South East A

sia Research, 19, 3, pp 569–000 doi: 10.5367/sear.2011.0058

Red

and

yellow son

gs: a historical

analysis of th

e use of m

usic b

y the

Un

ited F

ront for D

emocracy again

stD

ictatorship

(UD

D) an

d th

e Peop

le’sA

lliance for D

emocracy (PA

D) in

Th

ailand

James M

itchell

Abstract:

Th

e increase in

social protests in

Th

ailand

since 2005 h

asb

een m

arked

by a d

ramatic rise in

the u

se of mu

sic for protest. T

his

article examin

es the u

se of mu

sic by th

e yellow an

d red

shirts, an

dcon

textualizes th

e PA

D an

d U

DD

with

in th

e history of tw

o simi-

larly nam

ed b

ut very d

ifferent gen

res of Th

ai song: ph

leng ch

iwit

[life songs] an

d ph

leng ph

uea ch

iwit [son

gs for life]. Ph

leng ch

iwit

was p

art of a flowerin

g of satirical art forms d

urin

g Field

Marsh

allP

laek P

hib

un

songk

hram

’s second

term as P

rime M

inister (1948–

57) before cen

sorship

forced m

any son

gwriters to ch

ange to th

e new

comm

ercial genre of lu

kthu

ng [T

hai cou

ntry son

g]. Ph

leng ph

uea

chiw

it was th

e preferred

mu

sic of leftist stud

ents in

the p

ro-dem

oc-racy m

ovemen

t of the 1970s. H

owever, th

e rehab

ilitation of ph

leng

phu

ea chiw

it as the official T

hai p

rotest genre h

as disgu

ised th

e roleth

at lukth

un

g played

du

ring th

e armed

struggle of th

e Com

mu

nist

Party of T

hailan

d (C

PT

). Th

e article examin

es the u

se of satiricalson

gs and

lukth

un

g du

ring T

hailan

d’s m

ost recent p

olitical strug-

gle, from 2005 to th

e presen

t. It app

ears that red

-shirt p

rotestors(th

e UD

D) h

ave accessed a w

ide ran

ge of mem

ories, inclu

din

g the

most p

owerfu

l coun

ter-hegem

onic trad

itions, w

hereas th

eir yellow-

shirt op

pon

ents (th

e PAD

) have d

rawn

on a m

uch

narrow

er selectionof h

egemon

ic cultu

ral mem

ories.

Keyw

ords:yellow

and

red sh

irts; lukth

un

g; phlen

g chiw

it; phlen

gph

uea ch

iwit; P

AD

; UD

D

Au

thor details:

The author is a R

esearcher in the Departm

ent of Media,

Music, C

omm

unications and Cultural S

tudies at Macquarie U

niversity,S

ydney, Australia. E

-mail: jam

es.mitchell@

students.mq.edu.au.

Red and yellow

songs571

570South E

ast Asia R

esearch

The increase in social protest in T

hailand since 2005 has been marked

by a dramatic rise in the use of m

usic in a political context. Unlike the

leftist movem

ent of the 1970s, which em

bedded the view of ‘songs

for life’ as the accepted Thai protest genre, the P

eople’s Alliance for

Dem

ocracy (the PAD

– or yellow shirts) and the U

nited Front for

Dem

ocracy against Dictatorship (the U

DD

– or red shirts) have made

use of almost every kind of m

usic found in Thailand. R

emarkably, this

outpouring of rebellious sounds has taken place against a backdrop ofincreasing state censorship, self-censorship by m

edia and recordingcom

panies, and punitive lese-majesty law

s. Why this has been possi-

ble is not straightforward. C

ertainly, advances in the areas of satellitetelevision, hom

e recording equipment and the Internet have m

adecensorship easier to overcom

e, and the competing political m

ovements

have developed sophisticated protest strategies by learning from each

other. This article suggests that part of the answ

er also lies in them

essages and mem

ories comm

unicated both lyrically and musically,

consciously and unconsciously, through the songs and music used by

each group.

Lu

kth

un

g

A central focus of this article is phleng lukthung or T

hai country music.

Lukthung is a fusion genre blending W

estern and Latin dance rhythm

sfrom

the 1940s and 1950s with T

hai melodies. T

raditionally accordedlow

cultural status, 1 largely because of the heavy involvement of Isan

2

people, it began to be acclaimed as a national art form

after a royallysponsored concert series in 1989. In the afterm

ath of the 1997 Asian

economic crisis, lukthung w

as hailed as the most authentic T

hai popu-lar m

usic genre (see Am

porn, 2006). How

ever, at that time a process of

Isan cultural revival and political maturation w

as under way, and con-

tinued attempts to appropriate lukthung as an exam

ple of Central T

haisuprem

acy3 have only served to strengthen this process. L

ukthung was

1S

ee Mitchell (2009, pp 298, 299); and L

ockard (1998, pp 187–191).2

Isan refers to the population of the North-E

astern region of Thailand, m

ost of whom

are of Lao descent. T

he North-E

ast only officially came under the control of S

iamfollow

ing the revolt of the vassal state of Vientiane in 1827, and Isan people have

endured ongoing discrimination and chauvinism

at the hands of the Central T

hai.H

esse-Sw

ain provides an excellent summ

ary of the history of Isan identity (2006,pp 258–260). S

ee also McC

argo and Hongladarom

(2004, pp 219–234) and Lockard

(1998, pp 164–165).3

See M

itchell (2009, pp 307–309).

already identified with Isan culture and during the last decade m

orlam4

[traditional Lao folk m

usic] and lukthung have been conflated acrossgeneric boundaries under the various titles of lukthung prayuk, Isanlukthung and m

orlam sing. 5

For over 40 years, lukthung has been the preferred m

usic of Thai-

land’s poor. Rural peasants and the urban w

orking class have foundcom

mon ground in the stories and m

elodies of this genre. As dem

on-strated by U

bonrat Siriyuvasak in her sem

inal article on the genre,lukthung is em

bedded in a political context through its music, lyrics

and subject matter (1990, pp 61–77). H

owever, the apparent absence of

overt social protest in a working class genre has discouraged the atten-

tion of Western scholars and surprised the few

writers w

ho have delvedinto the popular m

usic of Thailand. C

raig Lockard surveyed the popu-

lar music genres of T

hailand for counter- hegemonic discourses and

concluded that lukthung ‘could probably not serve as a model for m

usi-cians interested in m

ore overt protest music, ow

ing to its frequentlylavish, alm

ost circus-like stage productions (often involving elaboratelyclothed dancing girls), its progressive com

mercialization (and perhaps

increasing co-optation) and the conspicuous consumption of its w

ealthysuperstars’ (L

ockard, 1998, p 191). This article dem

onstrates that Lockard

did not have sufficient information available to him

to show truly the

counter-hegemonic potential of lukthung and that, during the present

conflict, a wide range of hegem

onic and counter-hegemonic (including

even the most com

mercial) elem

ents of lukthung have been used forprotest. In the T

hai context, hegemony refers to the establishm

ent, con-sisting of the m

ilitary, the royal family, the governm

ent and the Buddhist

leadership (in possible descending order of influence); whereas coun-

ter-hegemony is any opposition or alternative to that establishm

ent.

Meth

od

While D

enisoff’s (1966, p 584) categories of magnetic (w

hich promote

group solidarity) and rhetorical (which present a political m

essage) protestsongs rem

ain valuable, it is generally accepted that any definition ofprotest m

usic must include the capacity and cultural significance of the

4A

lthough the gramm

atically correct term for L

ao-Isan folk music is lam

and a prac-titioner is a m

or lam [‘professional singer’], the latter term

has become com

monly

used to describe the genre.5

Sing means ‘fast, racing or dangerous’. M

orlam sing usually refers to fast tem

pom

orlam set to dance-club beats.

Red and yellow

songs573

572South E

ast Asia R

esearch

music itself. A

s this article will confirm

, certain melodies and genres

can be extremely pow

erful cultural and political symbols, and som

eprotest songs gain pow

er through the appropriation of familiar tunes.

Potentially, lukthung lends itself to being considered as part of the larger

discourse on protest music. B

ut that is not the main purpose of this

article. Eyerm

an and Jamison (1998, p 44) propose that ‘protest’ m

usicshould be interpreted through a fram

ework ‘in w

hich tradition and ritualare understood as processes of identity and identification, as…

collec-tive m

eaning and mem

ory’. Music gives rise to am

biguous andopen-ended im

ages and symbols, w

hich can ‘open channels of identifi-cation through w

hich the past can become present’ (E

yerman and Jam

ison,1998, pp 44, 46). W

hat can we therefore learn about the yellow

and redshirts from

their musical preferences? T

hat lukthung has been used si-m

ultaneously by two opposing groups for com

peting political objectivesis intriguing. B

ut how can this be so? T

he answers lie in the historical

configuration of the music and the nature of the political contours that

have emerged since the 1970s.

