Foreword
Field-researched, scholarly studies of Thailand's many kinds of music, both national and regional, remain relatively few in number. Northern Thailand's music has been particularly absent from the literature. Unfortunately, little of Gerald Dyck's pioneer-ing research from the 1960s and 1970s was ever published, and since then only basic research has been published on the region's music by a few Thai professors. Andrew Shahriari, however, has completed the first comprehensive study that takes into account such matters as history, cultural context, musical context, organology, and musical characteristics. With an increasingly globalized Thai culture, it is a wonder that so much of Northern Thailand's musical culture remains intact. Ironically, as the possibilities for documenting this music opened as a result of better transportation, communica-tion, and the availability of recording equipment, these very same developments opened the region to increasingly rapid change. Since the time of Dyck's research, a great many senior musicians have passed from the scene, leaving fewer and fewer representatives of certain genres. Fortunately, some of these traditions have been revived or are being maintained by a growing group of culturally sensitive scholars and sponsors, as has been seen in the revival of the phin pia. Nonetheless, as the people of Northern Thailand have become increasingly integrated into the pan-Thai cultural world, Northern Thai culture including its music has become more and more a conscious reminder of a disappearing regional identity. Attitudes in Thailand towards regional studies have changed greatly since I began my own research on music in Northeast Thailand in 1972. Although Northern Thailand was then more modernized than the Northeast, each of the regions retained most of their unconscious, day-to-day lived cultural distinctions. However, it was also true at that time that Thai studies in general, and regional studies in particular, were anything but fashionable. A few scholars did such research nonetheless, including Gerald Dyck, then a professor at what is now Payap University. As time passed and modernization radiated out from Bangkok, especially through the media, the regions began to mute or shed many of their regional distinctions. The maintenance of local culture became more and more a self-conscious matter, done "part-time" to assert such an identity when desired. This was especially true of the North because of the presence of tourists, many of whom came to see and experi-ence the differences that made Northern Thailand distinct. How the Northern Thai people, both officials and the general population, have responded to these changes in cultural function is part of the story of Northern Thai music today. The present book provides a solid foundation of background information on and description of Northern Thai music today. As such, this study is long overdue.
About The Author
Andrew Shahriari has studied Thai music and culture since 1992, earning his doctorate in ethnomusicology from Kent State University in Kent, Ohio USA in 2001. He plays several Thai classical and folk instruments and also specializes in Chinese music traditions. He is currently a world music instructor at Kent State University and co-author of World Music: A Global Journey.
About The Book
Khon Muang Music and Dance Traditions of North Thailand by Andrew Shahriari describes in detail the traditional music and dance of northern Thailand-the area of the former Lanna kingdom and its legacy. The author has researched and performed the various musical instruments individually and in ensembles in Thailand and the United States. This book is invaluable for serious students of Thai music, as well as to the many visitors from abroad who visit Chiang Mai and its environs every year, enabling them to understand and appreciate better the various traditional dances and music encountered during their stay. Numerous photographs accompany informative text that covers eight of the most common dances, more than fourteen khon muang instruments, and the eight primary ensemble traditions of the region. National, regional, and local events, such as Spirit Dances, are also highlighted to reveal the wealth of vibrant musical activity found throughout the region.
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