Mor lam - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Mor lam is a traditional Lao

Culture of Laos

Laos has its own distinct culture. Through Theravada Buddhism it has influences from India and has also influences from China. These influences are reflected throughout Laos in its language as well as in art, literature and the performing arts....

form of song

Song

In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...

in 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...

and Isan

Isan

Isan is the northeastern region of Thailand. It is located on the Khorat Plateau, bordered by the Mekong River to the north and east, by Cambodia to the southeast and the Prachinburi mountains south of Nakhon Ratchasima...

.
Mor lam means expert song, or expert singer, referring to the music or artist respectively. Other romanisation

Romanization

In linguistics, romanization or latinization is the representation of a written word or spoken speech with the Roman script, or a system for doing so, where the original word or language uses a different writing system . Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written...

s used include mo lam, maw lam, maw lum, moh lam and mhor lum. In Laos, the music is known simply as lam (ລຳ); mor lam (ໝໍລຳ) refers to the singer.

The characteristic feature of lam singing is the use of a flexible melody which is tailored to the tones

Tone (linguistics)

Tone is the use of pitch in language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning—that is, to distinguish or inflect words. All verbal languages use pitch to express emotional and other paralinguistic information, and to convey emphasis, contrast, and other such features in what is called...

of the words in the text. Traditionally, the tune was developed by the singer as an interpretation of glawn

Glawn

Glawn or gaun is a verse form used in the poetry and song of the Lao people; it is the most common text in traditional mor lam. It is made up of four-line stanzas, each with seven basic syllables...

poems and accompanied primarily by the khene

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...

, a free reed

Free reed aerophone

A free reed aerophone is a musical instrument where sound is produced as air flows past a vibrating reed in a frame. Air pressure is typically generated by breath or with a bellows.- Operation :...

mouth organ, but the
modern form is most often composed

Musical composition

Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...

and uses electrified instrument

Musical instrument

A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...

s. Contemporary forms of the music are also characterised by quick tempi

Tempo

In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...

and rapid delivery, while tempi tend to be slower in traditional forms and in some Lao

Laos

genres. Some consistent characteristics include strong
rhythmic accompaniment, vocal leaps, and a conversational style of singing that can be compared to American rap

Hip hop music

Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...

.

Typically featuring a theme of unrequited love

Unrequited love

Unrequited love is love that is not openly reciprocated or understood as such, even though reciprocation is usually deeply desired. The beloved may or may not be aware of the admirer's deep affections...

, mor lam also reflects the difficulties of life in rural Isan and Laos, leavened with wry humour

Humour

Humour or humor is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement...

. In its heartland, performances are an essential part of festivals and ceremonies, while the music has gained a profile outside its native regions thanks to the spread of migrant workers, for whom it remains an important cultural

Culture

Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...

link with home.

Instrumentation

Many genres (including the khap of northern Laos and lam gon and lam phuen in Isan) are traditionally accompanied only by the khene, but ensembles have become more common. Most commercial artists now use at least some electric instruments, most often a keyboard

Synthesizer

A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...

set up to sound like a 1960s Farfisa

Farfisa

Farfisa is a manufacturer of electronics based in Osimo, Italy.The Farfisa brand name is commonly associated with a series of compact electronic organs, and later, a series of multi-timbral synthesizers. At the height of its production, Farfisa operated three factories to produce instruments, in...

-style organ; electric guitar

Electric guitar

An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...

s are also common. Other western instruments are also becoming popular, such as the saxophone

Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...

and the drum kit

Drum kit

A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

. Many of the traditional instruments associated with morlam are reflective of Laos and the Isan region and are not found outside these areas, despite the great similarity across Southeast Asia, and are also commonly found in classical

Classical music

Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...

genres and court music of the region.

Traditional instruments used in mor lam ensembles include:

pi
Pi (instrument)
Pi is the generic term for any of a variety of quadruple reed oboes used in the traditional music of Thailand. It is very similar in construction and playing technique to the Cambodian sralai.-Varieties:*Pi chawa *Pi klang...

(ປີ່, ปี่, IPA: piː), bamboo oboes of various kinds and sizes.
vot
Wot (musical instrument)
The wot or vot is a circular panpipe used in the traditional morlam music of Laos and the Isan region of northeastern Thailand. It is often a major component in pong lang ensembles....

(ໂຫວດ, โหวด, IPA: voːt), a circular panpipe.
khuy
Khlui
The khlui is a vertical duct flute from Thailand. It is generally made of bamboo, though instruments are also made from hardwood or plastic...

