Thailand is Interested in the Dissimilis Methodology 
Oct 2001 Note: Dissimilis is a Norwegian term for an organization for the handicapped with the goal of sharing the joy of music, dance and drama among all people, and in particular among persons with special needs. see www.dissimilis.com. Translated from Norwegian by Kjell Skyllstad
A Thai music professor has visited Oslo in the company of a professor from the University of Oslo to learn mor about the method used by Dissimilis. This may be the start of an exciting project.
Professor Kjell Skyllstad from the Department of Music and Theater at the Oslo University Faculty of Arts plays host to Ass. Professor Bussakorn Sumrongthong from Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. For several days now they have visited the Dissimilis cultural competence center.
The two professors first met at an Asian music festival in Colombo initiated by Kjell Skyllstad. The purpose of the festival was to promote an interest and understanding for Asian arts and inspire Asian nations to develop a better dialogue through the performing arts.
The young Thai professor Bussakorn some years ago visited Norway with a group from her university. It was in this environment where Skyllstad was a central actor and inspirator that she got the idea of starting a project of rehabilitation through the arts.
Today she works purposefully integrating groups of blind, disabled and physically disadvantaged with children without handicaps.
Bussakorn tells that her experience with handicapped children was limited before visiting the Dissimilis Cultural Competence Center. Professor Skyllstad on his part was a specialist in the study of European contemporary music and the musical heritage of other nations. But his relationship with Dissimilis had been peripheral. At least he had not observed their use of music and musical instruments in cultural activities for people in need of assistance.
That is why the grand old man from the University of Oslo became impressed when he had the opportunity of studying this methodology and educational strategy together with a much younger colleague who see her visit as an opportunity for further development in this field in Thailand where mentally disabled people often live under conditions that need considerable improvement.
I would welcome cooperation with Dissimilis, she says, and confirms that she will now work to invite Dissimilis to come to Thailand to present their method. Together with professor Skyllstad she hopes to develop a cooperative project. No one knows exactly how many mentally disabled people live in Thailand. Maybe our new friendship could be the start of an exciting process, they say and plan a future center together (Intermusic Center)
see www.intermusiccenter.com
Ass. Professor Bussakorn Sumrongthong brings with her to Norway specific Thai musical instruments, flutes and the famous Angklung an educational instrument made of bamboo and in frequent use among children. The Dissimilis music director Ola Skaare confirms that these instruments are interesting and could be well suitable for Dissimilis. He will now explore this further.
On the backdrop of the good cooperation between the Norwegian professor of music and his Thai colleague, the Thai government recently donated a full set of traditional instruments to the Norwegian Music Academy. Among these are educational percussion instruments and flutes suitable for intercultural work in Norway.
There have always existed strong ties between Norway and Thailand. Nearly 5000 people from Thailand now live in Norway. And in year (2000) alone 65,000 Norwegians visited the beautiful country in Asia. The ties of friendship grow ever stronger with music as a binding tool.
The Thai Ambassador to Norway, Takoon Panish, says that it would not have been possible for Norwegians and Thai people living in Norway to appreciate Thai classical music without the profuse cooperation between the two professors. Bussakorn has visited Norway on many occasions teaching students and children about the fantastic music culture and especially the classical traditions of Thailand.
Their visit at the Dissimilis Center for Cultural Competence may well be the start of a new phase of cooperation.
For now professor Bussakorn has made a study tour of the center, but her enthusiastic response might well result in a cooperative project involving the methods used by Dissimilis to benefit the work for the physically disabled, deaf and blind in Thailand, and could also lead to a new project which would also benefit the many mentally handicapped in the country.
And the Center Director Kai Zahl adds:
We must further develop our cooperation. He hopes to visit Thailand for this purpose. Dissimilis has wide experience in international cooperation, lately through our project in Cuba which is now supported by the Norwegian State Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD). We were fascinated by the two music professors and we feel honored by their interest for our work and methods.
Crescendo.
Journal for Dissimilis vol. 2, 2002
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