New voices for old verses

Seven students from Khokkon Vittayakom School in this northeastern town will be treating the citizens of Singapore to authentic mor lam klon music later this month after winning a contest
 designed to help preserve Isaan culture.

The Jim Thompson Farm, demonstrating its commitment to safeguarding the arts of the Northeast in general and silk craft in particular, hosted the region-wide “Jim Thompson Farm Sud Sanan Dan Isaan” competition among schools, presenting the winning team with Bt100,000 cash and organising a show for them in Singapore.

Thailand’s acknowledged “Queen of Mor Lam”, Banyen Rakkaen, National Artist Chaweewan Dumnern and several university scholars made up the judging panel, assessing the entrants’ vocals, subject matter, presentation, costumes and timing.

Secondary-school and university bands from 20 provinces participated in the contest
 won by Nong Khai’s Khokkon Vittayakom School. “We’re so happy to win!” says Jintana Kaew A-sa, one of two singers in the school’s mor lam group. “Our band is very new, so this was the first time we performed mor lam klon.
“We’re really excited to be going to Singapore to perform in front of a foreign audience, and also very proud to carry on our ancestors’ folk culture. It’s so great to see all that hard work pay off.”
As well as the two singers, the group has three dancers and one player each on the khaen (reed pipe), phin (lute) and woad (panpipe). They rehearse every day after school.

The other singer, Surapol Tongduang, says the most challenging part is memorising the lyrics. He and Jintana are Mattayom 4 classmates.
“I know the pros just improvise onstage, but amateurs like us need a lot of preparation. I knew that if I lost track of the words while performing for the judges, I’d have to improvise and just carry on. Luckily that didn’t happen, but the thought alone made me nervous. I would have been speechless!”

The competition focused on mor lam klon, the more traditional, mellower form of the music, giving a wide berth to its better-known raucous and raunchy cousin mor lam sing. The khaen, woad and create eerie melodies against which the singers “call and answer”, “conversing” in Isaan dialect on commonplace subjects, ranging from religion and virtue to parental grace to romantic courtship and local folklore. It’s not party music – not made for dancing – but full of wit and ideal for showing off the performers’ talents.

A typical mor lam klon concert will amble on from dusk ’til dawn with the entertainment non-stop and the crowd (hopefully) keeping up with the stories that cover all sorts of subject matter, and perhaps even chiming in. In bygone days, the highlight of any such event would be a “battle” between the two most prominent singers, with the loser surrendering the stage, pride deeply wounded, and refusing any performance fee or other reward offered.
The kaen player is usually regarded as the bandleader in mor lam klon, selecting the direction the performance takes and guiding its pace.

The band from Khokkon Vittayakom School has 17-year-old Jukkrid Kongsri on khaen – he won the Best Mor Khaen award in the same competition thanks to his versatile, unique sound. Self-taught apart from a casual workshop with some professionals, Jukkrid has already been approached about furthering his folk-music education and pursuing a professional career.

“I really hope their love, their passion for folk music stays with them, even after they graduate,” says their teacher, Peerada Poonperm. They got that passion for music from her, after she founded the band almost 10 years ago on a tiny grant from the school budget.
“Some kids discover their talent here, and some can potentially make it a career. I only wish the government would support schools in the rural areas better, so we could to a better job nurturing the students’ artistic and cultural side rather than supplying only the ‘hardware’.

“We’re lucky to have come this far,” Peerada says, “because our principal is very generous and supportive. I’m sure there are many schools where the teachers would love to do what we do, but they can’t just because the cultural learning isn’t ‘academic’ enough.”


Southerly wind
The Khokkon Vittayakom School mor lam klon band will perform at the Jim Thompson restaurant in Singapore later this month.