The sounds of children singing the playful, old chorus lyrics of pleng rua (boat songs) can once again be heard from inside the house of National Artist Kwanjit Sriprachan in Suphan Buri.
Veteran singers perform on stage as part of the training.
Last month, after a three-year hiatus, the singer, often referred to as the godmother of Thai folk songs, once again opened her house as the venue for the seven-day Thai Folk Song Preservation Camp.
The camp was set up by the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, with the support of PTT Exploration and Production. Its mission is not unlike other campaigns and projects charged with preserving traditional Thai culture: to raise public awareness of the form of traditional songs and to pass on the knowledge of pleng rua and other forms of Thai folk songs to local teachers and students, so that they may do the same in the future.
"Besides searching for sages from around the Central Region to pass on their musical wisdom to the young generation, we also wish to develop students' skill levels and to encourage the sharing of the experience," said Asst Prof Buaphan Suphanyot, the director of the camp.
The 96 children were all selected from schools in the Central Region for possessing an aptitude to perform traditional Thai music. Throughout the week-long camp, children took part in a variety of workshops and practice sessions led by Kwanjit and other professionals and masters of traditional Thai folk songs.
The students studied pleng choi, pleng e-saew, pleng rua, laamtad and pleng songkreung — each of which has its own rhythmic style and stanza and each heavily reliant on the singer's skill, creative wit and language fluency.
The students were trained in the different techniques and background of the different forms of folk songs and at the end of each afternoon they were encouraged to put on a small performance.
On the day of Life's visit, the students were being trained in performing a pleng rua, which translates as "boat song" and is a form of songs traditionally performed by male and female singers while they travel along a river on separate boats. Many of the participants agreed that performing the pleng rua was the most difficult of the genres to learn as it required outstanding language skills in order to deliver improvised lyrics and be able to trade the back-and-forth witty observations.
The children were divided into five groups of girls and boys and dressed in different types of colourful Thai traditional attire, which brought an air of authenticity to the stage performances.
After the children's performances, the spotlight fell on the professionals who, led by Kwanjit, also took to the stage. It was unsurprisingly spectacular, chiefly because the spontaneous interaction between the performers was fast, clever and very funny. There are many reasons why Kwanjit believes Thai folk songs seem to be losing their audience, especially among the younger generation of urbanites. The coolness factor, she says, is arguably absent and they now have to compete with other forms of imported pop-culture.
Kwanjit also believes that the raunchy, double entendre lyrics — a tradition of the courting folk songs — may be out of sync with modern sensibilities. This is why she's trying to tone them down, to a degree, to make them more appropriate to the younger audience.
"Right now, traditional Thai music is like a flame that has almost been extinguished and it is waiting for more charcoal to be added in order for it to glow again," said Autsarawut Hompruedtiphab, one of the staff. "But I think it will regain popularity again, as long as we promote it in the right way." Details for the next Thai Folk Song Preservation Camp are yet to be announced.
Children participate in a workshop at the Folk Song Preservation Club in Suphan Buri last month.
The Folk Song Preservation Club train young children in various genres of traditional Thai music.