Structu

re

Part one builds a foundation for this study by introducing the com

pet-ing political m

ovements, sum

marizing the developm

ent of relevant Thai

musical genres and providing an overview

of the performers and gen-

res preferred by each side.P

art two aim

s to contextualize the music of the PA

D and U

DD

byexam

ining some episodes w

ithin the history of two sim

ilarly named but

very different genres of Thai song: phleng chiw

it [life songs] and phlengphuea chiw

it [songs for life]. Phleng chiw

it was part of a flow

ering ofsatirical art form

s during Phibunsongkhram

’s second term as prim

em

inister (1948–57) before censorship forced many songw

riters to changeto the new

comm

ercial genre of lukthung. Phleng phuea chiw

it was the

preferred music of leftist students w

ithin the pro-democracy m

ovement

of the 1970s. How

ever, the rehabilitation of phleng phuea chiwit as the

official Thai protest genre has disguised the role that lukthung played

during the armed struggle of the C

omm

unist Party of T

hailand (CP

T).

Phleng plaeng [altered lyrics] using the tunes of fam

ous lukthung songsw

ere extremely popular am

ong the rank-and-file insurgents, particu-larly those in Isan.

Part three exam

ines some of the satirical songs and phleng plaeng

produced during the recent political struggle. The use of lukthung by

each side is surveyed and the types of collective mem

ory evoked bythis use are discussed. It appears that the red shirts have accessed aw

ide range of mem

ories, including the most pow

erful counter-hegemonic

traditions, whereas the yellow

shirts have drawn on a m

uch narrower

selection of hegemonic cultural m

emories.

Part 1

Description of the protest m

ovements

The P

eople’s Alliance for D

emocracy (PA

D), led by m

edia mogul S

ondhiL

imthongkul, w

as formally established on 8 F

ebruary 2006 in order toprotest against the alleged corruption of P

rime M

inister Thaksin

Shinaw

atra. With a support base draw

n from m

iddle and upper classB

angkokians and southerners, conservative factions of the Thai arm

y,the D

emocrat P

arty, some N

GO

s and labour unions, the PAD

is charac-terized by ultra-nationalist, pro-m

onarchy rhetoric and the wearing of

yellow – the official colour of the T

hai king. After the S

eptember 2006

coup, the PAD

disbanded, only to reform in M

arch 2008 to campaign

against the People’s P

ower P

arty governments of S

amak S

undaravej(January–S

eptember 2008) and S

omchai W

ongsawat (S

eptember–D

e-cem

ber 2008). This period w

as notable for the blockade of Parliam

entH

ouse and the occupation of Bangkok’s airports. W

hen the Som

chaigovernm

ent was dissolved in D

ecember 2008, the PA

D once again w

entinto hiatus. S

ince that time, pink-shirt 6 and m

ulticoloured groups haveheld dem

onstrations that have stressed loyalty to the monarchy and to

the state and have often included PAD

personnel.T

he United F

ront for Dem

ocracy against Dictatorship (U

DD

) was

first formed in 2006 as the D

emocratic A

lliance Against D

ictatorship(D

AA

D) to com

bat the appearance of the PAD

and to oppose the coupand ensuing m

ilitary government. Initially only consisting of support-

ers of Thaksin S

hinawatra, the m

ovement has expanded to include

pro-democracy and som

e leftist groups. After the election in D

ecember

2007 of the People’s P

ower P

arty, the UD

D w

ent into recess until May

2008 when it responded to the PA

D’s seizure of P

arliament H

ouse. Early

UD

D protest m

ethods were am

ateurish compared w

ith those of the PAD

,

6T

he wearing of pink shirts by royalists becam

e popular after King B

humibol left

hospital in Novem

ber 2007 dressed in pink. The inspiration for a pink-shirt group

appears to have come from

morlam

/lukthung singer Jintara Punlap, w

hose song,‘M

ob si chomphu’ [‘P

ink Protest G

roup’], appeared in March 2009.

Red and yellow

songs575

574South E

ast Asia R

esearch

and it was not until 2009 that the red shirts em

erged as a coherent po-litical force w

ith power bases in the N

orth-East and N

orth. In April

2009, the red shirts forced the Fourth E

ast Asia S

umm

it, held in Pattaya,

to be abandoned, and major dem

onstrations were held in B

angkok. After

these demonstrations w

ere dispersed by the military, the U

DD

appearsto have spent the next year quietly planning and m

obilizing for the dra-m

atic protests that took place in Bangkok from

March to M

ay 2010 andw

hich resulted in the deaths of 92 people.

Thailand’s m

usical genresT

raditional music is divided into the court-centred ‘classical’ tradition

and various folk traditions. Central T

hai classical music is perform

edby m

ahori [stringed and percussion instruments] and piphat [percus-

sion and wind instrum

ents] ensembles and also accom

panies the khon[m

asked] and lakhon [non-masked] dance-dram

a forms. T

he term phleng

Thai doem

[‘original Thai song’] refers to the large T

hai classical reper-tory. S

ince the 1970s, classical music has increasingly been adopted by

the Bangkok m

iddle class as a marker of status and identity (see M

oro,2004, pp 206, 207).

The m

ost significant folk genres in terms of influence on lukthung

are the Central T

hai folk traditions of phleng lae, phleng choi, phlengisaeo and lam

tat 7 and the North-E

astern morlam

tradition. Although all

Thai folk genres use pentatonic scales, the equidistant tuning of C

entralT

hai genres contrasts greatly with the natural pentatonic m

inor scale ofN

orth-Eastern genres. L

ikay is a theatrical form that has blended C

en-tral folk traditions w

ith classical elements.

Thai popular m

usic can be traced back to phleng Thai sakon (univer-

sal or Western songs) of the 1930s and 40s. U

nder the leadership ofF

ield Marshall P

hibunsongkhram and L

uang Wichit W

athakan, Thai

melodies and lyrics w

ere combined w

ith Western harm

ony and instru-m

entation. Folk m

elodies were adapted to create ram

wong [‘circle dance’]

– a hybrid genre that rivalled the popularity of Western dance m

usicsuch as the tango or the w

altz. After the S

econd World W

ar, phlengT

hai sakon gradually developed subgenres such as phleng talat [market

songs] or phleng chiwit [life songs], w

hich discussed rural concernsand w

ere sung with rural accents.

7A

ll of these Central T

hai folk traditions employ chanted rhythm

ic dialogue and equi-distant tuning. A

ccording to Ubonrat (2000, p 9), C

entral Thai folk singing w

asinfluenced by suat khaek or M

alay chanting introduced by Malay prisoners during

the reign of King R

ama III (1824–52).

During the 1960s, a form

al division was m

ade between these realis-

tic songs sung in rural accents and incorporating myriad folk styles –

lukthung [literally, ‘children of the field’] and romantic love songs sung

in a Western style – lukkrung [literally, ‘children of the city’]. P

hlengphuea chiw

it [songs for life], which com

bined Am

erican folk with T

hailyrics, m

elodies, singing techniques and instrumentation, provided a

voice for the leftist student protest movem

ent of the 1970s and has sincedeveloped into a com

mercial country rock genre. O

pposed to songs forlife w

ere phleng pluk-jai [patriotic marches], w

hich developed fromW

estern brass band music during the nineteenth century. T

hrough aprocess of cross-pollination w

ith lukthung, Isan folk has developed intothe hybrid genres of m

olam sing, Isan lukthung and kantruem

. 8

Lukkrung soon developed into string (W

estern pop with T

hai lyrics),w

hich then followed sim

ilar paths of development to W

estern popularm

usic. Disco and funk w

ere important influences in the 1970s, w

hilem

ore recently, Britpop/alternative, J-P

op and K-P

op, ska and hip hophave been incorporated in local variants. W

estern jazz has been appre-ciated by the T

hai upper and middle classes since the 1930s and is

particularly associated with K

ing Bhum

ibol (r 1946 to the present).

Music of the PA

DA

nyone who has follow

ed the turmoil in T

hailand over the last six yearsis probably aw

are that music has played an im

portant role in the pro-tests. T

he PAD

’s combination of free-to-air satellite television coverage

and continuous demonstrations centred around a perform

ance stage(rather than the object of protest) has resulted in a blend of protest en-tertainm

ent. Just as the proliferation of cable television networks around

the world has led to a m

assive increase in demand for content, so A

ST

V’s

24-hour format m

eant that musical content w

as essential. Furtherm

ore,the PA

D appears to have had high levels of support from

Bangkok’s

entertainment industry (see C

lewley, 2007, pp 42–43). T

his was clearly

seen when P

ongpat Wachirabunjong accepted the aw

ard for Best S

up-porting A

ctor at the Nataraja A

wards (for T

hai TV

) ceremony on 16

May 2010. T

o a standing ovation, he gave a speech, ‘If you hate Father,

no longer love Father, just get out of here. B

ecause this is Father’s house.

