The Lao People's Democratic Republic is a small, landlocked country in mainland South-east Asia bordering Vietnam, China, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand and Cambodia. Before its partition into the princedoms of Luang Prabang, Vientiane (also spelt Viang Chan) and Champassak soon after 1700, the 14th-century kingdom of Lan Sang (‘Million Elephants’) was a significant power in the region. After 1827, when Siamese armies defeated the Lao and sacked Vientiane, most Lao-occupied territory west of the Mekong river was absorbed into Siam (present-day Thailand). Although much of the current population of north-east Thailand is culturally Lao, their music has developed on a different path, one influenced by Bangkok's modernization and the development of urban popular culture. About half of the 5·3 million population is comprised of upland, non-Lao-speaking groups, many of whom practise swidden agriculture on the mountainsides. The ethnic Lao population is concentrated in lowland valleys, especially along the Mekong and its tributaries, and on the Vientiane plain north of the capital. Laos was a kingdom until 1975, when the communist Pathet Lao overthrew the royalists, resulting in economic collapse and mass emigration, the latter including many of the country's musicians, singers and dancers.
Although not exclusive, the following four musical categories are useful: traditional village vocal genres with instrumental accompaniment; classical music surviving from the former court; popular songs; and musics of non-Lao upland groups. Because Laos consists of isolated villages and towns with little infrastructure (roads, transportation or communications), village genres show great variation. The court tradition exists primarily in Vientiane, the capital, with pockets of activity in Luang Prabang and Champassak. Popular songs are characteristic of the cities along the Mekong, where influence from Thailand is strongest. Least studied are the musics of the many upland groups, scattered throughout the country. Culturally, they are related to upland minorities in neighbouring Vietnam and China. Research on Lao musics, modest before 1975, ceased at that time until the early 1990s, when foreign scholars were allowed to return, albeit in small numbers.
6. Relationship with musics of north-east Thailand.
TERRY E. MILLER
Lao vocal genres predominantly consist of male-female repartee in a ritualized derivative of courtship. This is analogous to the spoken phanya, a lovers' dialogue consisting of memorized units of poetry and proverbs, which is mostly expressed in simile, metaphor and double entendre. The musical analogue is embodied in two terms, lam (used in southern Laos) and khap (central and northern Laos). The textual subjects include feigned courtship, with or without insults and sexual innuendo, discussions and challenges concerning matters of history, Buddhism, geography and other subjects, didactic poems on correct behaviour and topical comments. Whereas phanya was functional, lam and khap are repartee performances featuring vocal melody and instrumental accompaniment.
Five northern genre names are preceded with khap: khap ngeum from the Ngum river valley north-east of Vientiane; khap thoum from the former royal capital, Luang Prabang; khap phouan for the Lao Phouan, a sub-group living in the Xieng Khouang area; khap sam neua after Sam Neua village in Houaphan province; and khap thai dam after the Thai Dam (‘Black Thai’) sub-group of central Laos. Each of these genres exists in isolation, with little that unifies them stylistically.
Eight southern genre names are preceded with lam: lam sithandone (also called lam siphandone) and lam som from southern Champassak province; lam saravane from Saravane province; lam ban xok from Xok village near Savannakhet city; lam tang vay from Tang Vay village (located 95 kilometres south-east of Savannakhet); lam khon savan from Savannakhet province; lam mahaxay from Mahaxay (located 40 kilometres east of Thakhek city in Khammouane province); and lam phou thai after the Phou Thai sub-group living in southern Laos. In addition, many southern Lao singers perform genres from north-east Thailand, especially the repartee form lam klawn (also called lam tat) and the theatrically derived lam pleun.
Each genre is mainly distinguished by its dialect, scale form, melodic shape, accompaniment pattern and performance practices, but also to some extent by its accompanying instruments. Many are easily recognisable to outsiders, but distinguishing some genres in the south requires great attention to detail. Since the differences in dialect are least among the lam genres, southern singers can routinely perform two or more genres. These genres are also closest in style to those of north-east Thailand just across the Mekong river. Indeed, certain lam genres have given rise to localized genres in Thailand, especially lam phanya yoi and toei hua non tan in the Mukdahan area.
