Sunday, October 27, 2019

piphat mon large ensemble led by a. khao chantrong: mon rong hai



artist: ปี่พาทย์มอญวงใหญ่ ควบคุมวงโดย อ. ขาว จันทร์ตรง (piphat mon large ensemble led by a. khao chantrong)
album: มอญร้องไห้ (mon rong hai)
tracklist:
01. มอญยกศพ (mon yok sop)
02. เชิญศพ (choen sop)
03. ประจำวัด (pracham wat)
04. ประจำบ้าน (pracham ban)
05. มอญร้องไห้ (ร้อง) (mon rong hai (vocal))
06. ดาวกระจ่าง (dao krachang)
07. จุดธูป-จุดเทียน (chut thup - chut thian)

this week, beautiful music for the recently deceased! rather than being associated specifically with the mon communities in thailand or across the border in burma's mon state, piphat mon refers to a style of ensemble that has long since been incorporated into the larger thai classical repertoire, and today is heard most often accompanying funeral ceremonies. this cassette is a bit of a stand-out in my collection of piphat mon for its lone vocal selection [track 5]: most of my cassettes featuring this sort of music are instrumental, and i find the mournful voices here create a remarkable atmosphere that i have to say complements quite well our eerie halloween season here in the united states. enjoy!

preview:

4 comments:

Dolmance said...

I've been living in Chiang Mai for the last year. I've had a few neighbors die, and saw their coffins inside their driveways, with pictures of them in life on boards for people to come and pay their respects. I've even been to a funeral, where they pour the coconut water on the deceased's forehead, and heard how spouses aren't allowed to come, because the deceased will be too sad at their presence and won't want to move on into the next world.

I'm definitely looking forward to these recordings, and I definitely know that when it's my time to go, I want a Thai funeral. So THANKS!!!

peter said...

thank you for the reflections, Dolmance!

Dolmance said...

By the way, Peter. I never had Thailand on my radar until this site came along. Didn't know a thing about the music, or anything really. And now, here I am. It's perfectly conceivable that I wouldn't be living out here in the sticks in North Thailand if it wasn't for this site.

Anyway, thanks for everything. The people here are really impressed with my collection of music, which I blast at all hours of the day and night, and none of them seem to mind a bit, whereas if I was back in the states behaving like this, someone would call the cops and shut me down in about a minute.

But the most impressive thing about this place is, everyone, even little old ladies are an expert motorcycle rider. How cool is that?!!

Anonymous said...

I haven't been on your blog for years but I'm at a low ebb currently and found myself checking back in today. I'm glad I did! This looks really interesting. I adore Thailand and south East Asian music and I'm really glad you're still going. Thank you so much.