Because this land belongs to F

ather.’9 A

s a result of this support, a constant

8K

antruem is a folk-rock genre, usually sung in K

hmer and practised in the Isan

provinces closest to Cam

bodia – Surin, B

uriram and S

risaket.9

This speech can be view

ed at http://ww

w.youtube.com

/watch?v=

X9T

W5rN

Nw

x4.

Red and yellow

songs577

576South E

ast Asia R

esearch

stream of celebrities has been available to perform

at PAD

protests.C

orrespondingly, well educated m

iddle to upper class viewers w

ith aninterest in the fine arts did not w

ant to watch hours of uninterrupted

speeches. Consequently, variety program

mes such as Jor Y

ellow [Y

el-low

Screen], hosted by the w

ell known actor Sarunyu W

ongkrachang,becam

e key drawcards for the PA

D.

Many of the genres favoured by the PA

D constituency, such as phleng

phlukchai [patriotic marches], T

hai and Western classical, lukkrung, jazz,

electronica and Thai alternative rock, can be described as elite genres

that signify high status and are produced by and for the most affluent

segment of urban society. A

rtists in these genres, who joined the PA

Dcam

paigns between 2005 and 2008, include classical m

usicians Nat

Yondararak and his w

ife Wongduean Indharavud, alternative group

Apartm

ent Khunpa, N

atda Wiyakan [phleng w

an]10 and electronica

project The P

hotosticker Machine. A

nother elite artist to come out in

support of the PAD

was the artistic director of the B

angkok Opera, S

.P.S

omtow

, who fam

ously proclaimed ‘having returned to the country of

my birth after having spent som

e 50 years abroad, I had never felt more

free’ (Som

tow, 2006) just w

eeks before the junta’s Ministry of C

ulturecensored his opera A

yodhya for fear of bad luck (Condie, 2006). A

number

of other genres are not elite culture per se, but are usually followed

only by niche audiences. These include the C

entral Thai folk genres of

lamtat and lae, represented by W

ang Teh L

amtat ensem

ble and the pas-tiche folk group F

armer’s S

on, plus the Teochew

Chinese opera genre

of ngiw.

How

ever, not all the PAD

’s music is so easily classified as elite cul-

ture. Many phleng phuea chiw

it musicians have cam

paigned for thePA

D, including top southern bands H

amm

er and Malihuanna [m

ari-juana], F

olkner and the leader of the prototype songs-for-life groupC

aravan, ‘Nga C

aravan’ Surachai Jantim

athon. Nga C

aravan even wrote

original protest songs for the movem

ent including ‘March P

hantamit

mai klua D

AD

’11 and ‘S

anam L

uang’12 (C

lewley, 2007, p 43). L

anna(N

orthern) folk singer Suntaree V

ejanond (mother of pop star L

annaC

omm

ins), most fam

ous for the 1978 song ‘Ka jao pen sao C

hiangM

ai’ [‘I am a C

hiang Mai G

irl’] first appeared for the PAD

in 2006(K

elley, 2009). Country rock has been featured at m

any protests through

10S

low sw

eet pop similar in nature to the older lukkrung.

11T

ranslates as ‘March PA

D N

ot Afraid of the D

emocratic A

lliance Against D

ictator-ship’.

12S

ite of protests in Bangkok.

artists such as Sek S

aksit and Nasu R

apin Putichat and the S

u Su B

and.O

ther popular music perform

ers include rock artists Sip L

or [10 wheels],

Sukanya M

iguel and Rang R

ockestra, and actress Joy Sirilak P

ongchok(lukthung), referred to on the protest stage as N

ang ek khwanjai phantam

it[‘D

arling heroine of the PAD

’].T

he PAD

claims to be w

aging a ‘holy war…

to protect the three insti-tutions of T

hailand, namely the state, the religion, and the m

onarchy’(P

alphol, 2009), so it is not surprising that royal music and patriotic

songs have featured at demonstrations. S

ongs written by K

ing Bhum

ibol,such as the anti-com

munist anthem

‘Rao su’ [‘W

e Fight’], jazz tune

‘Chata chiw

it’ [‘Destiny of L

ife’] and songs in praise of the King have

been especially popular at yellow- and pink-shirt protests. In S

eptem-

ber 2008, an Australian folk singer, K

elly New

ton, performed her ow

nsong ‘L

ong Live the K

ing of Thailand’ on the protest stage at G

overn-m

ent House to rapturous applause. 13 W

ith such emphasis on royal and

elite culture, the yellow shirts consciously differentiate them

selves fromthe w

orking class. A PA

D video accom

panied by a rock version of anold phleng phlukchai, ‘R

ak kan wai thoet’ [‘P

lease Love E

ach Other’]

draws a clear distinction betw

een pro-Thaksin thugs w

ho smoke, drink

and expose themselves, and peaceful, orderly yellow

shirts who par-

ticipate in Central T

hai folk arts and customs. 14 T

he video ends with a

shot of the phrase muea khon thoi pen yai, khon T

hai yorm dueat rorn

[When scum

become big, T

hai people accept trouble]. This strong

demarcation of boundaries of heritage and status is inevitably reflected

in the PAD

’s attitude to working class m

usic. Certainly, both the PA

D’s

demographic and its assum

ed mantle as the protector of the m

onarchyhave led to an expressed preference for elite culture and tradition.

Music of the U

DD

After the P

eople’s Pow

er Party w

as dissolved and the Dem

ocrats came

to power in D

ecember 2008, a proliferation of U

DD

media content in-

cluded a dramatic increase in the use of m

usic. Over the course of 2008,

the UD

D had learned m

uch from the PA

D regarding organization and

use of media technology. L

aunched soon after the Dem

ocrats begangoverning, D

TV

(democracy television) w

as a repackaging of the ear-lier P

TV

(people’s television) that was clearly intended to em

ulate the

13T

his performance can be view

ed at http://ww

w.youtube.com

/watch?v=

QN

vZk-o0zm

A.

14T

he v

ideo

can b

e do

wn

load

ed at h

ttp://cid

-f2b

83

f81

97

4b

40

6c.o

ffice.live.co

m/

self.aspx/boringdaysfiles/media/R

akKanw

aiterd2.wm

v?ccsf=1.

Red and yellow

songs579

578South E

ast Asia R

esearch

Figure 1.

From Truth Today, 4–7 Septem

ber 2009. The w

ords at the back of the stageread: ‘T

he exquisite voice of Paijit – Paijit Aksonnarong’.

Source:U

sed with perm

ission from 2B

angkok.com.

role played by AS

TV

in coordinating the protests against the Sam

akS

undaravej and Som

chai Wongsaw

at governments. T

he channel fol-low

ed the same ‘infotainm

ent’ format and featured such program

mes

as political talkshow K

hwam

-jing wan ni [‘T

ruth Today’] and K

hui kapA

dison [‘Talk w

ith Adison’]. T

he latter was a m

usic variety show hosted

by Adison P

hiangket, who com

posed songs for the CP

T during the years

of the Isan insurgency before embarking on a political career in w

hichhe rose to be M

P for Khon K

aen and a minister in T

haksin’s govern-m

ent.H

owever, perhaps illustrating the difference in dem

ographic, the keym

edium for m

obilizing support for the UD

D w

as radio, rather than tel-evision. A

large network of com

munity radio stations interspersed political

rhetoric with lukthung and m

orlam, the preferred genres of the U

DD

demographic. T

he mixing of political and com

mercial content in such

radio programm

es effectively appropriated these genres to the UD

Dcause. D

emonstrations featured entertainm

ent spots, karaoke singalongsand, occasionally, specially com

posed political songs. VC

Ds and M

P3s

of red-shirts music w

ere distributed at protest sites and through theInternet. A

fter the Songkran 2009 setback, the U

DD

consolidated sup-port throughout T

hailand via a series of fundraising concerts.A

t the time of w

riting, the most popular red-shirt singers include P

aijitA

ksonnarong (see Figure 1), M

uk Methini and P

hloidi (lukthung), Satian

Noi and E

E-S

ompo (m

orlam), P

hithan Songkam

phon (country rock)and O

rm K

haphasadi (kantruem). 15 O

f these, only Paijit has had a con-

siderable comm

ercial career (singing Chinese-flavoured lukthung and

phleng wan for the N

ithithat company). W

hile it is true that some of the

PAD

artists no longer have active careers, there does not appear to havebeen any industry-led censure of those perform

ers who support the yel-

low shirts. T

he same cannot be said of artists w

ho support the red shirts– no currently contracted lukthung or m

olam star has perform

ed at red-shirt rallies – not even 1970s superstar S

ayan Sanya, w

ho was a m

ember

of Thai R

ak Thai. 16 T

he appearance by Gram

my

17 star Takataen C

honlada

15H

ybrid folk-rock genre, sung in Khm

er dialect, found in Isan provinces close toC

ambodia.