A vast repertory of poetry must be memorized by each singer. Literacy in Laos, especially in remote rural areas, is far from universal, making oral transmission a necessity. In north-east Thailand teachers often write out texts. Most poetry is constructed in kon form, i.e. stanzas having four lines, each with seven basic beats or syllables, but singers may add prefixes, suffixes and extra syllables to the basic seven. This arrangement produces duple metre. In addition, each stanza requires a pattern of lexical tone marks, but because the language has three consonant classes, each with its own realization of tone marks, this pattern allows varying melodic interpretations.
The relationships between lexical tones and musical tones are complex, as the resultant performance requires coordination among several elements, including scale, a typical melodic shape for each regional genre, and overall (but not rigid) correspondence of individual lexical tones and melodic contour; these are tempered by elements of personal style. Non-conformity of melodic phrase and lexical tone resulting from a genre's typical melodic shape, potentially altering a word's meaning, can be avoided by the singer's addition of slides to or from main notes. This kind of flexible melodic line, which maintains its genre-specific identity while avoiding regularity and predictability, is what is meant by lam, and what distinguishes traditional singing from hong, the term for singing songs with fixed melodies such as popular, patriotic and foreign songs.
Traditional village music performances occur in conjunction with calendrical, Buddhist and national festivals. These include boun song kan (water throwing festival, April), boun bang fai (rocket festival, May), boun kathin (giving gifts to Buddhist monks, October–November), boun phavet (chanting the story of Prince Vetsandone's life, February–March), ordinations, temple fairs, the Western New Year and certain national holidays. Three additional Lao rituals provide contexts for other forms of chanting and singing: the boun bang fai rocket festival, which features responsorial singing called seung bang fai; lam phi fa rituals to cure people made ill by spirits, and Buddhist ceremonies requiring Pāli-language chant (sout) and Lao-language sermons (thet).
All but two village genres (khap thai dam and khap thoum) require the accompaniment of Laos's most distinctive musical instrument, the khene (see Khaen), a free-reed bamboo mouth organ in raft form, either alone or in combination with other village instruments. The typical Lao khene has 14 pipes in two rows of seven pipes each, but instruments with 6, 10, 16 and 18 pipes also exist ( fig.1). Instruments with 16 pipes from north-east Thailand have come to dominate in southern Laos. Khene slightly less than one metre in length are usual, although instruments up to three or four metres were formerly used. Except for the Phouan khene, all 14- and 16-tube instruments have the same relative tuning. Expressed in a pitch-letter system that distinguishes the near-tempered semitones from the whole tones while avoiding sharps and flats, the two-octave tuning system runs diatonically from a to a''. Right-hand pitches (from front to back) are a–c'–g'–a'–b'–d''–e''–a''; left-handed pitches are c''–b–d'–e'–f'–g'–f''–g''. Instruments with 14 tubes omit the highest pair (a' and g'). This arrangement, while appearing illogical, facilitates playing in five pentatonic modes while maintaining balance between the hands and avoiding more than three consecutive pipes in any mode. Players, all of whom are male, cause the silver-copper alloy free reeds to vibrate, each producing a single note, when they cover a pipe's finger-hole while inhaling or exhaling through the carved wooden windchest. Multiple pitches are produced by covering more than one finger-hole; pieces of the black khisout insect wax that seals the bamboo pipes into the windchest are used to cover one or two finger-holes, producing drones. Typically tilting the instrument slightly to the left, the player can create solos or play accompaniments within a simple modal system.
Whereas Thai khene players tend to have a comprehensive view of the instrument and its repertory, few Lao players do, mostly playing the patterns of the vocal genres they accompany. In the north-east Thai modal system, lai, there are two pentatonic scale forms, which can be called san and nyao. The san scale can be expressed as G–A–C–D–E and nyao as A–C–D–E–G. In each case the lowest note serves as a tonic. The various modes (ex.1a) (lai) provide a variety of starting pitches and moods for each scale. The san modes are lai sutsanaen (G–A–C–D–E), lai po sai (C–D–F–G–A) (ex.1b) and lai soi (D–E–G–A–B); the nyao modes are lai nyai (A–C–D–E–G), lai noi (D–F–G–A–C) and an unnamed mode on E (E–G–A–B–D).