(ຂຸ່ຍ, ขลุ่ย, IPA: kʰuj), various types of double-reed and single-reed bamboo flutes.
heun (ຫືນ, หืน, IPA: hɯn), a type of jaw harp.
chakhe
Jakhe
The jakhe is a plucked zither used in Thai music. It is made of wood in a stylized crocodile shape and is approximately 20 cm high and 140 cm long. Its highest two strings are made of silk yarn or nylon and lowest is made of brass...

(ຈະເຂ້, จะเข้, IPA: tɕaʔ kʰeː), a type of zither.
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....

(ຊໍ, ซอ, IPA: sɔː), a class of bowed fiddle-like instruments.
khim
Khim
The khim is a hammered dulcimer from Thailand and Cambodia. It is made of wood and trapezoidal in shape, with brass strings that are laid across the instrument. There are 14 groups of strings on the khim, and each group has 3 strings. Overall, the khim has a total of 42 strings. It is played...

(ຂິມ, ขิม, IPA: kʰim), a hammered dulcimer.
phin
Phin
The phin is a type of lute originating in Isan with a pear-shaped body played by mostly Ethnic Laotians in Thailand and Laos, having frets on the neck over which two or three metal strings run, plucked by pick of the right hand while playing.-External links:...

(ພິນ, พิณ, IPA: pʰin), a three-stringed lute.
hai song (ໄຫຊອງ, ไหซอง, IPA: haj sɔːŋ), a taught string over an earthernware jar.
kachappi (ກະຈັບປີ່, กระจับปี่, IPA: kaʔ tɕap piː), a two-stringed, four-coursed ancient lute.
ranat
Ranat (musical instrument)
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...

(ຣະນາດ, ระนาด, IPA: raʔ naːt), various kinds of xylophones, the most important being the pong lang
Pong lang
The pong lang is a log xylophone from the Isan region of northeast Thailand.The pong lang has 12 wooden bars that, with a strong rope, are tied together in a row at each end. The instrument can be played solo or in an ensemble...

(ໂປງລາງ, โปงลาง, IPA: pong lang).
sing (ຊິ່ງ, ฉิ่ง, IPA: siŋ), cymbal-like instruments used to maintain tempo.
sap (ຊາບ, ฉาบ, IPA: saːp), another cymbal-like instrument attached with chords.
kap (ກັບ, กรับ, IPA: kap), a wooden clapper.
kong (ກອງ, กลอง, IPA: kɔːŋ), various types of hand drums.
khong
Khong wong yai
The khong wong yai is a circle with gongs used in the music of Thailand. It has 16 tuned bossed gongs in a rattan frame and is played with two beaters.The player sits in the middle of the circle. It is used in the piphat ensemble to provide the skeletal melody the other instruments of the...

(ຄ້ອງ, ฆ้อง, IPA: kʰɔːŋ), various types of gongs.

In more modern music, instruments such as accordions, electric guitars, keyboard

Synthesizer

set to sound like a 1960's Farfisa

Farfisa

-style organ, saxophones and drum kits are often used as replacements or additions to the above-mentioned instruments.

History

Morlam had its birth in the Lao heartlands of Laos and Isan, where it remains a popular art form. Although its precursors probably lie in the musical traditions of the historical Tai

Tai

Tai may refer to:*Tai peoples*Tai languages*Tai , a Chinese surname*Mount Tai, in Shandong, China*Lake Tai, on the border of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, China...

tribes that migrated south from China and northern Vietnam, much cross-pollination with indigenous music of the region as well as importation of Chinese, Mon-Khmer, Indian and Malay influences has also had a pronounced affect on the dances, instrumentation and melodies of morlam.

In his Traditional Music of the Lao, Terry Miller identifies five factors which helped to produce the various genres of lam in Isan: animism

Animism

Animism refers to the belief that non-human entities are spiritual beings, or at least embody some kind of life-principle....

, Buddhism

Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

, story telling

Storytelling

Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and in order to instill moral values...

, ritual courtship

Courtship

Courtship is the period in a couple's relationship which precedes their engagement and marriage, or establishment of an agreed relationship of a more enduring kind. In courtship, a couple get to know each other and decide if there will be an engagement or other such agreement...

and male-female competitive folksongs; these are exemplified by lam phi fa, an nangsue, lam phuen and lam gon (for the last two factors) respectively. Of these, lam phi fa and lam phuen are probably the oldest, while it was mor lam gon which was the main ancestor of the commercial mor lam performed today.

