Thailand Music

The music of Thailand reflects its geographic position at the intersection of China and India, and reflects trade routes that have historically included Persia, Africa, Greece and Rome. 

Thai musical instruments are varied and reflect ancient influence from far afield - including the klong thap and khim (Persian origin), the jakhe (Indian origin), the klong jin (Chinese origin), and the klong kaek (Indonesian origin). Though Thailand was never colonized by colonial powers, pop music and other forms of modern Asian, 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.

Aside from the Thai, ethnic minorities such as the Lao, Lawa, Hmong, Akha, Khmer, Lisu, Karen and Lahu peoples have retained traditional musical forms.

Chinese and Japanese influence on Thai music

Centuries of Chinese immigration to Thailand have built a large diaspora community. 

The Chinese in Thailand range from the “Sino-Thai” - Thais of Chinese descent, who have assumed Thai cultural identity, and speak Thai as their first language - to ethnic Chinese who speak a Chinese dialect as first language and who retain a Chinese way of life. 

There is a considerable diversity among Chinese Thais, including the Teochew (pronounced (H)Dae (R)Jiu) who account for over half of the six million strong population, the Hokkien, the Hakka, Hainanese and Mandarin speakers. After Chinese intervention helped to drive back the Burmese in 1767, King Taksin, who was himself of Teochew descent, actively encouraged Teochew immigration and trade. The Chinese population in Thailand jumped from 230,000 in 1825 to 792,000 by 1910. By 1932, approximately 12.2 percent of the population of Thailand was Chinese and by 1987 this had increased to about 14 percent. 

During the past 30 years the Sino-Thai community has gradually come to dominate politics and business in Thailand including the music industry, partly via the use of the Teochew dialect as a business language.

Chinese Influence on Thai Classical Music

India is the most important cultural influence on classical Thai language, literature and art but there are strong Chinese influences on classical music. 

The Thai classical mahori (musical ensemble) uses several instruments that are very similar to Chinese instruments such as the sor u (fiddle with half coconut head) and sor duang (fiddle with small cylindrical head/resonator), probably derived from the Chinese er-hu . The Thai khlui (bamboo flute) may be of Chinese origin. One of the 12 standard Thai mahori repertoire categories ( samniang ) is Jin (Chinese). 

The khim (dulcimer) was introduced to Thailand in the late 1800s by Chinese immigrants living in the Yaowarat Chinatown district of Bangkok. It is a direct descendent of the Chinese yang chin (which originally came from Persia). The gu zheng (floor zither) (pronounced guu joeng) is also popular in solo performance. All of these adapted instruments are used in dontri Thai prayuk (Thai fusion genre) and Ware (2006) notes that in recent years, Chinese immigrants have blended Thai classical with Chinese classical music to create a separate prayuk repertoire. 

Traditional Chinese theatre or niu is very popular, particularly around the time of Chinese New Year. It is important to note that these cultural influences are so well integrated into Thai culture that most Thais would claim these instruments and art forms as authentically Thai.

There has been little, if any, Japanese influence on Thai classical or folk music genres. In terms of cultural input, the earliest significant Japanese contribution was in the form of films which were imported from Japan in 1902 during the latter part of the reign of Rama V. 

The Beginning of Japanese Political Influence

 Following the 1932 coup that ended the era of absolute monarchy in Thailand, Luang Phibunsongkram gradually rose to political prominence and served as Prime Minister from 1938-1944 and 1948 to 1957.

His regimes were marked by persistent social engineering and the manipulation of mass media and he established a new popular music known as phleng Thai sakon by combining Western harmony and traditional Thai melodies. He moved Thailand into line with Japan before and during WWII and definitely aspired to be like the Japanese by conducting programs of modernization.

Consequently, after the Japanese invasion in 1941, Phibunsongkram was able to retain power and Thailand retained nominal independence, though it signed a treaty of alliance with Japan and declared war on the Allies. It is probable that phleng Thai sakon was influenced at this time by the nationalist Japanese genre ryukoka.

Japanese films were extremely popular in Thailand during and after WWII and the bands that played during screenings would have certainly performed some ryukoka hits. It should be noted that the Chinese community in Thailand experienced some discrimination during Phibunsongkram's period of influence.

Chinese Communist Influence During the 1970s

In 1973 massive demonstrations by students led to the overthrow of the Thanom and Praphat military regime. 

One significant element of the student protests was phleng phuea chiwit or “songs for life”. Despite the students' Communist ideology, “songs for life” was clearly derived from American folk rather than Chinese or Soviet music. 

Between 1973 and 1976, “the democratic era”, there was an outburst of leftist creativity, and Marxist writings, especially those of Mao Tse Tung, became freely available. However, the October massacre of students at Thamasat University in 1976 forced many activists and students to flee to Laos and the Northeastern region of Thailand known as Isan, where they found refuge with Communist insurgents. During the Isan insurgency the Thai student leaders continued to write in the “songs for life” genre but they were also encouraged by the leaders of the Thai Communist Party to write marches in the Chinese style. The Thai guerillas, most of whom were Isan peasants, preferred to listen to Thai lukthung (country song) and so disobeyed orders not to listen to government radio. 

They composed alternative lyrics ( phleng blaeng ) for well known lukthung songs and sang them instead of the Chinese style marches. The Communist Party leaders ordered that lukthung was not to be used because it was too commercial and its “cha cha cha” rhythm was unsuitable for marching. Popular music was thus a source of cultural friction which was just one of the reasons why the insurgency lost support and eventually petered out. Furthermore during this period the Sino-Thai community did not wish to be identified with the Communist insurgency and moved towards greater integration within Thai society.

Again there was negligible influence from Japan during this period although the most famous “songs for life group”, Caravan, later scored a big hit by covering “Hana” (flower) by Okinawan minyo (roots) musician Kina Shokichi, under the title “Dork Mai Hai Khun” (flowers for you). Indeed, the Thai student movement was opposed to what they viewed as Japanese expansionism – the first task of the National Student Center of Thailand at Chulalongkorn University in 1972 was to organize a boycott of Japanese goods. 

When Tanaka Kakuei toured Thailand in 1974 he was greeted by demonstrations protesting against perceived economic domination and renewed Japanese ambition. These protests led to a softening of trade tactics by Japanese governments which eventually resulted in Thailand becoming a manufacturing base for Japanese companies. In retrospect Caravan's 1985 cover of Kina Shokichi's “Hana” forecast the shift in influence, from America to Asia (especially Japan), that was to take place in Thai society during the 1990s.