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Thai Music In Thai Culture |
 'Thai Music In Thai Culture
Music is a field in fine arts that human beings have created under the influence of nature and their environment. It is inspiring. Music may be an imitation of nature or a direct human response to it. Musical instruments are made with natural materials for entertainment by natural human actions—hitting, vibrating strings, flicking and blowing.
Thai music is an instrument that entertains and stimulates the mind. Without music, there would be no liveliness, emotions, enrichment, sensitivity, joy and fun. As the saying goes, “Listen to music. It lifts your spirit.”
Thai Music in the Ayutthaya Period
Fine arts, particularly music flourishes when there is peace and the people live well. Since the Sukhothai and Ayutthaya kingdoms had combined, there had been constant wars, internally and externally. Music, consequently, did not experience any significant development. Existing music of Ayutthaya and Sukhothai remained the same. Wong piphat khrueng ha consisted of pi nai, khong wong, taphon, single glong thad, and ching. Ranad was never a part of the ensembles performing in Thai classical masked plays (Khon), drama or formal events. This form of ensemble remained unchanged until the reign of King Narai the Great, according to Monsieur de la Lubere, Ambassador-at-Large of King Louis XIV of France. The ambassador came to present the royal message to the Siamese King in 1688. In his archive, he provided detailed descriptions of instruments in Piphat khrueng ha without mentioning ranad. It was unlikely that he merely did not see the instrument as usually ranad was placed at the front of the ensemble arrangement. His record shows that the piphat ensemble at that time did not include ranad. The oldest traditional shadow puppet scripts called “Pak Samtra” did not mention ranad either.
Another reference of the absence of ranad in this type of ensemble is the carving of an ensemble on an Ayutthaya period hardwood cabinet in Phranakhon National Museum. Ranad was first present in wong piphat khrueng ha in the late Ayutthaya period. It is not clear whether Thailand developed that tradition or adopted it from the Mons. Although ranad had been added to wong piphat khrueng ha, the name did not change. Ching, a small cymbal, might not have been counted as a main constituent of the ensemble. “Ha”, which means five, could have been adopted from the word “Panjaduriyang” (panja means five). The term has Indian origins.
Mahori
Mahori was developed in the Ayutthaya period. This classical ensemble was traditionally made up of women in the courts to entertain the king. Historically it included four performers—one four-stringed lute player (krajab pi), one three-string saw sam sai fiddle player, thone player (secondary time keeper), and one singer who also played grubpuang. Later on, two types of instruments were added—one ramana (secondary time keeper) played accompanying the thone, and one flute. Mahori ensemble, thus, consisted of 6 performers. Ching was also added later. It sometimes substituted the grub.
In the following period, a Mon instrument, a three-string zither called jakhe, was brought in to replace the four-stringed lute for more delicate sound and ease of performing. It was laid flat on flat surface, which made it easier to handle compared to the four-stringed lute. Throughout the Ayutthaya period Mahori ensemble remained unchanged.
Wong Khruang Sai
There were various string instruments in the Ayutthaya Period. Two-string fiddles (saw) and vertical duct flutes (khlui) were very popular. The courts stricty regulated musical entertainment. The royal law prescribed that “individuals shall not play musical instruments in the palace area including piers. If palace officers failed to enforce the law, they shall be punished, and in some cases prosecuted.”
The royal law mentioned pi which was part of piphat ensemble and grajab pi in mahori ensemble. Other instruments in wong khruang sai were also present including saw, klui, jakhe, and thone thub. It was unclear whether the term saw there referred to saw sam sai in the mahori ensemble, or saw duang (high two-string fiddles) and saw ou (low two-string fiddles) in the khruang sai ensemble. The fact that those instruments were so popular that the palace issued a specific regulation to control musical performances indicated that they must be widely available. Also, it must have not been difficult to play the instruments. The term saw might have been left non-specific in the royal law in order to ensure that it covered saw duang, saw ou, saw sam sai and other types of saw. Wong khruang sai in the Ayutthaya period was complete with saw duang, saw ou, jakhe, and khlui as well as percussion instruments including thone thab and ching. The khlui only came in medium size which is now called “khlui phiang aw”. Khlui lib, a higher and smaller type, did not exist during this period. “Thon thub” used to be the only percussion instrument in an ensemble. Ramana came later. An ensemble with mixed string instruments might not be called “wong khruang sai”, but “dontree” instead. The royal law separated mahori and dontre for the arrangement of a royal vessel ceremony.
 
“Dontree” seems to be a more appropriate term for string ensembles because it means “strings”.
With all the evidence mentioned, it is quite certain that the range of music in the Ayutthaya period included piphat, mahori and khruang sai ensembles.
From Dontree Thai Nai Wattanatam Thai (Translation: Thai music in Thai Culture): Assistant Professor Surapon Suwan
Reference: Surapon Suwan. 2549. Dontree Thai Nai Wattanatam Thai (Translation: Thai Music in Thai Culture). Bangkok: Active Print.
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