Thailand retains cultural connections with the two great centers of Asian civilizations, India and China. Though Thailand was never colonized by Western powers, pop music and other forms of European and American music have become extremely influential. The two most popular styles of traditional Thai music are luk thung and mor lam; the latter in particular has close affinities with the Music of Laos. The word culture, from the Latin colo, -ere, with its root meaning to cultivate, generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. ... World map showing the location of Asia. ... Cities are a major hallmark of human civilization. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Colonialism. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... European redirects here. ... Luk thung (Thai ลูกทุ่ง), literally child of the fields, is the most popular form of Thai country music. ... A khene player in Isan Mor lam (Thai/Isan: หมอลำ) is an ancient Lao form of song in Laos and Isan (Northeastern Thailand). ... Laos is dominated by the Lao, and includes minorities of Hmong and Mien, among others. ...

Aside from the Thai, minorities of Laotians, Lawa, Hmong, Akha, Mien, Lisu, Karen and Lahu peoples have retained traditional musical forms. This article is about the Lao ethnic group. ... Lawa are an ethnic group in northern Thailand. ... The terms Hmong (IPA:) and Mong [mɔ̃ŋ] both refer to an Asian ethnic group whose homeland is in the mountainous regions of southern China. ... The Akha are an ethnic group which originated in China and Tibet. ... The Yao nationality (瑶族, pinyin: Yáo zú) are an ethnic group. ... Lisu Ladies in Traditional Dress, Northern Thailand The Lisu people are an ethnic group who inhabit Myanmar (Burma), China, Thailand, and the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. ... ကရင္‌လူမ္ယုိး Total population 7,400,000 Regions with significant populations Myanmar: 7,000,000 Thailand:  400,000 Language Karen Religion Buddhism, Christianity, Animism Related ethnic groups Padaung The Karen (Burmese: ; MLCTS: ), also known in Thailand as the Kariang (Thai: ) or Yang, are an ethnic group in Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand. ... The Lahu people (Chinese: 拉祜族 Lāhùzú; own names: Ladhulsi or Kawzhawd) are an ethnic group. ...

History

Thai music was part of an oral culture and developed no traditional system of notation. "As an integrated, unique system the traditional music of Thailand is probably not more than six hundred years old." (Morton 1978, p.1) The classical or Bangkok period beginning 1782 may be considered "a culmination of musical evolution that probably started, as nearly as can be ascertained from the references, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries with the rise of Ayuthaya as the capital," (ibid) in 1350. Music flourished for the next few centuries, in spite of occasional oppression from monarchs like Rama I and the burning of Ayuthaya, including its art collections and libraries, in 1767 the result of which is a loss of most knowledge necessary to reconstruct the history of Thai music before the Bangkok period. From 1768 to 1932 the area of modern Thailand was dominated by Siam, an absolute monarchy with capitals briefly at Thonburi and later at Rattanakosin, both in modern-day Bangkok. ... The kingdom of Ayutthaya was a Thai kingdom that existed from the 1350 to 1767. ... His Majesty King Rama I of Siam (portrait in the National History Museum, Bangkok) Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke or Rama I the Great, was king of Thailand from 1782 to 1809. ...

Genres

Pop, Rock, Cultural, Classic, Techno and Spiritual

Classical music

The earliest Thai ensembles were called piphat, and they included woodwind and percussion instruments, originally in order to accompany traditional theater and religious rituals. Another ensemble type, khruang sai, consists primarily of string instruments, while the mahori mixes strings with melodic percussion instruments and flute. A Piphat is a kind of ensemble in the classical music of Thailand. ... A woodwind instrument is a musical instrument in which sound is produced by blowing through a mouthpiece against an edge or by a vibrating reed, and in which the pitch is varied by opening or closing holes in the body of the instrument. ... A percussion instrument can be any object which produces a sound by being struck with an implement, shaken, rubbed, scraped, or by any other action which sets the object into vibration. ... Khruang sai is a musical ensemble in Thai classical music which consists primarily of string instruments. ... A string instrument (or stringed instrument) is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. ...