After Siam extended its influence over Laos in the 18th and 19th centuries, the music of Laos

Music of Laos

Laos is dominated by the Lao but includes minorities of Hmong, Mien, Kmhmu, among many others. The most distinctive Lao musical instrument is a bamboo mouth organ called a khene. The instrument was supposedly invented by a woman trying to imitate the calls of the garawek bird. The woman took the...

began to spread into the Thai heartlands. Forced population transfers from Laos into the newly acquired region of Isan and what is now Central Thailand accelerated the rapid adoption of morlam. Even 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...

's vice-king Pinklao

Pinklao

Phrabat Somdet Phra Pinklao Chaoyuhua was the younger brother of King Mongkut and the Second King of Siam, who crowned him as a monarch with equal honor to himself.-Early life:...

becoming enamoured of it. But in 1865, following the vice-king's death, Mongkut banned public performances, citing the threat it posed to Thai culture and its alleged role in causing a drought

Drought

A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...

. Performance of mor lam thereafter was a largely local affair, confined to events such as festival

Festival

A festival or gala is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on and celebrates some unique aspect of that community and the Festival....

s in Isan and Laos. However, as Isan people began to migrate throughout the rest of the country, the music came with them. The first major mor lam performance of the 20th century in Bangkok took place at the Rajdamnoen Boxing Stadium in 1946. Even then, the number of migrant workers from Isan was fairly small, and mor lam was paid little attention by the outside world.

In the 1950s and 1960s, there were attempts in both Thailand and Laos to put the educational aspect of lam to political use. The USIS

United States Information Agency

The United States Information Agency , which existed from 1953 to 1999, was a United States agency devoted to "public diplomacy". In 1999, USIA's broadcasting functions were moved to the newly created Broadcasting Board of Governors, and its exchange and non-broadcasting information functions were...

in Thailand and both sides in the Laotian Civil War (the Secret War) recruited mor lam singers to include propaganda

Propaganda

Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....

in their performances, in hopes persuading the rural population to support their cause. The Thai attempt was unsuccessful, taking insufficient account of performers' practices and the audiences' demands, but it was more successful in Laos. The victorious Communists continued to maintain a propaganda troupe even after seizing power in 1975.

Mor lam started to spread in Thailand in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when more and more people left rural Isan to seek work. Mor lam performers began to appear on television, led by Banyen Rakgaen, and the music soon gained a national profile. It remains an important link to home for Isan migrants in the capital city, where mor lam club

Nightclub

A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...

s and karaoke

Karaoke

is a form of interactive entertainment or video game in which amateur singers sing along with recorded music using a microphone and public address system. The music is typically a well-known pop song minus the lead vocal. Lyrics are usually displayed on a video screen, along with a moving symbol,...

bar

Bar (establishment)

A bar is a business establishment that serves alcoholic drinks — beer, wine, liquor, and cocktails — for consumption on the premises.Bars provide stools or chairs that are placed at tables or counters for their patrons. Some bars have entertainment on a stage, such as a live band, comedians, go-go...

s act as meeting places for newcomers.

Contemporary mor lam is very different from that of previous generations. None of the traditional Isan genres is commonly performed today; instead singers perform three-minute songs combining lam segments with luk thung

Luk thung

Luk Thung refers to the most popular form of a style of music found in Thailand. The term is short for pleng luk thung .Luk Thung songs typically reflect the hardship of everyday life among the rural poor. Tempos tend to be slow, and singers use an expressive singing style with a lot of vibrato...

or pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

style sections, while comedians perform skits in between blocks of songs. Mor lam sing
Mor lam sing
Mor lam sing is a fast-paced, racy, modernized version of the traditional Lao/Isan song form mor lam. Sing comes from the English word "racing"...

performances typically consist of medleys of luk thung and lam songs, with electric instruments dominant and an extremely bawdy presentation. Sing comes from the English word "racing" (a reference to the music's origin among Isan's biker fraternity — by sing means to go racing about on motorbikes).

Lam in Laos has remained more conservative, and the traditional styles are maintained, but massive exposure to Thai media and culture has led to increasing influence and the adoption of the more modern and popular Isan styles.

Criticism

Thai academic Prayut Wannaudom has argued that modern mor lam is increasingly sexualised and lacking in the moral teachings which it traditionally conveyed, and that commercial pressures encourage rapid production and imitation rather than quality and originality. On the other hand, these adaptations have allowed mor lam not only to survive, but itself spread into the rest of Thailand and internationally, validating Isan and Lao culture and providing role-models for the young.

Professor Charles F. Keyes argues for the value of the ancient forms as geomythology

Geomythology

Geomythology is the study of alleged references to geological events in mythology. The term was coined in 1968 by Dorothy Vitaliano, a geologist at Indiana University....

