ORLANDO, Fla. — One Central Florida band from diverse Asian backgrounds proves it is more than possible to find harmony together — it’s pivotal for further understanding.

What You Need To Know

  • Asian Beats is a musical group from diverse places: Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Vietnam

  • Group is a fixture at various cultural events and festivals, in addition to performing at senior living facilities in Central Florida

  • For bandmates, who grew up listening to some of the same music translated into their native language, it's a chance to share Pan Asian music with a wider community

  • Band also represents notion that though we may be from different backgrounds, we all have commonalities 

“We wouldn’t have been friends. I don’t have Thai friends, like the food, but I don’t have any Thai friends,” Baolinh Than said. “I wouldn’t have been able to meet him, talk to him.”

Than is part of a musical group in Orlando called Asian Beats, a fixture at cultural festivals and other events throughout Central Florida. The group plays a wide range of instruments, from traditional Western ones — like the saxophone and flute — to more niche Asian instruments, like the moon lute and the multi-stringed dan tranh, a Vietnamese zither.

Than, a teacher-turned attorney, is Vietnamese, while his bandmates hail from very different places: Thailand, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

“That’s the way we do as a band: bring everybody together,” said Asawin “AJ” Knight Jockkeaw. “We want to share our culture to the others. To be able to hang out and make new friends. This is more like a universal language.”

Jockkeaw owns a Thai food restaurant he named “Meng’s Kitchen.” It’s nestled in the iFresh supermarket on Colonial Drive in Orlando, a few blocks away from Than’s law firm in the Asian business-laden Mills 50 district.

“Meng’s” is a nod to Jockkeaw’s childhood, growing up in Thailand and walking with his father to school past a Hainan chicken and rice shop of a similar name.

“This restaurant represents who I am, what I want to eat,” he explained.

But, much like his bustling restaurant, offering a distinct taste of a culture, so is band Asian Beats — rifting upon popular songs from decades ago, which filter to each player’s respective country. Children of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, the men all grew up listening to the same music, they explained, translated into languages they could understand.

“If there’s a pond, and that’s Asia, and you throw a stone in it, good music will create these little ripples. So, each neighboring country, cause we’re so small, either we consume American content or whatever country has been looking, best sounding,” explained Than. 

“It’s quite a big community, if you put together Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese,” said Jockkeaw of Central Florida’s Asian community. “It’s beautiful: the music, the food.”

In addition, saxophone player Gary CK Lau, who runs local lifestyle magazine Asia Trend, said that he loves playing such distinct songs with western instruments.

As a result, sometimes audiences in Central Florida are familiar with the tunes the band plays. Other times, they are not.

But, it makes no difference, Than explained, as at the core of Asian Beats is an appreciation for music and cultures different to one’s own.

“We would never come together in any other circumstance,” he said. “That’s a blessing.”

Asian Beats recently performed at a local Buddhist Temple, playing for a festival in honor of the Buddha’s birthday.

The band is currently applying to take part in Orange County’s first-ever “Make Music” day, which coincides with a worldwide musical celebration, on June 21.