Fundamentals

"Thai music is nonharmonic, melodic, or linear, and as is the case with all musics of this genre, its fundamental organization is horizontal...Thai music in its horizontal complex is made up of a main melody played simultaneously with variants of it which progress in relatively slower and faster rhythmic units." (ibid, p.21) This is known as heterophony or polyphonic stratification: instrumentalists improvise idiomatically around the central melody. Rhythmically and metrically Thai music is steady in tempo, regular in pulse, divisive, in simple duple meter, without swing, with little syncopation (p.3, 39), and with the emphasis on the final beat of a measure or group of pulses and phrase (p.41), as opposed to the first as in European-influenced music. The Thai scale includes seven equal notes, instead of a mixture of tones and semitones. Look up heterophony in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... An idiom is an expression (i. ... // Rhythm (Greek ρυθμός = tempo) is the variation of the duration of sounds or other events over time. ... Metre or meter is the measurement of a musical line into measures of stressed and unstressed beats, indicated in Western notation by a symbol called a time signature. ... In music a divisive rhythm is a rhythm in which a larger period of time is divided into smaller rhythmic units, this can be contrasted with additive rhythms, which are larger periods of time constructed from sequences of smaller rhythmic units added to the end of the previous unit. ... Metre is the measurement of a musical line into measures of stressed and unstressed beats, indicated in Western notation by a symbol called a time signature. ... In music, a swung note or shuffle note is the rhythmic device in which the duration of the initial note in a pair is augmented and that of the second is diminished. ... In music, syncopation is the stressing of a normally unstressed beat in a bar or the failure to sound a tone on an accented beat. ... In musical notation, a bar or measure is a segment of time defined as a given number of beats of a given duration. ... In medicine, a persons pulse is the throbbing of their arteries as an effect of the heart beat. ... In music a phrase is a section of music that is relatively self contained and coherent over a medium time scale. ...

Traditional or folk

Luk thung

Main article: Luk thung

Luk thung, or Thai country music, developed in the mid-20th century to reflect daily trials and tribulations of rural Thais. Ponsri Woranut and Suraphol Sombatcharoen were the genre's first big stars, incorporating influences from Latin America, Asia and, especially, American film soundtracks and country music. Many of the most popular artists have come from the central city of Suphanburi, including megastar Pumpuang Duangjan, who pioneered electronic luk thung. The first all luk thung radio station was launched in 1997. Luk thung (Thai ลูกทุ่ง), literally child of the fields, is the most popular form of Thai country music. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... Suraphol Sombatcharoen (1930 - August 16, 1968) (Thai: สุรพล สมบัติเจริญ, also Surapon Sombatjalern) was a Thai luk thung singer. ... Latin America consists of the countries of South America and some of North America (including Central America and some the islands of the Caribbean) whose inhabitants mostly speak Romance languages, although Native American languages are also spoken. ... World map showing the location of Asia. ... Soundtrack refers to the recorded sound accompanying a visual medium such as a motion picture, television show, or video game. ... country music, see Country music (disambiguation) Country music, also known as country and western music or country-western, is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States. ... Suphan Buri (Thai สุพรรณบุรี) is one of the central provinces (changwat) of Thailand. ... Pompuang Duangjan (Thai พุ่มพวง ดวงจันทร์) was one of the most important luk thung vocalists in Thailand. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Mor lam

Main article: Mor lam

Khene player wearing sarong and pakama at the Ubon Candle Festival

Mor lam is the dominant folk music of Thailand's north-eastern Isan region, which has a mainly Lao population. It has much in common with luk thung, such as its focus on the life of the rural poor. It is characterized by rapid-fire, rhythmic vocals and a funk feel to the percussion. The lead singer, also called a mor lam, is most often accompanied by the khaen. A khene player in Isan Mor lam (Thai/Isan: หมอลำ) is an ancient Lao form of song in Laos and Isan (Northeastern Thailand). ... khene player wearing sarong and pakama at the Ubon Candle Festival; picture taken by User: Markalexander100 summer 2004; File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... khene player wearing sarong and pakama at the Ubon Candle Festival; picture taken by User: Markalexander100 summer 2004; File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... For other articles with similar names, see Isan (disambiguation). ... Funk music was originated by African Americans, e. ... A khene player in Isan The khene (also spelled kaen) is a mouth-organ whose pipes are connected with a small, hollowed-out wooden reservoir into which air is blown. ...

