Speaker 1:

Oh, dancing time now. (music)

Speaker 2:

From bad wigs to elevator boots ABBA imitators can still drum up a dance in Thailand. (Music) Thais love a party and no one particularly cares whether this lot are the real thing-

Speaker 3:

Does anybody like rock and roll?

Speaker 2:

Or just a bunch of British fakes. (music)

Speaker 4:

ABBA is a good band you see. I would like they to come back every year. I'm happy that I can dance. I'm very happy to be here with them. ABBA. (music)

Speaker 2:

Meet Jonas Anderson. A Swede by birth he has lived in Thailand since he was nine years old. Now at age 28, Jonas is the most famous foreigner in the kingdom, a star with more on offer than '70s pop and Dancing Queens. (music) Singing perfect Thai Jonas has sold hundreds of thousands of albums in less than a year and he can pack a city department store with enough adoring women to make a boy band swoon. [Foreign language]

Jonas rose to fame on the back of Luk Thung, Thailand's homegrown blend of camped up country music which exploded into a pop phenomenon in the late '90s when country folk who flocked to the cities were struck down by '97's economic crisis. (music) The crisis reignited Thai nationalism and Luk Thung tunes about life on the farm became the country's catch-cry. (music)

Jonas didn't grow up in Bangkok but in Thailand's Northeast as the son of Swedish schoolteachers. It's out here that he first discovered Thailand's quirky country music. (music)

Jonas Anderson:

What initially drew me to it was living up-county in Thailand and just experiencing a lot of the Thai way of life, how it is out there in up-country regions. I just gave it a shot and I think I was pretty surprised. I was pretty taken aback actually that the audience responded so positively to it. They were very, very enthusiastic.

Speaker 2:

It's carnival time in the up-country town of [luk ree]and among the traditional sideshows, the singing blond Swede is the number one attraction. To the Thais his humble habits are simply irresistible. (music) While the other tizzy Luk Thung acts get underway Jonas's dancers are limbering up backstage.

Speaker 6:

Supposed to twist from the wrist and back here.

Speaker 2:

Most of them, also ex-pat offspring trained in Thai traditional dance.

Speaker 7:

What happens when you start [inaudible]?

Speaker 8:

It hurts.

Speaker 6:

It's painful. It's very painful and our teacher, she would do it like all the way back and when we start going "Ow, Ow." then she would say, "Okay. Now a little further."

Speaker 2:

As the night wears on, and the rains come down while Jonas and friends wait and wait.

Jonas Anderson:

Relaxed, easy-going. I'm their servant in this capacity.

Speaker 2:

Six hours later, some time after midnight it's finally time for the show.

Speaker 9:

It's a bit late but we're all ready.

Speaker 10:

[Foreign language]

Speaker 2:

Clearly the wait did nothing to dampen the fan's enthusiasm.

Speaker 11:

[Foreign language]

Speaker 2:

And the Thais are friendly back or as ABBA might have put it, "Gimmie, Gimmie, Gimmie a Man After Midnight".

Jonas Anderson:

[Foreign language] Right now I'm not ready to give my heart to any one Thai woman because I have to share my affections with all the lovely Thai ladies.

Speaker 2:

Even with a line like that, this blue-eyed Thai has no shortage of takers.