Lao music - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Khene

The khene is a mouth organ of Lao origin whose pipes, which are usually made of bamboo, are connected with a small, hollowed-out hardwood reservoir into which air is blown, creating a sound similar to that of the violin...

is what makes Lao people which the Lao people makes the khene. The national proverb is, "A person living under a stilted house, eat sticky rice, listen to any music related to Lam or Morlam, and play the Khene is likely to be Lao or associated with Lao people."

The Khene is made from a special kind of bamboo. It looks slightly Andean in appearance with its sets of bamboo and reed pipes of various lengths, which are strapped together, and then blow into by the player. It can be played solo as in traditional Lao music or in combination with other musical instruments to accompany modern songs.

Lao artists

Vichai Sitkoviseth, "Koviseth 2"

วิจัย สิตกวิเสส
Vichai Sitkoviseth is a singers who currently performs and re-sings of Lao original songs/Golden Oldies.เพลงลาวต้นแบับและอำมะตะ These songs were first composed and recorded by Koviseth ไทยดำรำพัน,นั้หรือรักจริง Khamtoun Vongsanith,ติอ้ายปอนใด,โชกต่างล่าง Khamphou Thavivane โอย่..หิว, อยู่บ้านดง, and Voradeth Dithavong สาวLycee สาวสมัย. Vichai had performed the concert with Koviseth and Khamtoun from 2003 - 2004 in Northern California.
To view the profile of Vichai Sitkoviseth www.myspace.com/vichai_Sitkoviseth and www.youtube.com/koviseth2.
Rock bands popular with the younger generation include Cells, Smile Black Dog, Dao Kha Chai, Awake, Khem Tid, Eighteen and Black Burn, Aluna, Overdance and LOG. LOG was recently connected to the controversial movie Mak Tae (Lucky loser) that created a riot between Laos and Thailand which needed diplomatic intervention.

Lao music today comes in a wide variety of styles and from different national origins. Outside of Laos, Lao music is mainly created in the United States, France and Canada. An increasing amount of transnational Lao (alternative) rock, pop and hip hop created a new 'oeuvre' next to the traditional Lao music like morlam.

In the United States, rock bands Sarky Mekmorakoth,SDN, Chitpanya and Black Flame found a growing fan base for their music.
Most popular Lao pop music in the US is made by three female singers: Phone Phoummithone the young pop princess Birdie and Ketsana Vilaylack.Birdie is quickly on the rise as she balances between mainstream and traditional country Lao music.
Most notable Lao hip hop artists from the US are Supasang aka Buc Supa and 'gangsta rapper' Gumby. Both rappers made music videos and both rap in Lao language.

The most famous Lao artist from France is Willy Denzey

Willy Denzey

William Thongrasamy, known under the pseudonym Willy Denzey is a Contemporary R&B and soul French-born singer with Laotian origins.-Biography:...

, a R&B singer who started his singing career in 2001 and achieved success with his hits "Le mur du song", "L'Orphélin" and "Et si tu n'existais pas" and his successful albums #1 and Acte II.

Classical music

The classical form is closely related to that of the Siamese

Thai people

The Thai people, or Siamese, are the main ethnic group of Thailand and are part of the larger Tai ethnolinguistic peoples found in Thailand and adjacent countries in Southeast Asia as well as southern China. Their language is the Thai language, which is classified as part of the Kradai family of...

. The Lao classical orchestra can be divided into two categories, Sep Nyai and Sep Noi (or Mahori

Mahori

The mahori is a form of Thai and Cambodian classical ensemble which was traditionally played by women in the courts of both Central Thailand and Cambodia...

). The Sep Nyai is similar to Thai Piphat

Piphat

A piphat is a kind of ensemble in the classical music of Thailand, which features wind and percussion instruments. It is considered the primary form of ensemble for the interpretation of the most sacred and "high-class" compositions of the Thai classical repertoire, including the Buddhist...

, and is ceremonial and formal music and includes: two sets of gong

Gong

A gong is an East and South East Asian musical percussion instrument that takes the form of a flat metal disc which is hit with a mallet....

s (kong vong), a xylophone

Xylophone

The xylophone is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets...

(ranat

Ranat

Ranat is the generic name for keyboard percussion instruments used in the music of Thailand. The bars of the various types of ranat may be made from hardwood or bamboo , metal , or, much more rarely, glass .-External...

), an oboe

Oboe

The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...

(pei or salai), two large kettle drums and two sets of cymbal

Cymbal

Cymbals are a common percussion instrument. Cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys; see cymbal making for a discussion of their manufacture. The greater majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sound a...

s (xing, similar to Thai ching). The Sep Noi, capable of playing popular tunes, includes two bowed string instrument

String instrument

A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...

s, the So U and the So I, also known to the India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

ns. These instruments are similar to the Thai Saw u

Saw u

The saw u is a Thai bowed string instrument. It has a lower pitch than the saw duang and is the lowest sounding of the saw family. It has two strings and can produce 8 notes....

and Saw duang

Saw duang

The saw duang is a bowed string instrument used in traditional Thai music. it has a higher pitch than a saw u. It has a hardwood soundbox covered on the playing end with python skin. It is held vertically and has two silk strings that are played with a bow. Like the saw u, the bow is between the...