16S

ayan, possibly the most fam

ous living lukthung singer, had his 2007 album banned

by the Public R

elations Departm

ent after he made a speech critical of the junta.

Since then he has kept a very low

profile. Of course, this m

ay also have to do with

his questioning the authenticity of fellow legend Y

odrak Salakjai’s term

inal cancer.T

his writer has also heard that 1970s Isan lukthung star D

ao Bandon appeared for

the red shirts, but he does not have a current recording career.17

The dom

inant Thai entertainm

ent company.

Red and yellow

songs581

580South E

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esearch

Figure 2.

Lukthung star Takataen C

honlada at Thaksin’s 60th birthday, 26 July 2010.

Photo by N

ick Nostitz. U

sed with perm

ission.

at Thaksin’s 60

th birthday party (see Figure 2) held at M

angkorn Luang

Restaurant on 26 July 2009 could perhaps qualify as an endorsem

ent,but lukthung stars are often booked for private celebrations. T

he UD

Dleadership itself boasts a form

idable trio of musicians – P

aijit’s hus-band W

isa Khantap (songs for life), a form

er mem

ber of Caravan,

politician Adison P

hiangket (morlam

/country rock) and 1980s popheart-throb A

risman P

hongruangrong (phleng wan). O

ne of the most

popular red-shirt songs since the events of March–M

ay 2010 has beenform

er comm

unist activist Jin Kam

achon’s Nak-su thuli din [‘W

arri-ors of the D

ust’], which valorizes the fallen protesters. 18 P

erhapsinspired by the PA

D’s successful use of satire (see ‘A

i na liam’ in P

art3), there appears to have been a concerted attem

pt to produce low-

brow satirical phleng plaeng in various popular genres by artists such

as Nakara and L

orlian.

18T

his song can be heard at http://ww

w.youtube.com

/watch?v=

Coo0F

TaX

Hf0&

feature=

related.

Part 2

Phleng chiw

it

In his second term as P

rime M

inister from 1948 to 1957, P

hibunsong-khram

was not in the position of ultim

ate power he had experienced

during his first term. A

mong the problem

s he faced were grow

ing chargesof econom

ic discrimination from

North-E

astern politicians, an uneasyalliance w

ith ambitious elem

ents in the armed forces and how

to main-

tain a democratic facade w

hile still hanging on to power. It is not

surprising, therefore, that a range of satirical art forms developed at this

time. F

or example, the novel P

attaya by Dao H

ang satirized the socialengineering policies of P

hibunsongkhram’s governm

ent (Thiraphap,

1998, p 62), while M

alai Chuphinit protested against P

hibunsongkhram’s

simplified T

hai writing system

by halting his famous novel, O

ur Be-

loved Land [P

haen-din khorng rao, 1951] before its conclusion (Ubonrat,

2000, p 13). Malai, in T

he Field of the G

reat [Thung m

aharat, 1954]and S

enee Saow

aphong, in Wanlaya’s L

ove [Khw

am-rak khorng W

anlaya,1951] and G

hosts [Pisat, 1953] abandoned the conventional aristocratic

hero in favour of ordinary protagonists who fought for the underprivi-

leged (Klausner, 2004). A

t a nationwide likay com

petition organizedby R

adio Thailand in 1955, the m

ost popular group, Hom

huan, were

disqualified because they deviated from the approved script in order to

criticize the political situation at the time (U

bonrat, 2000, p 15).T

he earliest incarnations of lukthung, variously known as phleng chiw

it[life songs] or phleng talat [m

arket songs], were renow

ned for theirbiting social criticism

and popularity among the w

orking class. Song-

writers such as S

aengnapa Bunrasri (the first to use phleng plaeng for

protest), 19 Saneh K

omarachun, C

halo Traitrongson and P

aibun Butkhan

decried the exploitation of farmers and extolled the virtues of the com

-m

on man. W

hen Paibun’s K

lin khlone sap khwai [‘M

uddy Odour and

Stinking B

uffalo’] was first broadcast in 1953, it created a sensation,

selling over 5,000 records in one week (W

at, 2003, p 251). It was banned

by Phibunsongkhram

’s government for draw

ing unhelpful comparisons

between rural and urban conditions. T

he most controversial lines w

ere:‘T

he smell of the buffalo is m

ixed with the sm

ell of the young men and

wom

en of the farmers/It’s not upper class like the people of heaven’,

which referred to the residents of B

angkok (Krungthep, the C

ity of

19A

ccording to Phayong M

ukda, the first composers to w

rite phleng plaeng were

Saengnapa B

unrasri and Nakhon M

onklayon (Siriphon, 2004, p 114).

Red and yellow

songs583

582South E

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esearch

Angels). T

he song implied that peasants received no help from

the cen-tral governm

ent and warned listeners not to ‘look dow

n on farmers as if

they are poor things’ (Wat, 2003, p 254).

Saneh Kom

arachun and ‘Samlor khaen’. O

ne of the likay actors re-sponsible for the protest previously m

entioned was the fam

ous songwriter

Saneh K

omarachun. O

ne of the true renaissance men of T

hailand, Saneh

began acting in jam-uat [slapstick dram

a] and likay before periods ofsinging lead and backing vocals for an orchestra, com

posing for thenavy band, dubbing voices for foreign film

s and acting in radio playsand film

. Later, he popularized the horror film

genre when he produced

and directed the iconic comedy M

ae n

ak p

hra

kha

no

ng

[‘Nak of

Phrakhanong’, 1959]. S

aneh seems to have borne a grudge against

Phibunsongkhram

on at least two counts: he had royal blood through

his mother’s line; and, like m

any other musicians, w

as angered by therestrictions placed on phleng T

hai doem during P

hibunsongkhram’s first

regime.

During his period of singing life songs, his signature perform

ancew

as a medley called S

up

ha

pb

uru

t pa

k Kh

lon

gsa

n [‘Gentlem

an ofK

hlongsan Asylum

’]. Wearing a w

aistcoat and shirt, with burning in-

cense sticks inserted in a coloured bandana and sometim

es holding aportrait of P

hibunsongkhram, he w

ould begin by praising nature with

his popular Navy B

and song Ngam

chai-hat [‘Beautiful B

each’], thenpass through phleng choi, lam

tat and ho before finishing with P

hlengsansoen phra baram

i [‘Praise to H

is Majesty’]. A

t the end, he would

sing Tut dawai chai chayo [‘P

raise the Victory’] and then tell the audi-

ence he was a gentlem

an from the m

ental asylum. W

itnesses say thatthe perform

ance was so m

anic and hilarious that even politicians iden-tified by nam

e would not take offence (see S

iriphon, 2004, p 119; andT

hiraphap, 1998, p 61).A

rguably, Saneh’s m

ost influential song was Sam

lo khaen [‘The R

e-sentful P

edicab Driver’], w

ritten in 1950 to express the frustration ofpedicab drivers w

ho were threatened w

ith expulsion from the streets of

Bangkok (S

iriphon, 2004, p 119). Through its use by these drivers dur-

ing a campaign of protest stretching from

1950 to 1960, Samlo khaen

became linked to em

erging Isan regional identity. In a contemporary

ethnography of the pedicab drivers, Textor recorded that the m

ajorityof drivers cam

e from Isan and that ‘the degree of interest in parliam

en-tary politics [am

ong them] is probably greater than that found am

ongother w

orking people, in Bangkok or elsew

here in Thailand’ (T

extor,1961, p 44).

Other fam

ous songs by Saneh included P

hu-taen khwai (‘B

uffaloR

epresentatives’), which criticized politicians, and ‘P

olice thue krapong’w

hich compared the new

ly adopted police truncheons to kitchen pes-tles. T

he latter spelled the end of his career in life songs because thenotorious head of P

hibunsongkhram’s secret police, P

ao Sriyanon, is-

sued Saneh w

ith an ultimatum

to cease singing or cease living. Saneh

chose life and took on the role of spokesperson during Phibunsong-

khram’s next election cam

paign (Wat, 2009, p 7).

Despite its com

poser’s pragmatic decision, the cultural m

emory of

‘Samlor khaen’ has persisted until the present. T

his author first became

aware of the song through a link from

a red-shirt website and the lyrics

have been posted on red-shirt forums. T

oday’s equivalent of the samlor

drivers is the Isan-dominated pro-T

haksin Taxi D

rivers Protection A

s-sociation [Sam

akhom phithak phon-prayote phu-khap-rot taxi] led by

red-shirt leader Chinaw

at Habunphad. S

imilarly, the involvem

ent ofprofessional m

embers of the B

angkok entertainment industry on the

side of the PAD

evokes the mem

ory of Saneh and other phleng chiw

itcom

posers. Indeed, the atmosphere of P

hibunsongkhram’s second re-

gime bears som

e similarities to T

haksin’s final term. B

oth governments

attempted to w

in support via populist measures; both m

ade use of mass

comm

unications; and, while each w

as criticized for attempting to cen-

sor opposition, both periods were m

arked by an outpouring of satiricalprotest m

usic.