Khene players in Laos commonly classify accompaniments and programmatic solos in reference to specific vocal genres, but some non-programmic solos are denoted by theoretical terms related to those of north-east Thailand (e.g. lai noi is called tit sut noi). Solo playing in Laos is slower, less prevalent and less virtuoso than that of Thailand, remaining closer to the original accompanimental patterns. An example of a khene piece may be found in Khaen.
Other Lao village instruments are of less importance than the khene. The Thai Dam minority, who are related to the Lao, use a free-reed pipe with finger-holes, the larger called pi louang (fig.2) and the smaller called pi bap. The classical bamboo duct flute (khoui) can be used to ornament the accompanimental melody. Small, home-made plucked lutes called phin or kachappi, of various shapes and with two to four strings, are commonly used in conjunction with the khene. Locally made fiddles called so, derived from the classical so i, are sometimes played (fig.3).
Lao village musicians also use a small number of idiophones: one is melodic, while the rest have a rhythmic function. The former is a rarely seen vertical xylophone of tuned logs called dung lung in Laos and bong lang or kha law in north-east Thailand. More common are small metal cymbals borrowed from the classical tradition called sing and slightly larger cymbals called sap. The southern Lao ngop ngep consists of two hinged pieces of wood, about 30 cm long; a block of wood is used to scrape the teeth carved into the underside of the lower piece of wood. Various small barrel drums are simply called kong.
Of the southern lam vocal genres, all require at least the khene for accompaniment, although the kachappi, so, khoui, drum and other percussion instruments may also be added. Khap genres in the north, however, are normally accompanied only by the khene, with the exception of khap thoum from Luang Prabang, which requires a small, classical-style ensemble consisting of fiddles, dulcimer and flute, plus percussion. Khene playing for khap tends to be rhythmically free and sometimes monophonic (without drones), while lam patterns are metrical and fuller in sound because of the presence of drones and multiple notes.
A singer is called mo lam or mo khap and the accompanist mo khene (mo: ‘skilled person’). Although audiences prefer younger, single female singers to older, married ones, older singers of both sexes continue to perform. While being a singer or musician does not admit one to élite society, singers are respected for their knowledge of culture, history, proper behaviour, stories, Buddhism and the art of courtship. Because many of the most famous singers fled Laos in 1975, and those who remain live in a poor country with little infrastructure, it has been difficult for singers to build lucrative careers or attain the star status possible in relatively prosperous and modern north-east Thailand. After 1975 the new communist government sent many of the remaining singers to ‘seminars’ (re-education camps) and created a hierarchy of national, provincial, and city cultural officials to manage public performance. In the late 1980s singers were no longer required to sing propaganda for the government, but neither could they criticize lazy or corrupt officials or make pointed comments on society as they had before 1975.
Distinguishing the 12 regional vocal genres requires attention to detail but is possible for outsiders. Each is briefly described below in terms of scale, metre, relationship to accompaniment and other pertinent features.
Laos, §1: Village vocal genres
Similar to traditional Ubon-style lam in north-east Thailand, lam sithandone is usually accompanied by solo khene playing metrically in a san mode. Each singer, however, opens with a non-metrical section that then becomes metred with the scale remaining somewhat ambiguous, wavering between san and nyao.
Laos, §1: Village vocal genres
Now extremely rare, lam som is actually hexatonic, using the pentatonic nyao scale plus a supertonic (B): A–B–C–D–E–G. The singer declaims the text in speech rhythm to slow but metrical accompaniment, emphasizing pitches A, B, and D at cadences. The nearest equivalent in north-east Thailand is lam pheun, an almost extinct narrative genre.
Laos, §1: Village vocal genres
Sung by Lao-speaking people of Mon-Khmer origin living in the remote Saravane area along the Se Done river, lam saravane is sung and played in the nyao scale. While the accompaniment, provided by a small ensemble dominated by khene, is metrical, the singer declaims phrases in rapid speech-rhythm that follows a descending contour.
