Khon characters featured in SONGKHLA TOURISM campaign

SONGKHLA old town in the province of the same name has a low profile in the shadow of bustling Hat Yai, which has been the major economic centre of southern Thailand for a long time. Indeed, it is not surprising that some may think that Songkhla is actually a district of Hat Yai province.

The town, however, has its own charming traditional architectural style. The urban area consists of the three major roads Nakorn Nok, Nakorn Nai and Nang Ngam. Tourists can also visit the old rice mill known as Hub Ho Hin, the Sino-Portuguese townhouses and the historic Nang Ngam Hotel, which is embellished with elaborate wooden fretwork.

Recently a new generation of residents of Songkhla town have joined hands to reintroduce the area to outsiders in a campaign that has caught people’s eyes and gone viral on social networks including Facebook and Twitter. The campaign is mostly comprised of photos that have been posted on Facebook.

Prakarn Siripanich, president of the Songkhla Cultural Local Guides Club, said the campaign portrayed Thotsakan, or Ravana, a main character in the Ramayana epic, and one of his consorts visiting historic places in Songkhla and viewing wall murals and historic areas. They also showed viewers the local way of life of Songkhla town residents. 

However, the characters may remind people of the controversial music video “Tiew Thai Me Hey”, which was produced to promote tourism in Thailand, also depicting the Khon character Thotsakan. The Culture Ministry red flagged the video because it showed Thotsakan on horseback, piloting a jet ski, steering a go-kart, riding in a tuk-tuk and even cooking the traditional local dessert kanom krok, which ministry staff deemed inappropriate for a cultural icon.

According to folklore, the 10-faced, 20-armed Thotsakan is king of the demons of Lanka and the strongest of Phra Ram’s adversaries, equipped with a myriad of weapons.

The original video received support from across society including a petition set up at Change.org that opposed the red flag and garnered more than 64,000 names.

Ultimately, the video’s producer agreed to edit the video and cut the controversial scenes.

Songkhla native Prakarn admitted that he got the idea of using the two Khon characters from that controversial video. “The singer in the video, Tachaya Pathumwan, was my younger fellow student at Mahavajiravudh Songkhla.”

However, when asked to comment on the video, Prakarn diplomatically said both sides had interesting points.

Well aware of the cultural sensitivity of using Khon characters in the campaign, he said he had been very careful and would focus on demonstrating beautiful and interesting sites in Songkhla’s old town areas. “There would be only still photos and I have no plans to make a video like Tachaya’s.”

The theme of the project is that Thotsakan and his consort visited Songkhla’s old town and wandered around the beautiful sites happily together. 

Everyone who participated in the campaign worked on a voluntary basis. “Jirapong Wongwiwat, a photographer for the campaign, is a freelancer and always does charity work by organising photo training for children. He has received many awards but did the job for free,” Prakarn said.

Jirapong was always more than ready to brave the hot weather and walk long distances each day to take photos, Prakarn said, adding that the photographer paid for his meals and water out of his own pocket. Thotsakan and the consort were depicted by senior students of Songkhla Rajabhat University and were happy to do the job for free, he added.

“Anyone could imagine how hard it was to walk in the strong sunlight with those costumes, the mask and the headdress. For the Thotsakan character, the student faced difficulty because he had to wear the mask all the time, but for the consort, she had to wear the heavy costume and the headdress and also she could not wear shoes. I felt pity for her as she has to walk in the strong sunlight on the hot streets.”

The university provided the costumes for free and lecturers on traditional dances provided advice to make sure everything was implemented correctly and respectfully regarding Thai culture.

The Thotsakan-led campaign was only the first phase. Now Prakarn’s team is launching the second part, which features two additional characters from the Ramayana – Hanuman, the monkey warrior, and Benyakai, a female character. The premise is that the new characters heard about Thotsakan’s visit to Songkhla and followed out of curiosity and enjoyed themselves.

“The campaign’s objective is to draw tourists, both local and foreigners, to Songkhla, which has a series of sites and history to offer. But we would not be happy with a simple head count of tourists, we prefer to see quality tourism, and do not focus on their quantity,” Prakarn said.