There are about fifteen regional variations of mor lam, plus modern versions such as mor lam sing. Some conservatives have criticized these as the commercialization of traditional cultures. Mor lam sing (Thai/Isan หมอลำซิ่ง)is a fast-paced, racy, modernized version of the traditional Lao/Isan song form mor lam. ...

See also: Music of Laos

Laos is dominated by the Lao, and includes minorities of Hmong and Mien, among others. ...

Kantrum

The people of Isan are also known for kantrum, which is much less famous for mor lam. Kantrum is played by Cambodians living near the border with Cambodia. It is a swift and very traditional dance music. In its purest form, cho-kantrum, singers, percussion and fiddles 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. Kantrum (Thai กันตรึม)is a type of folk music played by Khmer in Isan, Thailand, living near the border with Cambodia. ... Dance music is a style of popular music commonly played in dance music nightclubs, radio stations and shows and raves. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Darkie (Thai ดาร์กี้) is the most popular kantrum artist in Thailand. ... See also 1990s, the band Germans dancing on the Berlin Wall in late 1989, the symbol of the cold war divide falls down as the world unites in the 1990s. ...

See also: Music of Cambodia

Music of Cambodia is classified into two forms, modern Cambodian culture is derived from the ancient Khmer Empire of the 8th to the 15th century. ...

Pop and rock

Wax figure of Khru Eua Sunthornsanan

By the 1930s, however, Western classical music, showtunes, jazz and tango were popular. Soon, jazz grew to dominate Thai popular music, and Khru Eua Sunthornsanan soon set up the first Thai jazz band. The music he soon helped to invent along with influential band Suntharaporn was called pleng Thai sakorn, which incorporated Thai melodies with Western classical music. This music continued to evolve into luk grung, a romantic music that was popular with the upper-class. King Bhumibol is an accomplished jazz musician and composer. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1200x1600, 434 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: Music of Thailand Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or digitize it. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1200x1600, 434 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: Music of Thailand Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or digitize it. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Classical music is a broad, somewhat imprecise term, referring to music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of, European art, ecclesiastical and concert music, encompassing a broad period from roughly 1000 to the present day. ... Showtune (New York production 2003) is a popular musical revue celebrating the words and music of Jerry Herman, the composer and lyricist of the Broadway musicals Milk and Honey (1961), Hello, Dolly! (1964), Mame (1966), Dear World (1969), Mack & Mabel (1974), The Grand Tour (1979), and La Cage aux Folles... Jazz is an original American musical art form that originated around the start of the 20th century in New Orleans, rooted in African American musical styles blended with Western music technique and theory. ... Tango music is traditionally played by an orquesta típica, a sextet which includes two violins, piano, doublebass, and two bandoneons. ... Bhumibol Adulyadej (Thai: ; IPA: ; Royal Institute: Phumiphon Adunyadet;  ) (born December 5, 1927), officially styled the Great (Thai: มหาราช, Maharaja) and also known as Rama IX, is the current King of Thailand. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ...

Pleng phua cheewit

By the 1960s, Western rock was popular and Thai artists began imitating bands like Cliff Richard & the Shadows; this music was called wong shadow, and it soon evolved into a form of Thai pop called string. The following decade saw Rewat Buddhinan beginning to use the Thai language in rock music. The 70s also saw the rise of protest songs called pleng phua cheewit (songs for life). The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ... Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Webb in Lucknow, India, on October 14, UKs most popular singers. ... Wong shadow was a genre of Thai pop music current in the early 1960s. ... String is a genre of Thai music roughly equivalent to western pop. ... The Thai language (ภาษาไทย, transcription: phasa thai; IPA ), is the national and official language of Thailand and the mother tongue of the Thai people, Thailands dominant ethnic group. ... Thailand retains cultural connections with the two great centers of Asian civilizations, India and China. ...