, respectively. They have a long neck or fingerboard and a small sound box; this sound box is made of bamboo

Bamboo

Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....

in the So U and from a coconut

Coconut

The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...

in the So I. Both instruments have two strings, and the bow

Bow (music)

In music, a bow is moved across some part of a musical instrument, causing vibration which the instrument emits as sound. The vast majority of bows are used with string instruments, although some bows are used with musical saws and other bowed idiophones....

is slid between these two strings, which are tuned at a fifth apart and always played together. Furthermore this mahori

Mahori

The mahori is a form of Thai and Cambodian classical ensemble which was traditionally played by women in the courts of both Central Thailand and Cambodia...

or sep noi ensemble (the sep nyai is strictly percussion and oboe) may include several khene

Khene

. In this respect, it differs markedly from the mahori orchestras of Cambodia

Cambodia

Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...

and Siam.

Some ethnomusicologists believe that Laos

Laos

Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...

is a country where the ancient art music of the Khmer people

Khmer people

Khmer people are the predominant ethnic group in Cambodia, accounting for approximately 90% of the 14.8 million people in the country. They speak the Khmer language, which is part of the larger Mon–Khmer language family found throughout Southeast Asia...

has been best preserved -- as well as diverse forms of folk music related to the oldest types of Indian music, music that has largely disappeared in India itself. They claim to find in Laos a scale which the ancient Hindus called the "celestial scale," the Gandhara grama, which is a tempered heptatonic scale

Heptatonic scale

A heptatonic scale is a musical scale with seven pitches per octave. Among the most famous of these are the major scale, C D E F G A B C; the melodic minor scale, C D E F G A B C ascending, C B A G F E D C descending; the harmonic minor scale, C D E F G A B C; and a scale variously known as the...

, or a division of the octave

Octave

In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...

into seven equal parts.

The Royal Lao Orchestra, consisting of musicians of the former court of the king of Laos

Savang Vatthana

Savang or Sisavang Vatthana was the last king of the Kingdom of Laos. He ruled from 1959 after his father's death, until his forced abdication in 1975...

, who fled Laos following the communist takeover in 1975, now reside in Knoxville

Knoxville, Tennessee

Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...

and Nashville

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

, Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

Folk Music

Lao folk music

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

, known as Lam

Lam

-Lam:*Mor lam, an ancient Lao form of song in Laos and Isan*Lam saravane, a music genre*Lam luang, a music genre*Lam, Germany, a town in Bavaria-LAM:*Lactational amenorrhea method, a contraceptive method...

, is extemporaneous singing accompanied by the khene. It is popular both in Laos and Thailand, where there is a large ethnic Lao population.

History of Lao Music in Thailand

Following the Siamese conquest of Laos in 1828 and the subsequent dispersion of the Lao population into Siam (Central Thailand), Lao music became fashionable there. Sir John Bowring, an envoy from Great Britain, described a meeting with the deputy king (ouparaja) of Siam in 1855 in which his host performed on the Lao khene

Khene

; at a meeting two days later he entertained Bowring with Lao dancers and khene music. The Chronicles of the Fourth Reign said the deputy king enjoyed playing the khene

Khene

and "could perform the Lao type of dance and could skillfully perform the Lao comedy-singing. It is said that if one did not actually see his royal person, one would have thought the singer were a real Lao."

Immediately after the deputy king's death in 1865, King Mongkut

Mongkut

Phra Bat Somdet Phra Poramenthramaha Mongkut Phra Chom Klao Chao Yu Hua , or Rama IV, known in foreign countries as King Mongkut , was the fourth monarch of Siam under the House of Chakri, ruling from 1851-1868...

made known his fear that Lao musical culture would supplant Siamese genres and therefore banned Lao musical performances in a proclamation in which he complained that, "Both men and women now play Lao khene (mo lam) throughout the kingdom...Lao khene is always played for the topknot cutting ceremony and for ordinations. We cannot give the priority to Lao entertainments. Thai have been performing Lao khene for more than ten years now and it has become very common. It is apparent that wherever there is an increase in the playing of Lao khene there is also less rain."

In recent years Lao popular music has made inroads into Thailand through the success of contemporary Lao musicians Alexandria, L.O.G. and Cells. Cells second Lao album 'Saew' was released by Thai label GMM / Grammy in 2007 and received top 20 radio airplay in Bangkok for hit singles 'Waan' and 'Leuk Leuk'. Music videos for 'Waan' and 'Leuk Leuk' have also proved very popular on Thai music video channels and Cells have made several well received tours of Thailand to promote the album.

External links

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