Phleng pheua chiw

it and lukthung during the Isan insurgency,1976–82In 1973, m

assive demonstrations by students led to the overthrow

ofthe m

ilitary regime of T

hanom K

ittikhajorn and Praphat Jarusathien.

One significant elem

ent of the student protests was phleng phuea chiw

it,a song genre clearly influenced by the protest m

usic of performers such

as Bob D

ylan, Joan Baez, Joni M

itchell and Pete S

eeger. Finger-picked

acoustic guitar was the m

ain accompanim

ent for traditional- soundingpentatonic m

inor melodies. A

lthough the influence of Am

erican folkw

as paramount, the perform

ers also drew from

Isan melodies, com

-pletely eschew

ing the Central T

hai folk genres such as lae, lamtat and

isaeo, which figured prom

inently in lukthung. The A

rt for Life [sinlapa

phuea chiwit] ideology of the T

hai comm

unist writer Jit P

humisak can

be observed in the students’ choice of music. Jit differentiated betw

eenart for im

perialism, w

hich imposed vulgar popular culture on the m

asses,and art for the people, w

hich protested injustice and offered solutions

Red and yellow

songs585

584South E

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esearch

for society’s problems. 20 In the early 1970s, lukthung appeared to fit

Jit’s description of art for imperialism

. It had developed from phleng

Thai sakon, a product of P

hibunsongkram’s era of social engineering,

and had recently produced Thailand’s first popular m

usic superstars inS

uraphon Som

batjaroen and Phongsri W

oranut. By 1973, the travelling

bands of artists such as Sayan S

anya and Saksayam

Phetchom

phu fea-tured troupes of dancing girls, am

plified instruments and huge sound

and lighting systems. T

he students of Bangkok’s elite universities clearly

did not see lukthung as a form of m

usic useful for protest (see Lockard,

1998, p 191; and Vater, 2003). 21

Follow

ing the 1973 October revolution, m

any urban Thai students

from the upper and m

iddle classes were com

mitted to political change.

The 6 O

ctober massacre of students at T

hamm

asat University in 1976

forced many student activists and ‘songs for life’ m

usicians to flee toL

aos and the North-E

astern region of Thailand, w

here they found ref-uge w

ith the CP

T. S

ince they were unsuited to the hardship of life in the

forests, the students were organized into team

s and assigned to the Isanvillages under com

munist control. T

heir duties included the creationand dissem

ination of propaganda via pamphlets, radio and tape cas-

sette (see Wat, 2003, pp 396–424). T

his created a situation in theN

orth-East w

hereby the majority of the foot soldiers w

ere Isan peas-ants, but the propaganda units w

ere made up of B

angkok students directedby the C

PT

leadership influenced by China. It is not surprising that a

cultural disjunction developed between these three groups, a disjunc-

tion that has had important im

plications for the present political struggle.

Com

munist lukthung.

Because phleng phuea chiw

it has become insti-

tutionalized as the Thai protest genre, it is often assum

ed that theC

omm

unist Party of T

hailand (CP

T) only used songs for life. H

owever,

publications by Waeng P

halangwan (2002) and W

at Wanlayangkul (2003)

reveal that, despite the CP

T leaders’ preference for C

hinese-style marches

and the student activists’ preference for phleng phuea chiwit, the m

ostpopular genre am

ong the rank-and-file insurgents was lukthung.

The experiences of A

dison Phiangket and W

isa Khantap vividly

illustrate this cultural divide. As an undergraduate A

dison used to playthe khaen [bam

boo mouth organ] onstage w

ith Caravan at T

hamm

asat

20S

ee Myers-M

oro (1986, p 99).21

According to N

ga Surachai from

Caravan: ‘“W

hen I was young I listened to L

ukT

hung”, but I was looking for som

ething else. We w

anted to shout at the govern-m

ent. “Luk T

hung” lyrics did not deal with serious issues.’ (V

ater, 2003)

University (W

at, 2003, p 423), but after the 1976 massacre, he and C

ara-van m

ember W

isa (a Ram

kamhaeng U

niversity student) fled to the forestw

here they were placed w

ith Propaganda U

nit A30. T

heir first attempt

at writing com

munist propaganda had a m

elody pieced together fromthree T

ha

i do

em songs, and their first broadcast com

position was

Ram

wong neung thanw

a [‘1 Decem

ber Circle D

ance’], which w

as ac-com

panied by guitar and piano accordion (Wat, 2003, p 397). T

heyrecall that they w

ere then encouraged to write in C

hinese style, as in thesong Jet singha su bon thang puen [‘7 A

ugust Fight on the R

oad of theG

un’], which used a m

elody written by a m

ember of the C

hinese prole-tariat nam

ed Chot W

ongchon and was accom

panied by khim

22 [adulcim

er] played to sound like a piano (Wat, 2003, p 404).

Adison soon realized that the best w

ay to inspire Isan insurgents was

to use morlam

and lukthung. He had w

ritten lukthung songs with al-

tered lyrics before entering the forest, and decided to compose a phleng

plaeng using Suraphon S

ombatjaroen’s R

ueang khorng faen phleng [‘AT

ale of Music F

ans’]. 23 He changed the fam

ous lyrics of the chorus,F

ang, fang, fang, siang phleng roem dang ik laew

… Suraphon m

a laew[‘L

isten, listen, listen, the loud sound of song has begun again… S

uraphonhas com

e’] to Pang, pang, pang siang puen dang 7 Singha/pluk m

ueanpracha/luk kuen m

a jap puen’ [‘Bang, bang, bang, the loud sound of

guns on 7 August/stir up the people/stand up and take a gun’] (W

at,2003, p 405).

Waeng records that there w

ere many other Isan insurgents w

ho putcom

munist lyrics to w

ell known lukthung songs sung by popular sing-

ers such as Sarika K

ingthorng and Yortrak S

alakjai. The m

ost prolificcom

munist songw

riter was P

hloeng Nalak, a forest guerrilla w

ho wrote

more than 200 songs criticizing the governm

ent with such lines as ‘T

hegovernm

ent’s power com

es from the barrel of a gun’ (W

aeng, 2002, p495). S

ornchai Mekw

ichian’s popular song Khon ngam

luem ngai

[‘Beautiful G

irls Soon F

orget’] was changed to Tuen thoet chao na

Thai [‘A

wake T

hai Farm

ers’] (Waeng, 2002, p 500). Y

utachak Charali,

of 156 Com

pany, used the slow and sad m

elody of Faen ja yu nai

[‘Where A

re You D

arling?’] by Saengsuri R

ungrot for his song Pa chan

[‘Sheer C

liff’], which celebrated the exploits of his com

pany againstthe T

hai soldiers:

22T

he khim w

as introduced to Thailand in the late 1800s by C

hinese imm

igrants livingin the Y

aowarat C

hinatown district of B

angkok.23

Actually, A

dison incorrectly remem

bers the original title as ‘Suraphon m

a laewo’

[Suraphon H

as Com

e], which is a com

pletely different Suraphon song.

Red and yellow

songs587

586South E

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esearch

‘This sheer cliff has a story

It is a story about arresting thieves who cam

e to make trouble

The enem

y came to the cliff like a crazy m

anT

hey wanted to kill people on the cliff

The sound of the gun never disappeared…

pity the people who are

slavesT

he master uses the slaves but never sees the truth

The sheer cliff bit the enem

y and they rolled down like m

onkeys.’(W

aeng, 2002, p 501)

Yutachak sees the T

hai government soldiers as invaders of peaceful

comm

unities and portrays the guerillas as enforcing the law – a com

-plete inversion of the establishm

ent history.Ironically the com

munist lukthung songs w

ere banned, not only bythe governm

ent, but by the senior mem

bers of the CP

T, w

ho decreedthat only C

hinese songs were to be sung (W

aeng, 2002, p 505). The

lukthung songs were thought to be too com

mercial and the cha-cha rhythm

unsuitable for marching (W

aeng, 2002, p 495). Nevertheless, W

aengreports that m

any of the insurgents defied orders not to listen to ‘enemy

radio’ so that they could keep up to date with the latest songs (2002, p

500). Lukthung w

as used both to boost morale and to m

ourn. Writer

Khaen S

arika asserts that the insurgents were m

ore motivated w

henthey listened to lukthung:

‘When the young people at B

an Suankhorp sang “F

rom the R

icefield”in the style of ram

wong or lukthung (w

ith lyrics like “Get him

to cutoff his head/R

eceive the karma that he’s m

ade”) and you heard what

they were singing it m

ade you feel more courageous than the m

arch-ing songs.’ (W

at, 2003, p 459)

Khaen also recalls that his tim

e in the insurgency began with the song

Ram

wong su rop [‘F

ighting ramw

ong’], ‘From

the ricefields we w

illsay goodbye to our parents/ G

o far away to the jungle w

ith hatred in ourhearts’, and ended w

ith the song Yu kap khwam

-phit-wang [‘L

iving With

Disappointm

ent’] by Sayan S

anya, ‘to leave and never go back to yourhom

etown’. H

e remem

bers his friend ‘sitting and humm

ing the famous

song by Phi B

ao (Sayan’s nicknam

e) on the sad day when the fem

alefighters of the artists’ unit N

o 32 surrendered to the authorities’ (Wat,

2003, pp 457–458).T

he tragedy of the 6 October m

assacre at Tham

masat U

niversity in

1976 had seemed to create a clim

ate for full-scale rebellion, but theensuing period w

as in fact an Indian summ

er for the CP

T. T

he wider

Thai population, including Isan, did not w

ant to abandon the King or

the Buddhist socio-cultural order for an alien social structure (M

arks,1994, p 193). E

vents in China, L

aos and Vietnam

combined w

ith localfactors, such as governm

ent amnesties and investm

ent, strangled theinsurgency, w

hich was effectively over by 1982 (M

arks, 1994, p 204).E

nsconced as the official Thai protest genre, phleng phuea chiw

it was

absorbed into the Thai popular m

usic industry, and the use of lukthungplaeng by the insurgents w

as forgotten.O

ver the past 30 years, ideological lines have become increasingly

entangled. Since the end of the insurgency, m

any on the Thai L

eft havebecom

e ardent royalist nationalists (Thongchai, 2008b, p 575), w

hileS

amak S

undaravej, adjudged to be one of those most responsible for

inciting the 1976 Tham

masat m

assacre, joined forces with T

haksin andended up serving as P

rime M

inister. An exam

ination of the key per-sonalities involved in the present conflict reveals that on the side ofthe PA

D, P

ipop Thongchai, T

herdpoum C

haidee, Nga C

aravan andpolitician P

oldet Pinprateep w

ere involved with the C

PT

insurgency,as w

ere UD

D leaders W

eng Tojirakarn, T

hida Thaw

ornset, JaranD

ittapichai, S

uthachai Y

imprasert,

Adison

Phiangket

and W

isaK

hantap.T

his confusion of ideology has been reflected in the strange juxtapo-sition of ultranationalist anthem

s such as Nak phaen-din [‘T

he Scum

ofthe E

arth’] and leftist songs such as ‘The Internationale’ together on the

PAD

stage (Thongchai, 2008a, p 5). H

owever, perhaps even m

ore star-tling than the return of the right-w

ing nationalist anthems of the 1970s

is the PAD

’s preference for phleng phuea chiwit and the overall prefer-

ence of phuea chiwit artists for the PA

D. W

hile covering the PAD

ralliesof 2006, C

lewley (2007, p 43) w

rote, ‘the one songs-for-lifer not seenat all – A

d Carabao – said he w

as too busy to make it, but it is m

orelikely that his being co-opted to m

any Thaksin governm

ent projectshad com

promised his position’. T

he irony here is that these populistgovernm

ent projects are perceived by many w

orking class Thais to be

the fulfilment of w

hat the original generation of phuea chiwit m

usi-cians called (and fought) for. T

o many red shirts, the idea of N

ga Caravan

campaigning to bring dow

n a democratically elected populist govern-

ment is incom

prehensible. Chuw

at Rerksirisuk, editor of the independent

(and anti-PAD

) news w

ebsite Prachatai, referred to songs for life w

henhe drew

a satirical distinction between the yellow

and red shirts:

Red and yellow

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588South E

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esearch

‘There w

ould not be any life music or protest songs from

the intellec-tual bands for you to listen [sic], since there w

ill only be countrym

usic songs and easy understanding sentences from those giving the

speech on the stage.’ (Chuw

at, 2007).

Chuw

at clearly believes there has been a shift in the position and func-tion of phleng phuea chiw

it in Thai society and that the aspirations of

the Thai w

orking class are now represented by lukthung.

Part 3

These tw

o historical episodes provide the context for an understandingof the m

usical choices of the present conflict. The next section exam

-ines som

e of the songs and artists of the PAD

and UD

D in m

ore detail.T

he social satire of phleng chiwit echoes through the satirical songs of

the PAD

and UD

D, and the spirit of songw

riters such as Saneh

Kom

arachun can be seen in the involvement in the conflict of profes-

sional songwriters such as W

ichaya ‘Nong’ V

atanasapt. The role of

lukthung and phleng plaeng during the struggle of the CP

T helps to

explain the use of these genres by the red and yellow shirts and illum

i-nates the m

usical preferences of each side.

Satirical songs of the PAD

and UD

D

‘Ai na liam

’.T

he involvement of m

any professional songwriters in the

PAD

movem

ent has resulted in a regular flow of original, profession-

ally recorded satirical songs. ‘Ai na liam

’ [‘Mr S

quare Face’], w

hichappeared in M

arch 2006, has been arguably the most influential protest

song produced by either side. 24 It was instrum

ental in mobilizing sup-

port against Thaksin’s governm

ent, which w

as so frustrated by the song’srapid distribution through the Internet that it asked the songw

riters toidentify them

selves so they could be arrested (Clew

ley, 2007, p 43).T

he lyrics exhaustively catalogue Thaksin’s faults before lam

pooningin turn everyone associated w

ith him. T

he music is a blend of funk and

rap with a chorus typical of the C

entral Thai folk genre lam

tat. This use

of one of the building blocks of lukthung can be interpreted as an at-tem

pt to widen the appeal of the PA

D’s m

essage beyond Bangkok.

24S

ee the video at http://ww

w.youtube.com

/watch?v=

sLG

TopD

8UH

4. An E

nglish trans-lation of the lyrics can be view

ed at http://ww

w.2bangkok.com

/06/ squarefacesong.shtm

l.

How

ever, the choice of lamtat over m

orlam or kantruem

confirms a

pattern of struggle for cultural supremacy discussed by this author in a

previous article (Mitchell, 2009, pp 306–309). T

he increasingly domi-

nant identification of lukthung with Isan culture by both T

hais andnon-T

hais is perceived in elite circles as a threat to Central T

hai cul-tural hegem

ony. The A

sia Pacific D

atabase on Intangible Heritage for

UN

ES

CO

identifies lamtat as C

entral and morlam

as North-E

astern Thai

culture (UN

ES

CO

, 2007). Thus, for the PA

D, lam

tat is a pure folk genrethat confirm

s Central T

hai hegemony.

The P

hotosticker Machine.

One artist w

ho demonstrates both the close

links between the PA

D and the entertainm

ent industry and the eclecticm

usical preferences of some w

ithin the PAD

constituency is Wichaya

‘Nong’ V

atanasapt, a mem

ber of legendary Thai ska band T-B

one. Wichaya

writes sound tracks for com

mercial T

hai films and is also a freelance

producer, working on a regular basis for the entertainm

ent giant Gram

my.

He describes his solo vehicle, T

he Photosticker M

achine, as lounge roomjazz electronica, usually produced for a lim

ited circle of industry insidersand friends (interview

with the author, 15 January 2009).

In 2005. Wichaya w

rote and recorded a song to support the PAD

’sprotest m

ovement against then P

rime M

inister Thaksin. ‘C

orruption’ isan extrem

ely hard-hitting piece of social comm

entary that could be aboutT

hai society in general, although the song’s subtitle ‘FT

A (F

ucking “TS

”A

gency)’ made it clear w

ho was being targeted. W

ichaya says that therecording of ‘C

orruption’ was a cathartic process that allow

ed him to

express the anger he felt at Thaksin’s betrayal of T

hailand’s three insti-tutions (interview

with the author, 15 January 2009). T

he first verseaddresses the greed of politicians:

‘Day after day you think, think w

hat law can m

ake return on yourm

oneyIf you cannot find it then you w

rite your own law

to fill yourpockets.’

25

The second verse contrasts this greed w

ith the faithfulness of a dog:

‘You’ll never know

the land’s goodness, which you can w

ork untilyou are satisfied and happy

25T

he song’s lyrics are in Thai, apart from

the title. All translations are the author’s

own.

Red and yellow

songs591

590South E

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esearch

Even dogs know

the goodness of the people, poor or rich, neverproud, faithful to their ow

nerIf anybody doesn’t know

, think for yourself, no ethics, get the dogto teach you.’