The earliest pleng phua cheewit band was called Caravan, and they soon emerged at the forefront of a movement for democracy. In 1976, police and rightwing activists attacked students at Thammasat University; Caravan, along with other bands and activists, fled for the rural hills. There, Caravan continued playing music for local farmers, and composed what is now their most famous song, "Khon Gap Kwaii". Thailand retains cultural connections with the two great centers of Asian civilizations, India and China. ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... Thammasat University (Thai: มหาวิทยาลัยธรรมศาสตร์), formerly known as the University of Moral and Political Science (มหาวิทยาลัยวิชาธรรมศาสตร์และการเมือง), is the second oldest university in Thailand and is often considered to be one of the most prestigious universities in the country. ...

In the 1980s, pleng phua cheewit re-entered the mainsteam with a grant of amnesty to dissidents. Bands like Carabao became best-sellers and incorporated sternly nationalistic elements in their lyrics. By the 1990s, pleng phua cheewit had fallen from the top of the Thai charts, though artists like Pongsit Kamphee continued to command a large audience. The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Carabao are a Thai plaeng peua chiwit or songs for life band. ... Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix Nationalism is an ideology [1] that holds that a nation is the fundamental unit for human social life, and takes precedence over any other social and political principles. ... See also 1990s, the band Germans dancing on the Berlin Wall in late 1989, the symbol of the cold war divide falls down as the world unites in the 1990s. ...

String

Main article: String (Thai pop)

String pop took over mainstream listeners in Thailand in the 90s, and bubblegum pop stars like Tata Young, Bird McIntyre and Asanee-Wasan became best-sellers. Simultaneously, Britpop influenced alternative rock artists like Modern Dog, Loso, Crub and Proud became popular in late 1990s. In 2006, famous Thai rock bands include Clash, Big Ass, Bodyslam and Silly Fools. String is a genre of Thai music roughly equivalent to western pop. ... Bubblegum pop (bubblegum rock, bubblegum music, youth music, or simply bubblegum) is a genre of popular music. ... Tata Young (born Amita Marie Young December 14, 1980 in Thailand) is a Thai-American pop and dance music singer, model and actress. ... Bird in a concert performance Bird McIntyre (born Albert Thongchai McIntyre, December 8, 1958) is a Thai pop singer who released his debut album in 1986. ... Asanee-Wasan (Thai: อัสนี-วสันต์ โชติกุล or Asanee & Wasan) is a Thai rock band fronted by brothers Asanee Pom and Wasan Toe Chotikul. ... Britpop was a British alternative rock and cultural movement which gained popularity in Great Britain in the mid 1990s, characterised by the prominence of bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s. ... Alternative rock (also called alternative music[1] or simply alternative) is a genre of rock music that emerged in the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s. ... Modern Dog (Thai language: โมเดิร์นด็อก) is a Thai rock band, formed in 1992. ... Loso is a Thai rock band from Khorat. ... In Christian dogma, pride (or vanity) is excessive belief in ones own abilities, that interferes with the individuals recognition of the grace of God. ... Clash - From left to right: Ponn, Hack, Bank, Yak, and Soom. ... Seven album cover Big Ass is currently one of the most popular bands in Thailand. ... Believe album cover Bodyslam is a popular Thai rock band during the 2000s. ... Silly Fools is one of the most successful rock bands in Thailand. ...

See also: Thai rock

Thai rock is rock music by Thai bands. ...

Indie

A group of independent artists and records which produces music for non-commercial propose also found in Thailand: Bakery Music (now under BEC-TERO) [1]; Smallroom [2]; FAT radio [3]; City-Blue [4]; Coolvoice [5]; Dudesweet [6]; Idea-radio [7] and Panda Records [8]. BEC-TERO Entertainment Public Co. ...

See also

• BEC-TERO
• GMM Grammy
• R.S. Promotion
• Thai-Maori Musical Exchange Project

References

• Clewley, John. "Songs for Living". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 2: Latin & North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific, pp 241-253. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0
• Morton, David (1976). The Traditional Music of Thailand. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-01876-1.