: "The Thai-Lao people of northeastern Thailand have a well-developed tradition of 'legends' (nithān) which has been perpetuated in past through the media of folk opera ... known as mō lam mū ... no small number record[ing] events which happened 'long ago' on the Khorat Plateau... [N]ot historical accounts, they are not totally lacking in historical value. A number ... make reference to places which can be identified as being the sites of the ancient towns.... [T]he literature of the region has yet to be fully inventoried, much less analyzed," and adds in a footnote: "Unfortunately, most of these publications have had little circulation outside of the folk opera troupes for which they were intended." He next comments on five toponyms mentioned in the myth of "Phādāēng Nāng Ai", and compares these with those in the "Accounts of Fā Dāēet-Song Yāng".

Forms

There are many forms of mor lam. There can be no definitive list as they are not mutually exclusive, while some forms are confined to particular localities or have different names in different regions. Typically the categorisation is by region in Laos

Laos

and by genre in Isan

Isan

, although both styles are popular in the other region. The traditional forms of Isan are historically important, but are
now rarely heard:

lam phi fa (ລຳຜີຟ້າ, ลำผีฟ้า, IPA: lam pʰiː faː) — a ritual to propitiate spirits in cases of possession. Musically it derived from lam tang yao; however, it was performed not by trained musicians but by those (most commonly old women) who were thought themselves to have been cured by the ritual.
mor lam kon (ໝໍລຳກອນ, หมอลำกลอน, IPA: mɔːlam kɔːn) — a vocal "battle" between the sexes. In Laos it is known as lam tat. Performances traditionally lasted all night, and consisted of first two, then three parts:
- lam tang san (ລຳ ທາງ ສ້ັນ, ลำทางสั้น, IPA: lam tʰaːŋ san) — ("short form") took up the bulk of the time, with the singers delivering gon
  Gon
  Gon or GON may refer to:*Government of Norway. The use of GON is seen related to the WikiLeaks Cablegate documents.*Groton-New London Airport, IATA airport code...
  
  poems a few minutes in length, performing alternately for about half an hour each from evening until about an hour before dawn. They would pretend gradually to fall in love, sometimes with rather explicit sexual banter.
- lam tang nyao (ລຳທາງຍາວ, ลำทางยาว, IPA: lam tʰaːŋ ɲaːw) — ("long form"), a representation of the lovers' parting performed slowly and in a speech rhythm for about a quarter of an hour.
- lam toei (ລຳເຕີ້ຍ, ลำเต้ย, IPA: lam tɤːj) — was introduced in the mid-20th century. Similar in length to the lam tang nyao, it is fast and light-hearted, with metrical texts falling into three categories: toei thammada ("normal toei"), using gon
  Gon
  Gon or GON may refer to:*Government of Norway. The use of GON is seen related to the WikiLeaks Cablegate documents.*Groton-New London Airport, IATA airport code...
  
  texts in Isan; toei Phama ("Burmese toei"), using central
  Central Thailand
  Central Thailand is a region of Thailand, covering the broad alluvial plain of the Chao Phraya River. It is separated from North-East Thailand by the Phetchabun mountain range, and another mountain range separates it from Myanmar to the west. In the north it gently changes into the more hilly...
  
  or northern
  Northern Thailand
  Thailand's northern region is geographically characterised by multiple mountain ranges which continue from the Shan Hills in bordering Myanmar and Laos, and the river valleys which cut through them...
  
  Thai texts and forms; and toei Khong ("Mekong toei"), again central or northern Thai in origin. It uses the same scale as lam yao.
lam chotkae or lam chot (ລຳໂຈທຍ໌ແກ້, ลำโจทย์แก้, IPA: lam tɕoːt gɛː or ລຳໂຈທຍ໌, ลำโจทย์, IPA: lam tɕoːt) is a variant of lam kon formerly popular in the Khon Kaen area, in which the singers (often both male) asked one another questions on general knowledge topics — religion, geography, history etc. — trying to catch out their opponent.
mor lam mu (ໝໍລຳໝູ່, หมอลำหมู่, IPA: mɔːlam muː) — folk opera, developed in the mid-20th century. Lam mu is visually similar to Central Thai likay, but the subject matter (mainly Jataka stories) derived from lam rueang (the subgenre of lam phuen) and the music from lam tang nyao. It was originally more serious than lam plern and required more skilled performers, but in the late 20th century the two converged to a style strongly influenced by Central Thai and western popular music and dance. Both have now declined in popularity and are now rare.
mor lam phoen (ໝໍລຳເພີນ, หมอลำเพลิน, IPA: mɔːlam pʰɤn) — a celebratory narrative, performed by a group. It originated around the same time as lam mu, but used a more populist blend of song and dance. The material consisted of metrical verses sung in the yao scale, often with a speech-rhythm introduction.
lam phuen (ລຳພື້ນ, ลำพื้น, IPA: lam pʰɯn) — recital of local legend
Legend
A legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude...

