Thailand's famous beach resort of Pattaya will again come alive with the sound of music when more than 90 of the country's most popular bands and solo artists take to the stage for the rollicking Pattaya Music Festival between March 21-23, 2003.

Four Japanese bands from the so-called Johnny Junior's Group as well as a Korean all-girl group "Baby V.O. X" are also to join the festival. The Japanese artists attracted a huge crowd of Thai fans during last year's event.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will personally preside over the opening ceremony of the 3-day event at the Red Stage, North Pattaya side-road, near the Pattaya Metropolitan Administration City Hall, on Friday, March 21, 2003 at 17.00 hrs.

The opening will be broadcast live by TV Channel 9 between 17.30 - 19.00 hrs, and ITV will broadcast the performance between 21.30 - 24.00 hrs.

The Pattaya Music Festival is the primary tourism attraction for March, as per the series of Grand Festival monthly activities launched by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to ensure that visitors have something special to enjoy no matter when they come.

TAT Governor, Mrs. Juthamas Siriwan said, "Last year's Pattaya Music Festival was a huge success, and we expect this year's event to attract even larger crowds." The festival is aimed at encouraging domestic travel by Thais and building a positive image of Pattaya that will be garnered by the presence of so many popular musical performers.

Various styles of music include Hip Hop, Pop, Rock, Easy Listening, Jazz and Thai country (Luk Thung music) will be performed from 18.00 - 01.00 hrs every day with free admission. They will be divided amongst three stages as follows:

Red Stage: Pop, Rock and Thai country music

Green Stage: Easy listening and Pop jazz

Blue Stage: Indy and Hip-Hop

The Music Festival will be accompanied by a Walking Street Festival, a shopping area where visitors can buy CDs, tapes and other music products. A number of musical production companies, radio stations, TV channels and charity organisations will be among the exhibitors.

The Walking Street will be open from 12.00 - 01.00hrs. throughout the music Festival.

For more information about the programmes during the festival, please contact the TAT Call Center in Thailand 1672.