The Thai Popular Song and Its Literary Lineage

Authors

chetana Nagavajara

Publication Date

1989-01-01

Abstract

Though Western-inspired, the Thai popular song represents a very successful effort on the part of Thai artists to appropriate, transcend and "thaisize" a foreign medium. True to the indigeneous tradition of forging an intimate link between music and literature, the creators of Thai popular songs have shown imagination, resourcefulness and originality in anchoring the new genre in the noble lineage of Thai folk and classical literature, as may be witnessed from the work of the Suntharaporn Group whose 50th anniversary was commemorated in November 1989. More recent directions such as the ''Phleng Luk Thung" and the "Song for Life" have contributed towards expanding the substance as well as the range of expression, thus reaching an ever- increasing public. The advent of rock music may have plunged the genre into a rather facile, self-imposed cultural servitude, but there are signs of a new beginning, marked also by literary preoccupations.

DOI

10.58837/CHULA.PASAA.19.2.20

First Page

160

Last Page

179

Recommended Citation

Nagavajara, chetana (1989) "The Thai Popular Song and Its Literary Lineage," PASAA: Vol. 19: Iss. 2, Article 21.
DOI: 10.58837/CHULA.PASAA.19.2.20
Available at: https://digital.car.chula.ac.th/pasaa/vol19/iss2/21