s or Jataka
Jataka
The Jātakas refer to a voluminous body of literature native to India concerning the previous births of the Buddha....

stories, usually by a male singer, with khene accompaniment. In the subgenre of lam rueang (ລຳເຣື່ອງ, ลำเรื่อง, IPA: lam lɯːaŋ), sometimes performed by women, the singer acts out the various characters in costume. Performance of one complete story can last for one or two whole nights. This genre is now extremely rare, and may be extinct.

Isan has regional styles, but these are styles of performance rather than separate genres. The most important of the styles were Khon Kaen

Khon Kaen

Khon Kaen is a city in Isan, Thailand. It is also the capital of Khon Kaen province and the Khon Kaen district.-Geography and demography:Khon Kaen is located in the Khorat Plateau, in the central-northwestern area of Isaan...

and Ubon, each taking their cue from the dominant form of lam gon in their area: the lam jotgae of Khon Kaen, with its role of displaying and passing on knowledge in various fields, led to a choppy, recitative

Recitative

Recitative , also known by its Italian name "recitativo" , is a style of delivery in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms of ordinary speech...

-style delivery, while the love stories of Ubon promoted a slower and more fluent style. In the latter half of the 20th century the Ubon style came to dominate; the adaptation of Khon Kaen material to imitate the Ubon style was sometimes called the Chaiyaphum

Chaiyaphum

Chaiyaphum ) is a town in Northeastern Thailand, capital of Chaiyaphum province. As of 2006 it has a population of 37,490, and covers the full tambon Nai Mueang of Mueang Chaiyaphum district.-External links:...

style.

The Lao

Laos

regional styles are divided into the southern and central styles (lam) and the northern styles (khap). The northern styles are more distinct as the terrain of northern Laos has made communications there particularly difficult, while in southern and central Laos cross-fertilisation has been much easier. Northern Lao singers typically perform only one style, but those in the south can often perform several regional styles as well as some genres imported from Isan.

The main Lao styles are:

Lam Sithandone (ລຳສີທັນດອນ, ลำสีทันดร) (also called Lam Si Pan Don [ລຳສີພັນດອນ, ลำสีพันดอน]), from Champassak is similar in style to the lam gon of Ubon. It is accompanied by a solo khene, playing in a san mode, while the vocal line shifts between san and yao scales. The rhythm of the vocal line is also indeterminate, beginning in speech rhythm and shifting to a metrical rhythm.
Lam Som is rarely performed and may now be extinct. From Champassak, the style is hexatonic, using the yao scale plus a supertonic C, making a scale of A-B-C-D-E-G. It uses speech rhythm in the vocal line, with a slow solo khene accompaniment in meter. It is similar to Isan's lam phuen. Both Lam Som and Lam Sithandone lack the descending shape of the vocal line used in the other southern Lao styles.
Lam Khon Savane (ລຳິອນສະຫວັນ, ลำคอนสะหวัน, IPA: lam kʰɔːn saʔvan) from Savannakhet is one of the most widespread genres. It uses the san scale, with a descending vocal line over a more rigidly metrical ensemble accompaniment. Lam Ban Xoc (ລຳບ້ານຊອກ, ลำบ้านซอก, IPA: lam baːn sɔːk) and Lam Mahaxay (ລຳມະຫາໄຊ, มหาไซ, IPA: lam maʔhaːsɑj) are musically very similar, but Ban Xoc is usually performed only on ceremonial occasions while Mahaxay is distinguished by a long high note preceding each descent of the vocal line.
Lam Phu Thai (ລຳຜູ້ໄທ, ลำผู้ไท, IPA: lam pʰuː tɑj) uses the yao scale, with a descending vocal line and ensemble accompaniment in meter.
Lam Tang Vay (ລຳຕັງຫວາຍ, ลำตังหวาย, IPA: lam a vɑj) is a Lao version of Mon-Khmer music, with a descending ensemble accompaniment.
Lam Saravane (ລຳສາລະວັນ, ลำสาละวัน [ลำสุวรรณ], IPA: lam saːlaʔvan) is also of Mon-Khmer origin. It uses the yao scale. The descending vocal line is in speech rhythm, while the khene and drum accompaniment is in meter.
Khap Thum Luang Phrabang (ຂັບທຸ້ມຫລວງພະບາງ, ขับทุ้มหลวงพระบาง, IPA: kʰap tʰum pʰaʔbaːŋ) is related to the court music of Luang Phrabang, but transformed into a folk-song style. The singer and audience alternately sing lines to a set melody, accompanied by an ensemble.
Khap Xieng Khouang (ຂັບຊຽງຂວາງ, ขับเซียงขวาง, IPA: kʰap siːaŋ kʰwaːŋ) also called Khap Phuan (ຂັບພວນ, ขับพวน) uses the yao scale and is typically sung metrically by male singers and non-metrically by women.
Khap Ngeum (ຂັບງຶມ, ขับงึม, IPA: kʰap ŋɯm) uses the yao scale. It alternates declaimed line from the singer and non-metrical khene passages, at a pace slow enough to allow improvisation.
Khap Sam Neua ຂັບຊຳເໜຶອ, ขับซำเหนือ, IPA: kʰap sam nɯːa) uses the yao scale. Singers are accompanied by a solo khene, declaiming lines each ending in a cadence.
Khap Tai Dam (ຂັບໄທດຳ, ขับไทดำ, IPA: kʰap tʰɑj dam)

