Eua Sunthornsanan (Thai: เอื้อ สุนทรสนาน; RTGS: Uea Sunthonsanan; January 21, 1910, Amphawa, Samut Songkhram Province – April 1, 1981) was a Thai composer and bandleader. A pioneer in introducing Western music into Thai popular culture, he founded the Suntaraporn band in the 1940s. Thailand's best-known big band, it continues to play concerts and special functions.
Eua studied Western classical music at the Phran Luang School, starting on violin. By age nine, he was playing an orchestra. At age 18, he enrolled in the Vithaya Sakol Dontri Sathan music school, studying harmony and arrangement.
Around this time he played in a big band for the government's Performance Department. He was paid 20 baht a month. He continued to play classical music as well, but noticed that the jazz bands were attracting larger crowds, which made him realize that classical music was no longer in demand.
In 1936 he started composing scores for Thai films, and combined jazz and Western classical music with traditional Thai classical music. It was an already established genre, called phleng Thai sakol, but with his compositions, he greatly expanded the repertoire. With his own popular big band, Suntaraporn, phleng Thai sakol found a wider audience.
Initially, he faced criticism for introducing Western sounds into Thai traditional culture, however his music was embraced by Field Marshal Plaek Pibulsonggram, whose government had a program of modernization and Westernization.[1]
Under the government's Public Relations Department, Eua headed an orchestra, which performed on national radio broadcasts, at government functions and dance parties. It served as the main orchestra in Thailand during the Second World War. He served as the orchestra chief and the chief of the music section for the department until his retirement in 1971.[2]
He died of cancer in 1981.