When you think of the culture of a place, what are the things that make up that culture? There are a lot of different things that might come to mind, but one thing that is a part of every culture is music. Humans beating out rhythms and singing are everywhere. However, each locale has their own interpretation and significance applied to music.
Music is something that permeates nearly every aspect of life here in Thailand. From 10-foot tall walls of speakers at any kind of gathering to karaoke at every party, the beats are bumping all the time. My local market has a CD vendor each week, right there alongside the vegetable and fish vendors, and he blasts whatever is hot at the moment. As I write this, the beats to ubiquitous pop music blasting at a party, probably a couple of kilometers, away are floating over the fields and into my home at a respectable background music volume level.
At first glance, it seems that there isn’t much diversity in Thai music – that it is has all been Westernized and turned into a glossy pop with repetitive beats and little imagination. But closer inspection reveals that traditional sounds threading their way through the radio hits and you find local folk music shows throughout the country. You can hear the subtle pop influences on the contemporary classical music and you find that the love of pop music here has roots in the relationship between the U.S. and Thailand, when troops were stationed here during the Vietnam War. You even find Western music styles that have been taken and claimed by Thais and made their own.
Over the next few posts I plan to take a closer look at Thai instruments and various music genres, so check back.