Performers

Traditionally, young mor lam were taught by established artists, paying them for their teaching with money or in kind. The education focussed on memorising the texts of the verses

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

to be sung; these texts could be passed on orally or in writing, but they always came from a written source. Since only men had access to education, it was only men who wrote the texts. The musical education was solely by imitation. Khaen-players typically had no formal training, learning the basics of playing from friends or relatives and thereafter again relying on imitation. With the decline of the traditional genres, this system has fallen into disuse; the emphasis on singing ability (or looks) is greater, while the lyrics of a brief modern song present no particular challenge of memorisation.

The social status of mor lam is ambiguous. Even in the Isan heartland, Miller notes a clear division between the attitudes of rural and urban people: the former see mor lam as, "teacher, entertainer, moral force, and preserver of tradition", while the latter, "hold mawlum singers in low esteem, calling them country bumpkins, reactionaries, and relegating them to among the lower classes since they make their money by singing and dancing".

Performance

In Laos

Laos

, lam may be performed standing (lam yuen) or sitting (lam nang). Northern lam is typically lam yuen and southern lam is typically lam nang. In Isan

Isan

lam was traditionally performed seated, with a small audience surrounding the singer, but over the latter half of the 20th century the introduction of stages and amplification allowed a shift to standing performances in front of a larger audience.

Live performances are now often large-scale events, involving several singer

Singing

Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...

s, a dance troupe

Dance

Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....

and comedian

Comedy

Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

s. The dancers (or hang khreuang) in particular often wear spectacular costume

Costume

The term costume can refer to wardrobe and dress in general, or to the distinctive style of dress of a particular people, class, or period. Costume may also refer to the artistic arrangement of accessories in a picture, statue, poem, or play, appropriate to the time, place, or other circumstances...

s, while the singers may go through several costume changes in the course of a performance. Additionally, smaller-scale, informal performances are common at festivals, temple

Wat

A wat is a monastery temple in Cambodia, Thailand, or Laos. The word "wat" means "school".- Introduction :...

fairs and ceremonies such as funeral

Funeral

A funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or remembering the life of a person who has died. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from interment itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor...

s and wedding

Wedding

A wedding is the ceremony in which two people are united in marriage or a similar institution. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes...

s. These performances often include improvised

Improvisation

Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...

material between songs and passages of teasing dialogue (Isan สอย, soi) between the singer and members of the audience.

Music

Lam singing is characterised by the adaptation of the vocal line

Singing

to fit the tones

Tone (linguistics)

of the words used. It also features staccato

Staccato

Staccato is a form of musical articulation. In modern notation it signifies a note of shortened duration and separated from the note that may follow by silence...

articulation and rapid shifting between the limited number of note

Note

In music, the term note has two primary meanings:#A sign used in musical notation to represent the relative duration and pitch of a sound;#A pitched sound itself....

s in the scale being used, commonly delivering around four syllables per second. There are two pentatonic scale

Pentatonic scale

A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave in contrast to a heptatonic scale such as the major scale and minor scale...

s, each of which roughly corresponds to intervals of a western diatonic major scale as follows:

The actual pitch

Pitch (music)

Pitch is an auditory perceptual property that allows the ordering of sounds on a frequency-related scale.Pitches are compared as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies,...

es used vary according to the particular khene accompanying the singer. The khene itself is played in one of six mode

Musical mode

In the theory of Western music since the ninth century, mode generally refers to a type of scale. This usage, still the most common in recent years, reflects a tradition dating to the middle ages, itself inspired by the theory of ancient Greek music.The word encompasses several additional...

s based on the scale being used.