Laos, §1: Village vocal genres
Distinguishing lam ban xok from nearby lam khon savan is difficult, since both use khene, either alone or a small ensemble, both have metrical accompaniment in the san scale, and both have near-metrical vocal parts. The differences lie more in function, for lam ban xok is not for ordinary occasions but is associated with ceremonial occasions.
Laos, §1: Village vocal genres
Said to be a lowland Lao derivative of upland Mon-Khmer singing, lam tang vay is easily distinguished by its four-note descending accompaniment pattern (A–A–G–G–F–D) that is played by a small ensemble. Informants report that this genre was originally a type of khap accompanied by free-reed pipe or flute.
Laos, §1: Village vocal genres
Considered the most important Lao village singing genre, lam khon savan is primarily performed by professionals. Using the san scale, its melodic patterns are easily confused with those of lam ban xok and lam mahaxay in Laos and toei hua non tan and lam phanya yoi in north-east Thailand. The vocal part tends to have a flexible short–long rhythmic lilt, while the accompaniment is in even pulses (ex.2).
Laos, §1: Village vocal genres
Distinguishing lam mahaxay from lam khon savan and lam ban xok requires attention to a long-held or melismatically ornamented high note that precedes the vocal line's descent to the tonic pitch.
Laos, §1: Village vocal genres
The term Phou Thai, meaning ‘Thai people’, refers to upland Tai speakers from north-eastern Laos and nearby Vietnam who migrated to lowland Laos and became acculturated. Whereas the Phou Thai have their own style of singing, the genre called lam phou thai denotes a lowland Lao adaptation sung in the nyao scale with metrical ensemble accompaniment and a declamatory, descending vocal line.
Laos, §1: Village vocal genres
Performed by people living near Vientiane along the Ngum river who probably came from north-eastern Laos, khap ngeum is accompanied by solo khene playing non-metrical, melismatic lines, especially after the singer has declaimed a line of poetry; both use the nyao scale. The slow pace of delivery allows singers to improvise poetry and thereby comment on current events.
Laos, §1: Village vocal genres
Living in the cool uplands near the Plain of Jarres and Xieng Khouang, the Lao sub-group called Phouan perform khap accompanied by solo khene, but their instrument has 14 pipes in a configuration of pitches different from the standard form, including one silent (reedless) pipe. Males sing in metre accompanied by a repetitive khene pattern, while females usually answer in non-metrical, heightened speech. Both use pitches of the nyao scale.
Laos, §1: Village vocal genres
The genre most remote from mainstream Lao styles, khap sam neua originated in an area that straddles Houaphan province in the north-east and nearby Vietnam. The singers are usually Nua, a Lao sub-group. Using the nyao scale and accompanied by a khene having 10 to 14 pipes, singers declaim the text within a narrow vocal range, ending each phrase with a cadence that alternates tonic with sub-tonic.
Laos, §1: Village vocal genres
The former royal capital, Luang Prabang, which had a classical music tradition until 1975, is the centre of khap thoum, a repartee genre that is accompanied by a small ensemble consisting of classical instruments (fiddles, flute, dulcimer and percussion). Each singer's section is answered by a chorus sung by onlookers. Based on a 1 2 3 5 6 scale form, with passing use of 4 (eg. C–D–E–G–A–, with F), both singing and accompaniment are metrical and based on a semi-fixed melody (exx.3a and 3b).
To summarize, the khap genres are accompanied by solo khene (khap thoum excepted), and through their geographical isolation each has unique characteristics. Not surprisingly, northern singers usually know only one genre. The lam genres of southern Laos are more often accompanied by a small ensemble, with the khene as an essential instrument. Southern singers typically perform more than one genre, since their locales are less geographically isolated and somewhat similar in style. Furthermore, all lam genres have metrical accompaniments, but only three (tang vay, khon savan and mahaxay) have metrical vocal lines. Descending melodic contours dominate lam styles as well, with the exception of sithandone and som.