The com

parison to a dog is an obvious insult, yet this verse also in-vokes both the royal self-sufficiency program

me and the K

ing’s bookabout his favourite dog, T

horng Daeng. 26 T

he final part of the song is arapped curse that calls on ‘sacred spirits anyw

here in the universe’ togive suffering to this thief: ‘S

tay around, pay your karma, in the prison

of the dark place/Forever the fire of hell burning you.’

The song is an im

peccably assembled piece of social criticism

in which

the musical elem

ents have been consciously chosen to reinforce thecom

poser’s message. F

or example, the spoken curse is echoed by w

ah-w

ah guitar stabs, which, the com

poser explains, were supposed to sound

like the Thai w

ord yet mae [‘m

otherfucker’]. How

ever, the eclectic,cosm

opolitan nature of the musical elem

ents serves to narrow the song’s

appeal and thus its influence. The opening L

ed Zeppelin-like riff is then

meshed w

ith reggae rhythm guitar and record scratching. T

he vocalm

elody, sung in a Western style, descends from

the minor 7th through

the notes of the major scale. A

heavy blues guitar solo precedes a rapbreak, rem

iniscent of the Beastie B

oys, with psychedelic falsetto back-

up vocals. Musically, the song is a pastiche of W

estern styles – styles,m

oreover, that would be fam

iliar only to Thais w

ho had received aW

estern education or travelled extensively.

Nakara.

Unlike the PA

D, the red shirts have alm

ost exclusively usedfam

ous songs as their vehicles for satire. These phleng plaeng are gen-

erally poorly recorded and tend to be more hum

orous and lowbrow

thantheir PA

D equivalents. F

or example, N

akara’s ‘Mi na hak’ is an altered

version of ‘Fam

ily mi phaenda’ [‘P

anda Fam

ily’] sung by Nong B

enzJr that questions A

bhisit’s achievements as P

rime M

inister. The origi-

nal song was a surprise independent dance hit featuring a cute T

hai girlsinging about the cute pandas on loan from

China to C

hiangmai Z

oo.N

akara’s version changes the title to ‘Mi na hak’ (‘V

omit B

ear’, butsounds like ‘C

ute Bear’ in Isan dialect) in order to suggest that A

bhisit

26In 1998, K

ing Bhum

ibol adopted a stray dog and in 2002 wrote a book about her,

which stressed how

respectful and well behaved she w

as, despite coming from

alow

ly background.

is just a pretty face and that in reality his achievements have all been

insubstantial publicity stunts.V

erse one describes the competition to find a nam

e for the baby panda:‘A

sk the villagers, they answer straight aw

ay that this panda’s name is

Na H

ak’. The second and third verses are concerned w

ith two cases that

dominated the general interest new

s during May and S

eptember 2009:

Keiko S

ato, an abandoned Thai boy w

ho was looking for his Japanese

father; 27 and Mong, a stateless B

urmese-S

han boy, who w

as eventuallygiven a tem

porary passport so that he could take part in a paper aero-plane com

petition in Japan. 28 The fourth verse criticizes the cost of

security for Abhisit’s visit to the N

orth-Eastern city of U

bon Ratchathani

to deliver a cheque to Yai H

ai, an elderly Isan wom

an who w

as owed

compensation from

the government: ‘G

ave it only to one person, You

don’t care about other people, Then you fly aw

ay in a helicopter, Not

brave if compared to the cute panda’. 29 P

lays on words abound: M

anjop O

xford rue ork lek wa [D

id he graduate from O

xford or as a welder?].

For the m

ost part, the tone is good-humoured and dow

n to earth, but inthe last verse the song descends into pure vitriol: ‘D

on’t you know that

they hate you like shit?/If you are so stupid go take care of buffalos.’ As

with the m

ajority of red-shirts video clips, the production quality islow

, featuring poorly ‘Photoshopped’ pictures of A

bhisit dressed as apanda.

‘Khw

ai Daeng’.

Directly after the m

ilitary crushed the red-shirt pro-tests on 19 M

ay 2010, there was an outpouring of anti-red-shirt invective

on social networking W

eb pages such as Facebook and the video-shar-

ing website YouTube. T

he professionally produced rap song ‘Khw

aiD

aeng’ – translated by the songwriter as ‘R

ed Shit’ – is fairly repre-

sentative of the sentiments expressed during those days. 30 T

he first verseaccuses ordinary red-shirt supporters of being gullible, stupid and greedy:

‘You dum

b water buffaloes, how

much did they pay you per day

You rushed to take it, to adm

it that you are low peasants.’

Class difference is a key concern of the song – the rural red shirts w

hofollow

Thaksin are referred to as bia rap chai [slaves]. T

he second verse

27S

ee, for example, http://search.japantim

es.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20090518a6.html.

28S

ee, for example, http://w

ww

.telegraph.co.uk/news/w

orldnews/asia/thailand/6212585/

Stateless-boy-allow

ed-to-leave-Thailand-for-paper-aeroplane-contest.htm

l.29

See http://w

ww

.nationmultim

edia.com/2009/10/13/politics/politics_30114293.php.

30T

his song can be heard at http://ww

w.youtube.com

/watch?v=

rrfb0NyN

ddg.

Red and yellow

songs593

592South E

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esearch

gloats over the death of Seh D

aeng – ‘You w

eren’t able to show off for

long, you took a bullet in the head’ – while the third and fourth verses

are devoted to red-shirt leaders Nattaw

ut Saikua and Jatuporn P

rompan.

The fifth verse is of particular interest to this article because it addresses

Arism

an:

‘Kee [A

risman’s nicknam

e] is another one, you were not brave

enoughF

ather Liam

[Thaksin] gave you a m

illion per day, you said ‘yes…I’m

brave enough’…K

ee you are the vilest scum, you lolly-sucking dog.’

The songw

riter’s knowledge of his subjects is im

pressive – he plays onthe title of one of A

risman’s biggest hits, ‘Jai m

ai dan por’ [‘Not B

raveE

nough’] and alludes to the popular story that Arism

an’s singing voicew

as so sweet because he constantly sucked (H

alls) lozenges.W

hen it comes to T

haksin, however, the songw

riter is overcome by

rage, alternating accusations with chants of ‘S

at Maeo, hia M

aeo’. 31

Thaksin’s alleged crim

es include attacks on the monarchy, a desire to

be President, paym

ents made to phrai [serfs], the bribing of T

hailand’sgovernm

ent assembly, and living in com

fort while his follow

ers arekilled on the streets. In the final section, the singer curses T

haksin (‘may

you have cancer in your testicles’) and urges the red shirts to ‘move to

Montenegro’, one of several countries in w

hich Thaksin found refuge

and of which he holds citizenship.

Lukthung

Although L

ockard (1998, pp 190–191) concludes that lukthung is gen-erally unsuitable for protest, he follow

s Ubonrat in acknow

ledging thatit both affirm

s establishment view

s and challenges the institutions ofsocio-political pow

er. It is ostensibly a simple m

atter to classify thevarious m

usical and cultural elements that m

ake up lukth

un

g ashegem

onic or counter-hegemonic. In term

s of hegemonic elem

ents, thereare m

any lukthung songs that praise the institutions of king, countryand religion or glorify the m

ilitary. Up-tem

po lukthung songs and con-certs are unifying sites of com

munity celebration that affirm

the Thai

tradition of collective sanuk [fun]. The com

mercialism

and extravagantperform

ance style of lukthung qualifies it as bourgeois culture, as was

31M

aeo is Thaksin’s nicknam

e. Sat means anim

al, but could be translated as bastard.H

ia means lizard, but can be translated as a range of insults: for exam

ple, asshole.

shown by the C

PT

leadership’s reaction to the ‘comm

unist lukthung’songs. F

inally, Am

porn (2006) has shown that lukthung has been in-

creasingly viewed as authentic T

hai culture since 1997, and this authorhas w

ritten on the appropriation of lukthung as a symbol of C

entralT

hai superiority (Mitchell, 2009, pp 306–309).

In terms of counter-hegem

onic elements, m

any songs deal with them

esof separation and m

ourning and the social dislocation resulting fromeconom

ic migration. U

bonrat (1990, p 71) shows that lukthung often

presents a more frank discussion of sexual m

atters than the establish-m

ent would like. In com

mercial lukthung, indirect social criticism

iscom

mon and direct satire, though rare, does occur. C

lass difference iscom

municated through the m

usic – the vocal styles of lukthung singersusually m

ake use of rural accents and the vibrato [luk khor] and embel-

lishment [uean] found in folk songs. A

lthough it may seem

to contradictthe final points of the previous paragraph, lukthung is often consideredby m

any Thais as part of Isan identity, due to the high degree of Isan

involvement in the industry.

