Haegeum

Ethnography

Students of the University of California, Riverside took part in a peaceful protest against unfair fee hikes and budget cuts. Look hard enough and you'll find me (or not, avoided the cameras.) We marched from the main campus to the downtown districts. (Good thing public transportation was there, I was soooo not in the mood to walk back.)

Shoppers in Hillcrest San Diego.

Lao American girls attend at a Wat.

Indonesian youths participate in a rock band.

I want ice cream!

Southeast Asian Music pt. 2

Modernization has meant, for some areas of Southeast Asian society, westernization. Many nation have come up with ways of "preserving" or celebrating perceived cultural uniqueness while incorporating modernism. While Western and East Asian style pop music has become popular in Southeast Asia, so too has more localized music traditions.

Morlam is the musical tradition of Lao people in Thailand and Laos. Here is a look at a more traditional morlam performance from Laos:

Like Enka of Japanese tradition, Morlam evolved to become an iconic pop music of Thailand. Traditional instruments are replaced by electronic ones. Dancers are dress eccentrically. It has be come fabulous, much like the Carnival of the west. Bands go from city to city, and perform at various venues.



Another such tradition following this trend is Dangut, a musical tradition from Indonesia with heavy South Asian and Middle Eastern influence.

music of the day

Rom Min Ch'aet Teh - Pan Ron


I love these oldies. I'd be rocking to this if any club, gay or striaght, would play it.

Dirty Love - Chris Salvatore


I just think Chris is so cute. :)

Sao Ubon Ror Rak - Tai Orratai

Southeast Asian Music pt. 1

One of the common misconception about Southeast Asian music is that they are all the same. This is not true of course there are fundamental differences in the construction and presentation of the music. If we look at modern Thai and Khmer pipat/pinpeat and mahori, there are subtle but important differences between the way the songs are constructed. These includes, how the melody shifts and how each music sequence start. The are different despite of their common ancestry. Musical genre is much like biological evolution: They change, adapting to either culture, region, class, religion, and time. Eventually, a musical tradition with common ancestry will become totally different from it's ancestor. Even close cultural neighbors like Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos will have differences in the construction of music. The court music of these nation are descendant of an older tradition dating back to Angkor but have since diverged. The similarities of the ensembles are noticeable but so is the differences.



(Pictured to the left is a crocodile zither formerly used in Burmese music. The use has since died but an analogous form of the instrument is still used by Thai and Khmer classical ensemble.)

Miller, T., & Sam, S. (1995). The Classical Musics of Cambodia and Thailand: A Study of Distinctions. Ethnomusicology. 39(2), 229-243.

ไทยดำรำผัน - Tai Dam Lum Phan

The song is about the exodus of the Tai Dam people from Sơn La province due to the start of the Vietnam War.

กุหลาบเวียงพิงค์