The term lao deum denotes the Lao classical tradition. Classical music was exclusive to the court in Luang Prabang until 1959, when the Lao Fine Arts School in Vientiane was established to train musicians, singers, dancers, actors and actresses. Since the fall of the monarchy in 1975, only the Vientiane school has kept the classical tradition alive. Virtually banned for several years after 1975 by the Pathet Lao communist government as a symbol of bourgeois decadence and arrogance, classical music was resurrected as a respectable state symbol from about 1990. In 1992 the Fine Arts School became the National School of Folkloric Music and Dance. Because classical music is now primarily preserved within this one institution, its existence remains somewhat precarious. The musicians and dancers from Luang Prabang resettled in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1975, but they were unable to keep the tradition alive. Some performers from Vientiane resettled in Paris, but they too no longer perform. However, a classical ensemble descended from the former principality of Champassak survives nearby as a village ensemble.
In classical music the Lao classify instruments into four groups: tit (plucked), si (bowed), ti (beaten) and pao (blown). The ‘beaten’ instruments include two xylophones, lanat ek and lanat thoum (higher- and lower-pitched, respectively), two circular gong-chimes, khong vong nyai (lower) and khong vong noi (higher), as well as rhythmic idiophones and membranophones. There are two ‘blown’ instruments, the pi kaeo quadruple-reed aerophone with bulbous body and the khoui vertical duct flute. Similarly, there are two ‘bowed’ instruments, the so i two-string fiddle with a cylindrical body and the so ou two-string fiddle with coconut-shell body. The classical ensemble includes no plucked instruments, but the Chinese-derived khim dulcimer is sometimes used.
Two ensembles predominate, each with different names according to location. The piphat (Vientiane) or sep nyai (Luang Prabang) consists of xylophones, circular gong-chimes and quadruple-reed instrument plus drums and cymbals. The maholi (Vientiane) or sep noi (Luang Prabang) denotes an ensemble whose makeup is flexible but normally includes melodic idiophones, bowed strings, flute and percussion. A khene is sometimes added to the maholi or sep noi to make the ensemble more Lao, but there is also a discrepancy between the seven half and whole steps of the khene and the nearly equidistant seven tones of the xylophones and circular gong-chimes. Lastly, the kheuang sai ensemble consists of the two so fiddles, dulcimer, flute and percussion.
While many Lao strive to define their classical tradition as distinct, outside observers note its close relationships to those of Cambodia and Thailand, especially in terms of repertory. While it has been argued that the Khmer strongly influenced Luang Prabang during the 14th century, recordings made there in the 1960s show closer relationships to the Thai tradition. All works are pre-composed but are rarely notated. There are no melodic accents, but main beats are articulated by small bronze or brass cymbals called sing and offbeats marked by larger, flatter cymbals called sap. The pitches coinciding with the accented strokes of the sing cymbals are the most significant in defining a work's structure; pitches coinciding with unaccented strokes are of lesser importance. The way these structural pitches are realized melodically depends on each instrument's individual idiom. The higher xylophone, for example, plays continuously in octaves while the lower circular gong-chime plays a less dense, less continuous version with secondary pitches at the 4th, 5th or octave. As in the Thai and Cambodian traditions, compositions are organized in cycles of beats marked by the sing and fixed, cyclic drum patterns. A given composition can be realized at three different levels of density, called sam san (third level), song san (second level), and san dio (first level) (Table 1). A composition that includes all three levels in sequence (third, second, first) is called peng thao. The level of virtuosity depends on the skill of the players. In general, Lao classical music is played more simply than the same compositions in Thailand.
