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Themusic of Thailand includes a wide array of distinct genres, both traditional and modern.
Traditional Thai musical instruments are varied and reflect ancient influence from far afield – including theklong thap andkhim (Persian origin), thechakhe (Indian origin), theklong chin (Chinese origin), and theklong khaek (Indonesian origin).
The two most popular styles of traditional Thai music areluk thung andmor lam. The latter in particular has close affinities with themusic of Laos.
Aside from the Thai,ethnic minorities such as theLao,Lawa,Hmong,Akha,Khmer,Lisu,Karen andLahu peoples have retained traditional musical forms.
Though Thailand was nevercolonized bycolonial powers,pop music and other forms of modern Asian, European and American music have become extremely influential.
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Thaiclassical music is synonymous with those stylized court ensembles and repertoires that emerged in their present form within the royal centers of Central Thailand some 800 years ago. These ensembles, while being influenced by older practices and repertoires from India, are today uniquely Thai expressions. While the three primary classical ensembles, thePiphat,Khrueang sai andMahori differ in significant ways, they all share a basic instrumentation and theoretical approach. Each employs small ching handcymbals andkrap wooden sticks to mark the primary beat reference. Thai classical music has had a wide influence on the musical traditions of neighboring countries. The traditionalmusic of Myanmar was strongly influenced by the Thai music repertoire, called Yodaya (ယိုးဒယား), which was brought over from theAyutthaya Kingdom. As Siam expanded its political and cultural influence to Laos and Cambodia during the earlyRattanakosin period, its music was quickly absorbed by the Cambodian and Lao courts. As Frédéric Maurel explains: "From the close of the eighteenth century and through the nineteenth century, a number of Khmer pages, classical women dancers, and musicians studied with Thai ajarn (masters or teachers) in Cambodia. The presence of this Thai elite in Cambodia contributed to the development of strong Thai cultural influence among the Khmer upper classes. Moreover, some members of the Khmer royal family went to the Thai court and developed close relations with well-educated Thai nobility, as well as several court poets. Such cultural links were so powerful that, in some fields, one might use the term 'Siamization' in referring to the processes of cultural absorption at the Khmer court at that time."[1]
Several kinds of small drums (klong) are employed in these ensembles to outline the basic rhythmic structure (natab) that is punctuated at the end by the striking of a suspendedgong (mong). Seen in its most basic formulation, the classical Thai orchestras have a very strong influence on the Cambodian (Khmer)pinpeat andmahori ensembles, and are structurally similar to other orchestras found within the widespread Southeast Asian gong-chime musical culture, such as the largegamelan ensembles of Bali and Java, which most likely have their common roots in the diffusion ofVietnameseDong-Son bronze drums beginning in the first century.
Traditional Thai classical repertoire is anonymous, handed down through an oral tradition of performance in which the names of composers (if, indeed, pieces were historically created by single authors) are not known. However, since the beginning of the modernBangkok period, composers' names have been known and, since around the turn of the century, many major composers have recorded their works in notation. Musicians, however, imagine these compositions and notations as generic forms which are realized in full in idiosyncratic variations andimprovisations in the context of performance.
Piphat is the most common and iconic Thai classical music style. It symbolizes the dancing of Thailand's legendary dragons, and consists of a midsized orchestra including two xylophones (ranat), an oboe (pi), barrel drums (klong) and two circular sets of tuned horizontal gong-chimes (khong wong lek andkhong wong yai). Piphat can be performed in either a loud outdoor style using hard mallets (Piphat mai khaeng; ปี่พาทย์ไม้แข็ง) or in an indoor style using padded hammers (Piphat mai nuam; ปี่พาทย์ไม้นวม).
There are several types of piphat ensembles ranging in size and orchestration, each kind typically being associated with specific ceremonial purposes. The highly decorated piphat ensemble that features the ornately carved and painted semicircular vertical gong-chime is traditionally associated with the funeral and cremation ceremonies of the Mon ethnic group. Different versions of the piphat ensemble are employed to accompany specific forms of traditional Thai drama such as the large shadow puppet theater (nang yai) and the khon dance drama.
