; I didn't care to handle a guitar like a Jimmy Hendrix or Stevie Ray Vaughan -- I just wanted to play well enough to play the songs I created. The fact that I didn't have the strife in that area made the guitar learning process a lengthy and frustrating one; in fact, it has been ten years since I picked up the guitar for the first time and I'm only now beginning to feel like my guitar playing ability is catching up to that of my song writing ability. Similarly, I don't strive to be a great singer; although I have worked hard to become a good enough singer to present my music and do it some justice.
In writing my songs, I strive to maintain a balance between mainstream appeal through melodious guitar composition and the right level of profoundness in writing the lyrics; you won't hear me prompt anyone to move any parts of their body or anything about going to the club, and likewise, my lyrics won't be so profound that it's cryptic and incomprehensible. Most of my songs are in English, but recently I have come to the realization that I should utilize every language I know to broaden my appeal. Going forward, you will see me write and perform songs in the various languages I know. One thing I don't like to do is simply translate a song from on language to another; songs don't sound good when you superimpose another language into it. When I write a song, the language (or multiple languages in some cases) is chosen from the beginning. Each language has its own little intricacies that give it its own unique sound; the Thai and Lao languages, for instance, are tone-intensive and small changes in tone will alter a word's meaning so extra attention needs to be paid when writing songs in those languages. To me, English is the most versatile language (perhaps because it's the language I'm most fluent and articulate in); that's the reason I have stuck to writing songs in English up until recently. Now I strive to appeal to as many people around the globe as possible.
The Purpose of This Website
At this point I cannot see myself doing anything but writing and perhaps even playing music for a living. I have worked for so long and so hard on developing my music that I need to see it come to fruition. I've always been one to believe that you should not do something simply because you are good at it. I was a gifted artist growing up; I was a gifted freehand artist and after high school I went into a career in which that talent is utilized -- I became a graphic designer. I found out very soon that talent did not equate to happiness. Although I was an exceptional graphic designer, I did not enjoy what I was doing. Conversely, I was not a gifted musician -- a bit of an understatement, perhaps. I had to work hard to develop my skills as a musician. In spite of and amidst the struggle, I found myself enjoying being challenged and I continued to put in the effort needed to get better. The feeling I got when I noticed myself slowly but surely improving was more rewarding than doing something I was good at that required little effort. There's just no satisfaction in doing things you're good at because it does not take a lot of effort. I'm not saying that it's wrong to do what you're good at, in fact, it's a very smart thing to do and you will likely be very successful in taking that route, but for me personally, I want to be able to say that I worked hard to become successful at what I do. There's also a feeling of being an underdog in taking that route -- people like underdogs, right?
Anyway, the purpose of this website is to showcase my music, and perhaps more importantly, my ability to create music in hope of obtaining a career as a song writer somewhere. I hope that my love for creating music really shines through and someone will take notice to it and allow me the opportunity to do what I have worked so hard to attain. This is just the beginning for me. I will try hard (as much as any free time will permit) to upload a new song every two weeks or so until someone out there takes notice.