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table 1 |
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Proportional relationships among the three tempo levels (san) |
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sam san |
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o |
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+ |
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o |
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(one cycle) |
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song san |
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o |
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+ |
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o |
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+ |
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o |
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+ |
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o |
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(two cycles) |
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san dio |
o |
+ |
o |
+ |
o |
+ |
o |
+ |
o |
+ |
o |
+ |
o |
+ |
o |
+ |
(three cycles) |
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key: |
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accented stroke on sing cymbals |
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o |
unaccented stroke |
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According to Mahoney's teachers (1995, p.64), Lao classical musicians classify compositions into three categories: laksana homlong, laksana moun seun and laksana sok sao. The first group, laksana homlong, include the most serious compositions, the so-called overtures, which are suites consisting of rigidly fixed, revered and spiritually-endowed pieces called peng naphat. Laksana homlong, however, also includes lighter works such as Peng Pae Sam Chan, by Thai composer Luang Pradit Phairau. These pieces are primarily played by the piphat ensemble during ceremonies, but similar repertory is also used to accompany the masked play (khon) and dance drama (lakhon), both of Thai derivation but altered to reflect Lao sensibilities. Laksana moun seun (‘happy, interesting’ compositions) are lighter, more melodious, and usually played by the maholi and kheuang sai ensembles. Laksana sok sao (‘sad songs’) include funereal pieces of the naphat type as well as miscellaneous compositions appropriate for sad occasions.
In the early 18th century, the unified Lao kingdom of Lan Xang split into the three principalities - Luang Prabang, Vientiane and Champassak, each maintaining its own classical music. Champassak declined, gradually becoming a Siamese vassal. Although the court and its accoutrements became extinct, its classical music survived among the musicians, who continued to live in nearby villages and taught the music to their sons. Remarkably, this tradition survives in a small piphat ensemble that in 1994 included seven musicians ranging in age from 18 to 83 who play xylophone, circular gong-chime, quadruple-reed aerophone, soprano recorder (in place of a khoui), a pair of barrel drums, a horizontal drum and small cymbals. The ensemble plays periodically for local festivals, especially the sacrificial buffalo feast held annually at nearby Vat Phu, an ancient Khmer temple ruin (fig.4).
Considering the light concentrations of population in both the capital and the small cities along the Mekong, as well as their relative poverty, the absence of a Lao popular tradition distinct from that of Thailand is not surprising. The Lao media remain low-powered, unable to dominate the country or compete with the media of Thailand, which reach inadvertently into most parts of Laos. Since the predominant popular music emanating from north-east Thailand also derives from its own Lao-Isan culture, the Lao of Laos find this music familiar and not at all Thai. Consequently, most popular music performed inside Laos is derived from the Lao-Isan genres called luk thung, popular songs derived from local styles, and lam sing, an upbeat, post-1989 repartee genre that blends traditional styles and instruments with electrified ones and a drum kit.
The Lao classify their population into three groups: Lao Loum or lowland Lao; Lao Theung or mid-elevation dwelling Tai and Mon-Khmer speakers; and Lao Soung or high-elevation dwelling people, especially the Hmong and Yao. Lao Theung and Lao Soung are recent terms coined to replace the former (and pejorative) kha (‘slave’) classification. Although the population of Laos is modest at about five million, the number of differentiated ethnic groups is remarkable. Chazee (1995, p.6) lists by name 25 Tai-Kadai groups, one of which is the mainstream lowland Lao; 47 Austro-Asiatic groups; 5 Miao-Yao groups (including the Hmong); 26 Sino-Tibetan groups; and 16 others, including Burmese, Thai and Viet. Considering that mainstream Lao music itself is little studied, that Laos was closed to research from 1975 until 1990 and that most of the upland minority groups live in remote areas in the mountains or near the Vietnamese and Chinese borders, it is not surprising that little can be said at this point about their multitudinous musics.
Some upland Mon-Khmer (Austro-Asiatic) groups, such as the Loven, Lovae and Tau-oi in the Saravane area, have been acculturated into Lao society and perform a genre of lam in Lao (lam saravane). The Phou Thai style is imitated in the southern Lao genre called lam phou thai, and the music of the Lao Phouan (khap phouan) is also known, but little can be said with any certainty about the rest. Hmong music has been thoroughly documented among immigrant groups in the United States by Amy Catlin (see United States of America, §II, 5, (vi), (a)), and some anthropological studies of other groups have included sections on music, but it is difficult to state more than generalities. Although Chazee differentiates 119 ethnic groups, many are related linguistically, and it ought to be possible to reduce distinct musical types to a much lower number. Considering the paucity of people interested in Lao music, the difficulty of research and the lack of money to support any studies, attainment of this goal is unlikely in the near future. At the end of the 20th century, virtually no Lao scholars have the training or means to carry out this research.