The khrueang sai orchestra combines some of the percussion of wind instruments of the piphat with an expanded string section including thesaw duang (a high-pitched two-string bowed lute), the lower pitchedsaw u (bowed lute) and the three-stringchakee (a plucked zither). In addition to these instruments are thekhlui (vertical fipple flute) in several sizes and ranges, a goblet drum (thon-rammana) and, occasionally, a small hammered Chinese dulcimer (khim). The khrueang sai ensemble is primarily used for instrumental indoor performances and for accompanying the Thaihoon grabok (stick-puppet theater), a genre deeply influenced by Chinesepuppetry styles. Accordingly, the addition of Chinese-sounding string instruments in the khrueang sai ensemble is imagined, by the Thai, to be a reference to the probable Chinese origins of this theater form.
The third major Thai classical ensemble is the Mahori, traditionally played by women in the courts of both Central Thailand and Cambodia. Historically the ensemble included smaller instruments more appropriate, it was thought, to the build of female performers. Today the ensemble employs regular sized instruments—a combination of instruments from both theKhrueang sai andPiphat ensembles but excluding the loud and rather shrill oboepi. The ensemble, which is performed in three sizes—small, medium and large—includes the three-stringsaw sam sai fiddle, a delicate-sounding, middle-range bowed lute with silk strings. Within the context of the Mahori ensemble, the so sam sai accompanies the vocalist, which plays a more prominent role in this ensemble than in any other classical Thai orchestra.
While Thai classical music was somewhat discouraged as being unmodern and backward looking during Thailand's aggressively nationalistic modernization policies of mid-20th century, the classical arts have benefited recently from increased governmental sponsorship and funding as well as popular interest as expressed in such films asHomrong: The Overture (2003), a popular fictionalized biography of a famous traditional xylophone (ranat ek) performer.
Luk thung, or Thai country music, developed in the mid-20th century to reflect daily trials and tribulations of rural Thais.Pongsri Woranut andSuraphol Sombatcharoen were the genre's first big stars, incorporating influences from other parts ofAsia. Many of the most popular artists have come from the central city ofSuphanburi, including megastarPumpuang Duangjan, who pioneeredelectronic luk thung. The late 1990s saw a commercial resurgence of Luk Thung, and the modern electrified, pop-influenced version of the genre remains the country's most popular music form.
Mor lam is the dominant folk music of Thailand's north-easternIsan region, which has a mainly Lao population. It has much in common withluk thung, such as its focus on the life of the rural poor. It is characterized by rapid-fire, rhythmic vocals and afunk feel to the percussion. The lead singer, also called a mor lam, is most often accompanied by thekhaen, also known askhene.
There are about fifteen regional variations ofmor lam, plus modern versions such asmor lam sing. Some conservatives[who?] have criticized these as the commercialization of traditional cultures.
Kantrum is played byKhmer living near the border withCambodia. It is a swift and very traditionaldance music. In its purest form,cho-kantrum, singers, percussion andtro (a type of fiddle) dominate the sound. A more modern form using electric instrumentation arose in the mid-1980s. Later in the decade,Darkie became the genre's biggest star, and he crossed into mainstream markets in the later 1990s.
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While the composer Luang Pradit Phairau (1881–1954) used localized forms of cipher (number) notation, other composers such asMontri Tramote (1908–1995) used standard western staff notation. Several members of the Thai royal family have been deeply involved in composition, includingKing Prajadhipok (Rama VII, 1883–1941) andKing Bhumibol Adulyadej (1927–2016), whose compositions have been more often forjazz bands than classical Thai ensembles.
