Thai Songs

The sound of the traditional Thai songs can be likened to the sounds of a stream or a river. The sounds of the main current represents the main melody which flows relentlessly onward and is surrounded by the secondary currents that move in and out of the main flow of the main current.

There are little eddies and swirls that come suddenly to the surface here and there. They are seen or viewed momentarily only to disappear just as suddenly as they had appeared.

A ear that is not educated or attuned to the sounds of the Thai songs will not be able to identify any of the high points and low points of the songs. It will simply seem to flow onward in a steady and non-differentiated band of sound.

It sounds almost like a hypnotic sound that seems to incorporate various threads that are of seemingly independent melodies that originate from a number of individual instruments that are bound together in a long, and yet never-ending wreath like a Greek frieze.

The traditional Thai songs have evolved in the many royal households. With the gradual changes that took place in Thailand in the year of 1932 from the condition of an absolutely monarchy to the form of a democracy the great houses declined.

As the environment in which the earlier Thai songs had earlier flowered disintegrated slowly, the songs too, were to a large degree abandoned. In the past, the Thai musicians were attached to the royal household and were accorded a highly degree of respect.