The best-known upland people are the Hmong, called Miao in China, who after the Vietnam War migrated in large numbers to the United States, South America, Europe and elsewhere, bringing with them their much-noted needlework. Their major form of expression is poetry ‘sung’ in heightened speech according to lexical tones. Players of their main instrument, the gaeng free-reed mouth organ with six tubes (fig.5), imitate the same poems in a kind of surrogate speech. While many poems relate to daily life, the most important occasions for poetry and gaeng playing are the lunar New Year and funerals.
The chant and teaching practices of Theravāda Buddhism in Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar vary to greater or lesser extents. Ordinary Lao Buddhist chant is intoned in Pāli, an Indic sacred language, but sermons can be chanted (or sometimes nearly sung) in either Pāli or Lao. Chants in Lao are often local in style. One of the most important festivals, boun phavet, the chanting of the life of Prince Vetsandone (the penultimate life of the Buddha before enlightenment), occurs from late February to early March and can last up to three days. Lay people often sing salapan, Lao sacred poetry in stanza form sung to simple melodies. During the Vietnam War many Buddhist temples were destroyed by bombing; after 1975 Buddhism was temporarily suppressed, and many monks and other practitioners fled the country. At the end of the 20th century Buddhism had barely recovered from these events, leaving few to chant and preach.
The majority of people in Thailand's north-east region speak Lao at home (locally called Isan). Until a government-backed development drive in the early 1970s brought Bangkok's modernization to what had been the country's most remote and poorest region, life in the north-east was not much different from that in pre-1975 Laos. With the collapse of the Lao economy following the communist coup d'état and the simultaneous modernization of Thailand stemming from its rapid economic growth and internationalization, the cultures of Isan and Laos diverged.
Before modernized Isan music surged in popularity during the 1980s, singers in southern Laos typically included the older Isan genres in their public performances. These included repartee singing called lam klawn in Isan or lam tat in Lao. Whereas most Lao genres are sung seated on the floor, Isan genres are sung standing (fig.6). A full performance consists of three sections, the first (lam thang san) beginning about 9 p.m. and lasting until about 5 a.m. Performed in metre using the san scale, each singer's portion begins with a tripartite introduction in speech rhythm, followed by the main poem in klawn form, i.e. four-line stanzas, each having seven main syllables with a required tone-mark pattern. This is followed by lam thang nyao, which lasts approximately 30 minutes and is sung in speech rhythm in the nyao scale. Without a break, the singers conclude with lam toei, also using the nyao scale but now in metre.
The second genre copied in Laos was derived from one of Isan's theatre types, lam pleun. Interestingly, while lam pleun has changed drastically in Isan through modernization and the replacement of traditional singing by luk thung pop songs, singers in Laos have preserved the original form of lam pleun but no longer in a theatrical context. Before 1975 Isan singers sometimes copied certain southern Lao genres and performed as well two local genres from near Mukdahan, lam phanya yoi and toei hua non tan, which were derived earlier from lam khon savan. After 1975 the presence of Lao singers in refugee camps in north-east Thailand brought a surge of interest in Lao styles to Thailand.
With the rise of the Isan-derived luk thung popular song since the 1960s, Isan's popular culture has come to appeal to Thai people of all regions and has penetrated Laos through the Thai media. Around 1989 a new traditionally-derived genre called lam sing quickly rose to popularity, threatening even the luk thung song genre. Lam sing (the name implies anything that is fast) incorporated repartee, khene accompaniment and some traditional song but also blended in a drum kit, rock combo instruments (including electrified phin lute), interspersed the performance with luk thung songs and often used central Thai language. Lam sing had immediate appeal to even Bangkok's youth and swept through the country. Lam sing performances may remain rare in Laos, but it is likely that only lack of money and equipment holds back the youth of Laos from adopting lam sing.
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