Classical Thai music is polyphonic and follows similar conventions toAmerican folk anddixieland music. Each instrument improvises within accepted idioms around basic lines of harmony or melody called paths.Rhythmically andmetrically Thai music is steady in tempo, regular in pulse,divisive, insimple duple meter, withoutswing, with littlesyncopation (p. 3, 39), and with the emphasis on the final beat of ameasure or group ofpulses andphrase (p. 41), as opposed to the first as in European-influenced music. The Thai scale includesseven tempered notes, instead of a mixture of tones and semitones. Five of seven pitches are used as the principal pitches in any mode, introducing nonequidistant intervals.[2]Playⓘ
From the 1940s to the 1970s KingBhumibol Adulyadej wrote a total of 48 compositions. It was during this time that he decided to specialize in wind instruments, especially thesaxophone and theclarinet.[3] By the time Bhumibol turned 18, he started to compose his own music with the first song beingCandlelight Blues.[3] He continued to compose even during his reign following his coronation in 1946. Bhumibol performed withPreservation Hall Jazz Band,Benny Goodman,Stan Getz,Lionel Hampton, andBenny Carter.[4][5] Throughout his life, Bhumibol wrote a total of 49 compositions. Much of it is jazz swing but he also composedmarches,waltzes, and Thai patriotic songs. His most popular compositions wereCandlelight Blues,Love at Sundown, andFalling Rain which were all composed in 1946.[4] Bhumibol's musical influences includedLouis Armstrong,Sidney Bechet,Benny Carter, andJohnny Hodges.[4] Bhumibol also performed with his band at Thai universities, composing anthems for the universities ofChulalongkorn,Thammasat, andKasetsart.[5]
By the 1930s, however, Westernclassical music,showtunes,jazz andtango were popular. Soon, jazz grew to dominate Thai popular music, andKhru Eua Sunthornsanan soon set up the first Thai jazz band. The music he soon helped to invent along with influential bandSuntharaporn was calledpleng Thai sakorn, which incorporated Thai melodies with Western classical music. This music continued to evolve intoluk grung, a romantic music that was popular with the upper-class.King Bhumibol was an accomplished jazz musician andcomposer.
By the 1960s, Western rock was popular and Thai artists began imitating bands likeCliff Richard & the Shadows; this music was calledwong shadow, and it soon evolved into a form of Thai pop calledstring. Among the groups that emerged from this period wasThe Impossibles. The '70s also sawRewat Buddhinan beginning to use theThai language in rock music as well as the rise of protest songs called phleng phuea chiwit (songs for life).
The earliest phleng phuea chiwit band was calledCaravan, and they were at the forefront of a movement for democracy. In 1976, police and right wing activists attacked students atThammasat University; Caravan, along with other bands and activists, fled for the rural hills. There, Caravan continued playing music for local farmers, and wrote songs that would appear on their later albums.
In the 1980s, phleng phuea chiwit re-entered the mainstream with a grant of amnesty to dissidents. Bands likeCarabao became best-sellers and incorporatednationalistic elements in their lyrics. By the 1990s, phleng phuea chiwit had largely fallen from the top of the Thai charts, though artists likePongsit Kamphee continued to command a large audience.
String pop took over mainstream listeners in Thailand in the 1990s, and exponents likeChristina Aguilar,Bird Thongchai McIntyre andAsanee-Wasan became best-sellers. Simultaneously,Britpop influencedalternative rock artists likeModern Dog,Loso,Crub and Proud became popular in late 1990s. In 2006, famous Thai rock bands includeClash,Big Ass,Bodyslam andSilly Fools. The late 1990s saw pop overshadowed by the remarkable commercial resurgence of luk thung, but modern luk thung has also adopted some elements from the pop acts.
Heavy metal music in Thailand was very popular in early 90s. Many heavy metal bands in this era includedHi-Rock,Stone Metal Fire,I-Scream, Uranium and Big Gun.
A group of independent artists and records which produces music for non-commercial purpose also found in Thailand:Bakery Music (now underSony Music)[1]; Smallroom[2]; FAT radio[3]; City-Blue[4]; Coolvoice[5]; Dudesweet[6]; Idea-radio[7] Panda Records[8]; and SO::ON Dry Flower[9].