Because Thai and Lao do not include phonemic

Phoneme

In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....

stress

Stress (linguistics)

In linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word, or to certain words in a phrase or sentence. The term is also used for similar patterns of phonetic prominence inside syllables. The word accent is sometimes also used with this sense.The stress placed...

, the rhythm used in their poetry is demarcative, i.e. based on the number of syllables rather than on the number of stresses. In gon
Gon
Gon or GON may refer to:*Government of Norway. The use of GON is seen related to the WikiLeaks Cablegate documents.*Groton-New London Airport, IATA airport code...

verse

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

(the most common form of traditional lam text) there are seven basic syllables in each line, divided into three and four syllable hemistich

Hemistich

A hemistich is a half-line of verse, followed and preceded by a caesura, that makes up a single overall prosodic or verse unit. In Classical poetry, the hemistich is generally confined to drama. In Greek tragedy, characters exchanging clipped dialogue to suggest rapidity and drama would speak in...

es. When combined with the musical beat

Beat (music)

The beat is the basic unit of time in music, the pulse of the mensural level . In popular use, the beat can refer to a variety of related concepts including: tempo, meter, rhythm and groove...

, this produces a natural rhythm of four on-beat syllables, three off-beat syllables, and a final one beat rest

Rest (music)

A rest is an interval of silence in a piece of music, marked by a sign indicating the length of the pause. Each rest symbol corresponds with a particular note value:The quarter rest may also be found as a form in older music....

In actual practice this pattern is complicated by the subdivision of beats into even or dot

Dotted note

In Western musical notation, a dotted note is a note with a small dot written after it. The dot increases the duration of the basic note by half of its original value. If the basic note lasts 2 beats, the corresponding dotted note lasts 3 beats...

ted two-syllable pairs and the addition of prefix syllables which occupy the rest at the end of the previous line; each line may therefore include eleven or twelve actual syllables.
In the modern form, there are sudden tempo

Tempo

In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...

changes from the slow introduction to the faster main section of the song. Almost every contemporary mor lam song features the following bassline

Bassline

A bassline is the term used in many styles of popular music, such as jazz, blues, funk, dub and electronic music for the low-pitched instrumental part or line played by a rhythm section instrument such as the electric bass, double bass, tuba or keyboard...

rhythm

Rhythm

Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...

, which is often ornamented melodically

Melody

A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...

or rhythmically, such as by dividing the crotchets into quavers:

The ching normally play a syncopated

Syncopation

In music, syncopation includes a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak but also powerful beats in a meter . These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be...

rhythm on the off-beat

Beat (music)

The beat is the basic unit of time in music, the pulse of the mensural level . In popular use, the beat can refer to a variety of related concepts including: tempo, meter, rhythm and groove...

, giving the music a characteristically quick rhythm and tinny sound.

Content

Mor lam was traditionally sung in the Lao

Lao language

Lao or Laotian is a tonal language of the Tai–Kadai language family. It is the official language of Laos, and also spoken in the northeast of Thailand, where it is usually referred to as the Isan language. Being the primary language of the Lao people, Lao is also an important second language for...

or Isan language

Isan language

Isan language is the collective name for the dialects of the Lao language as they are spoken in Thailand. It is spoken by approximately 20 million people, which is nearly one-third of the entire population of Thailand, predominantly in the Isan region of northeastern Thailand. There are also large...

. The subject matter varied according to the genre: love in the lam gon of Ubon; general knowledge in the lam jot of Khon Kaen; or Jataka

Jataka

The Jātakas refer to a voluminous body of literature native to India concerning the previous births of the Buddha....

stories in lam phun. The most common verse form was the four-line gon
Gon
Gon or GON may refer to:*Government of Norway. The use of GON is seen related to the WikiLeaks Cablegate documents.*Groton-New London Airport, IATA airport code...

stanza with seven main syllables per line, although in Khon Kaen the technical subject matter led to the use of a free-form series of individual lines, called gon gap. In Laos, it is the regional styles which determine the form of the text. Each style may use a metrical or a speech-rhythm form, or both; where the lines are metrical, the lam styles typically use seven syllables, as in Isan, while the khap styles use four or five syllables per line. The slower pace of some Lao styles allows the singer to improvise the verse, but otherwise the text is memorised.

