HAJI MAJI

Now, for one of my favorite musical subjects…the khaen!

The northeast region of Thailand is called Isan and is made up of a majority of Lao speaking people. The music and instruments are distinct from the rest of Thailand, the main instrument being the free-reed mouth organ called khaen (pronounced “can”, it’s often spelled khene, khen, or any number of variations.) It consists of a series of bamboo pipes in two rows fitted into a wooden holder. The player breathes in and out of the wooden wind chest, fingering holes on either side. Each pipe has it’s own free reed, similar to a harmonica.

The player sets up hypnotic pentatonic grooves, usually to back up a singer. It’s interesting to note that the musical pitches are very close to Western scales, as opposed to the rest of Thai music where the scale is divided more or less evenly into seven notes.

The khaen is also the dominant instrument in Lao music. Here’s a Lao khaen player from 1902:

There are two songs on each side of this 45rpm record from the 1960s…here are both the songs from side one; Kan Lao Kra Thomai and Kan Lum Pleun played by Thongkham Thaikla (thanks again to Peter Doolan for artist translation.)

> Pin Khaen HS 348 side 1

More great Southeast Asian graphics…

In the 1950s, rural Thais from the northeast (Isan) and elsewhere began moving to the big cities to look for work. It’s the same old story found all across the world – the rural music was transformed in urban ghettos and a new popular music was born. The huge success of some of the big stars of the 50s such as Waiphot Phetsuhan, Phloen Phromdaen and Suraphon Sombatchoroen inspired many rural people to dream of escaping poverty by becoming luk thung stars. Independent record labels proliferated and continued releasing luk thung 78s into the 1960’s. By the 1980’s, luk thung was the unrivaled pop music of  Thailand and only recently has a modernized type of molam begun to catch up. We’ll look at some early molam soon.

Here’s the famous Phloen Phromdaen singing the song Lam Kaen:

>Nok iang ATP 309 

Thanks to Peter at Monrakplengthai for translation and copious information. Plenty more luk thung on his site!

The various musics of Thailand were widely recorded during the 78 era, but there are many excellent recordings from the 60s released on 45 rpm 7 inch records as well. Often these 45s contain great traditional music and include some styles that were not recorded widely, if at all, on 78.

Such is the case with this 7 inch record on the Rabbit label. One side is some rather uninteresting pop music in the ramwong style. But the side we’re listening to here is muay thai, that is, music played during Thai kickboxing matches. Muay thai is a popular fighting sport that exists in different versions all across Southeast Asia and is hundreds of years old. The music is used to accompany the fighting. It begins slowly while the boxers pay their respects to their teachers and then increases in intensity as the fight escalates. I suppose there were many sports that used ritualistic musical accompaniment in the past, but this is one of the last, as far as I know.

The main instrument is the pi, the Thai “oboe”, which is related to many shawm-like instruments across Asia. The percussion instruments consist of , a pair of drums called klong kaak, the tiny finger cymbals called ching, and the gong called kong mong.

The 45s hold about twice as much music per side as a 78, so this is a nice long track. I wonder if it was recorded during an actual match?

>Rabbit 508a

Phleng Sansoen Phra Barami (เพลงสรรเสริญพระบารมี) is the Thai Royal Anthem. The music, composed by the Russian composer Pyotr Schurovsky, was the national anthem of Siam until 1932, when it was replaced by Phleng Chat. Most versions I’ve heard include the lyrics that were composed by Prince Narisaranuvadtivongs, around 1913, and were later revised by King Rama VI.

This record has two different versions of the royal anthem.

Side one (6082) is performed by พิณพาทย์ พระยาประสานดุริยศัพท์ (phinphat phraya prasanduriyasap). Phraya Prasanduriyasap is a famous maestro. He was teacher to Thailand’s most famous thai classical composer Luang Pradit Phairoh (on whose life the film “The Overture” is based).
Here’s a pic of Phraya Prasanduriyasap:

Side two (6093) is by แตรวงกรมทหารมหาดเล็ก (traewong krom thahan mahat lek) a branch of the Thai Royal Army.

There are many recordings of this anthem, but this is the first I’ve heard played by a piphat (classical) ensemble.The royal anthem is ubiquitous in Thailand, being played before official functions, films and on television.

>HMV P 6082
>HMV P 6093

Thanks again to Peter Doolan, from  MONRAKPLENGTHAI, for translation and general info!

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.

>Columbia GET 443-1

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.