Filed under: Thailand
Thailand has an amazingly rich, diverse musical culture. It ranges from classical xylophone based ensembles (piphat) to funky rural genres like luk thung and molam.
This recording is of ระบำดาวดึงษ์ (Rabam Daowadueng), from the famous lakhon sang thong, a dance-drama written during the reign of king Rama II (1809-1824) and derived from the Jataka tales (a collection of folktales about the births of Buddha). The lyrics to this dance describe the second level of heaven; the abode of the god indra, who lends much assistance to the play’s protagonist, Phra Sang, the conch-shell prince. The story has many magical elements, such as an ogres who dies of a broken heart. There’s a brief plot summary here.
The performers are a piphat (classical) ensemble คณะดุริยะปราณีต (khana duriya pranit), along with a group of singers. originally this would have been an all-male production, at least in terms of the actors.
Piphat is the ensemble used for classical Thai music. There are several forms of piphat ensemble with different instrumental configurations, the basic form consists of the pi nai (oboe), ranat (xylophone), khong wong wai (gong circle) and various percussion instruments. The Cambodian version is called pinpeat.
Thanks to Peter Doolan for translation and general info, he’ll be pitching in here while we explore some Thai records. Be sure to check out his amazing and informative Thai cassette blog MONRAKPLENGTHAI.
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HAJI MAJI 
is it possible to get a digital file of the Sangthong, prince in the golden conch shell record
Comment by bruce gundersen June 3, 2010 @ 11:33 am