In recent decades, the Ubon style has come to dominate lam in Isan, while the Central Thai influence has led to most songs being written in a mix of Isan and Thai

Thai language

Thai , also known as Central Thai and Siamese, is the national and official language of Thailand and the native language of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Tai–Kadai language family. Historical linguists have been unable to definitively...

. Unrequited love is a prominent theme, although this is laced with a considerable amount of humour. Many songs feature a loyal boy or girl who stays at home in Isan, while his or her partner goes to work as a migrant labourer in Bangkok and finds a new, richer lover.

The gon verses in lam tang san were typically preceded by a slower, speech-rhythm introduction, which included the words o la naw ("oh my dear", an exhortation to the listeners to pay attention) and often a summary of the content of the poem. From this derives the gern (Thai เกริ่น) used in many modern songs: a slow, sung introduction, generally accompanied by the khene, introducing the subject of the song, and often including the o la naw. (sample) The plaeng (Thai เพลง) is a sung verse

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

, often in Central Thai. (sample), while the actual lam (Thai ลำ) appears as a chorus between plaeng sections. (sample)

Recordings

As few mor lam artists write all their own material, many of them are extremely prolific, producing several album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

s each year. Major singers release their recordings on audio tape, CD

Compact Disc

The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

and VCD

Video CD

Before the advent of DVD and Blu-ray, the Video CD became the first format for distributing films on standard 120 mm optical discs. The format is a standard digital format for storing video on a Compact Disc...

formats. The album may take its name from a title track, but others are simply given a series number.

Mor lam VCDs can also often be used for karaoke

Karaoke

. A typical VCD song video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

consists of a performance, a narrative film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

, or both intercut

Cross-cutting

Cross-cutting is an editing technique most often used in films to establish action occurring at the same time in two different locations. In a cross-cut, the camera will cut away from one action to another action, which can suggest the simultaneity of these two actions but this is not always the...

. The narrative depicts the subject matter of the song; in some cases, the lead role in the film is played by the singer. In the performance, the singer performs the song in front of a static group of dancers, typically female. There may be a number of these recordings in different costumes, and costumes may be modern or traditional dress; the singer often wears the same costume in different videos on the same album. The performance may be outdoors or in a studio

Sound stage

In common usage, a sound stage is a soundproof, hangar-like structure, building, or room, used for the production of theatrical filmmaking and television production, usually located on a secure movie studio property.-Overview:...

; studio performances are often given a psychedelic

Psychedelic art

Psychedelic art is any kind of visual artwork inspired by psychedelic experiences induced by drugs such as LSD, mescaline, and psilocybin. The word "psychedelic" "mind manifesting". By that definition all artistic efforts to depict the inner world of the psyche may be considered "psychedelic"...

animated backdrop.
Videos from Laos tend to be much more basic, with lower production values.

Some of the most popular current artists are Banyen Rakgan

Banyen Rakgan

Banyen Rakkaen is a Thai mor lam and Thai luk thung singer. She was born on October 14, 1952 to an Isan family in Ubon Ratchathani province in the Isan region of Northeast Thailand.She is a student of Ajarn Chawiwan Damnoen....

, Chalermphol Malaikham, Jintara Poonlarp

Jintara Poonlarp

Jintara Poonlarp is a Thai mor lam, luk thung and pop music singer. She is one of the most popular and prolific of the artists in the mor lam and luk thung genres, having released 40 original albums as well as many compilations...

and Siriporn Ampaipong

Siriporn Ampaipong

Siriporn Ampaipong is a mor lam and luk thung singer from the Isan region of Thailand....

. In 2001, the first album by Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

singer Christy Gibson

Christy Gibson

Christy Gibson is a Dutch singer of mor lam and luk thung prayuk, which are traditional styles of music in Thailand.-Biography:Gibson's family moved to Thailand when she was six years old...

was released. In 2007, Jonny Olsen

Jonny Olsen

Jonny Olsen is an American who loves to play the Lao khaen and sing Lao music. He is the first American or "Farang" to ever make an album of Lao Folk music in Laos. His first album is entitled "Jonny Yak Pen Khon Lao" 2008 , which literally means that Jonny wants to be like a Laotian...

released the first ever Mor lam album by a westerner or "Farang" in Laos.

Live Venues

The Tawan Daeng Isan on Pattanakan Rd, Bangkok (near Ekamai/Pridi Panomyom Rd) is a popular venue where mor lam music can regularly be heard - the venue is open daily.

External links

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