How

ever, as intimated in the introduction, any assessm

ent of music

according to theories of hegemony versus counter-hegem

ony is prob-lem

atic because

musical

elements

are am

biguous and

can act

simultaneously for and against the dom

inant culture. The situation in

terms of this present conflict is further com

plicated by the changes ingovernm

ent that have taken place during the period in question. For

example, w

hile Thaksin S

hinawatra, S

amak S

undaravej or Som

chaiW

ongsawat w

ere in power, the PA

D could be reasonably designated as

counter-hegemonic, but under G

eneral Sondhi’s regim

e and Abhisit’s

government, the PA

D becam

e part of the hegemony. F

or these reasons,classifying the use of lukthung during this struggle as hegem

onic orcounter-hegem

onic is not overly helpful. How

ever, it is certainly possi-ble to observe w

hich musical elem

ents and cultural mem

ories are tappedinto by each side and then draw

conclusions as to the success of suchuse and som

e of the implications raised by each side’s choices of m

usic.

The red shirts’ use of lukthung.

The current Isan cultural resurgence

32

and the dominance of Isan people in the U

DD

have ensured that lukthungand m

orlam have been the m

ost performed genres on the red-shirt pro-

test stages. Kantruem

, Northern lanna folk m

usic, Central T

hai folk

32S

ee Miller (2005), ‘F

rom country hick to rural hip: a new

identity through music for

Northeast T

hailand’, Asian M

usic, Vol 36, N

o 2; also Kreangsak (2005), ‘C

rackingup the egg em

peror’, The N

ation, Bangkok.

Red and yellow

songs595

594South E

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esearch

music and rock/songs for life are also featured, but far less frequently.

The problem

with regional genres such as m

orlam or kantruem

when

performed for televised protests, or those held in B

angkok, is that thelyrics are inaccessible to a certain proportion of the audience. T

his isone of the strengths of lukthung – the use of C

entral Thai language

mixed w

ith certain words of class and ethnic identification, such as bor

(Isan and Northern T

hai or khamm

ueang dialect for ‘no’) appeals to thelargest possible audience.

Despite the gaudiness of its com

mercial concert presentation, m

usi-cally speaking, lu

kthu

ng is suited to certain counter-hegem

oniccircum

stances. Slow

and melancholy songs function effectively as la-

ments for loved ones lost through death or separation. T

he theme of

longing and separation taps into cultural mem

ories such as the unful-filled political objectives of the C

PT

insurgents, 50 years of seasonalm

igration to Bangkok and alm

ost 200 years of separation from L

aopeople on the northern bank of the M

ekong. Reaching further into the

past, lukthung echoes the subject matter of the ancient S

iamese travel

literature genre nirat [literally: separation, departing from som

ethingthat is dearly desired]. T

he definition of nirat as a poetic expression oflove-separation m

elancholy with a journey in the background aptly de-

scribes the lamentation found in m

any lukthung songs. As T

hongchaiW

inichakul (2000, p 42) observes, until the second half of the nine-teenth century, travel w

as not a desirable activity and pleasure was not

its primary purpose. F

or the Thai w

orking class, this is still the case andso lukthung songs are full of accounts of loss and forced separation.

Whenever these channels to the past are accessed, a deep em

otionalinvestm

ent is created. In an interview w

ith the BB

C, K

wanchai P

raipana,w

ho leads the Rak U

don group (a red-shirt chapter from U

don Thani in

the heart of Isan), described himself as ‘lukthung’ in the literal sense

that he is a ‘child of the field’ (or a country boy). As a D

J and long-time

friend of the legendary singer Sayan S

anya, this description is not acci-dental. K

wanchai states that he used to care only about m

usic, but thatthe degree of political participation m

ade possible by Thaksin’s gov-

ernment inspired him

to become involved w

ith the red-shirt movem

ent(A

sh, 2009). Thus lukthung has becom

e a political statement and a ral-

lying point.

Muk M

ethini.A

case study of the songs of Muk M

ethini demonstrates

that lukthung has been used by the red shirts to lament, praise and cel-

ebrate. Muk, w

ho had a minor singing career before becom

ing the face

of UD

D entertainm

ent, is one of the most polished red-shirt perform

-ers. R

ueang sao muea chao ni [‘S

ad Story F

rom T

his Morning’] is a

lament for N

arongsak Krobthaisong w

ho died during a clash between

PAD

and government supporters in S

eptember 2008. T

he singer adoptsthe persona of the dead m

an’s wife, w

ho learns of his passing on them

orning news:

‘Sad story one m

orningA

lways rem

ember and never forget

Never have the w

ords to say goodbyeT

here’s no young man to com

e back home again.’

Narongsak is not m

entioned by name; rather, his story is that of all Isan

migrants:

‘You said before you left hom

eY

ou said you wouldn’t be gone for long

You w

ent looking for work in the big city.’

In the chorus, which proclaim

s ‘You died for all of T

hailand/Great de-

mocracy/Joined the protest until death’, the singer’s individual loss is

linked to the wider political struggle.

Another com

mon use of lam

ent by the red shirts is to mourn the ab-

sence of Thaksin. K

hon di thi na neung [‘Top-R

ate Person’] is a hym

nof praise to T

haksin that lauds his efforts to help the poor:

‘At the tim

e you were here you took care and had m

ercyF

or those with no place to sleep, the answ

er to their desires lay inB

an Uea A

thorn33

Many projects this T

haksin didG

ot rid of Thailand’s debt, he w

as vilified so had to flee into exile.’

The perceived usurping by T

haksin of the King’s place in society has

been one of the key drivers behind the yellow-shirt m

ovement. C

onsid-ering that lukthung songs of this kind are usually w

ritten to praise theK

ing, Thaksin is here seen to be taking the place of the K

ing in provid-ing care for T

hailand’s most needy. T

he following excerpt from

thechorus m

akes this point explicitly:

33C

heap housing development in K

hon Kaen.

Red and yellow

songs597

596South E

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esearch

Figure 3.

Red shirt hang khrueang (dance revue).

Photo by N

ick Nostitz. U

sed with perm

ission.

‘Since the day you left the villagers have been w

aiting intenselyF

or you to come back to heal the poor.’

Many up-tem

po comm

ercial lukthung songs, which are otherw

ise cel-ebratory, assum

e a background of separation forced by economic

migration. A

t red-shirt rallies, Muk often sings Sao U

don jam-dai [‘T

heG

irl from U

don Rem

embers’], a slightly altered version of Sao U

donjai dam

[‘The H

ard-Hearted G

irl from U

don’], which, ironically, w

asoriginally sung by S

otsai Rum

potorng, who is now

a junior minister in

the Abhisit D

emocrat governm

ent. Sao Udon jam

-dai has the simple

premise of an Isan girl declaring that she w

ill definitely return to hercountry boyfriend after she finishes w

orking in Bangkok. S

eparation isan established part of everyday life for Isan fam

ilies, and the theme of

waiting and enduring through prolonged absence can be easily applied

to the political climate of D

ecember 2008 to June 2011, during w

hichm

any red shirts felt disenfranchised and abandoned by Thailand’s elite.

As w

ith blues, lukthung is able to fulfil the seemingly contradictory

functions of lament and celebration. In R

am

wo

ng

pra

cha

thip

ad

ai

[‘Dem

ocracy ramw

ong’], Muk adopts the role of entertainer by address-

ing the protesters as an audience: ‘you are the players I will be the

singer’. She seeks to include speakers of all dialects by calling C

han jaho la na (C

entral), Chan ja ho la noe (N

orthern), Chan ja ho la w

a(S

outhern), Ao chan ja ho la w

oei (Isan) [I will sing ‘ho’]. T

hroughoutthis upbeat lukthung song, M

uk is accompanied by the custom

ary danc-ing revue costum

ed in red. It is significant that the comm

ercial elements

of lukthung (such as elaborate costumes and dancing girls) identified

by Lockard (see section on lukthung at the beginning of the paper) as

discouraging to overt protest musicians have actually been em

bracedby red-shirt perform

ers (see Figure 3).

Num

na khao, sao na kluea.T

he collective meaning and m

emory em

-bodied in lukthung are aptly dem

onstrated by a red-shirts version ofN

um na khao, sao na kluea [‘T

he Rice F

arm B

oy and the Salt F

armG

irl’]. This fam

ous duet was perhaps the m

ost popular song of 1982and earned its w

riter, Soraphet P

hinyo, a Phaen siang thorng kham

[lit-erally, ‘gold record’], 34 a highly prized honour from

the royal family. In

1989, Num

na khao was listed in the top 50 lukthung songs of all tim

eby the O

ffice of National C

ulture. Its enduring popularity among karaoke

singers has inspired any number of phleng plaeng, such as an am

usingversion in w

hich the male and fem

ale singers declare their love for al-cohol of all kinds. 35 M

usical elements of the song have becom

e ingrainedin the public consciousness. T

he introduction’s rhythm and cha-cha-

cha cadence are so well know

n that Thais inevitably begin the opening

lyrics at exactly the right spot – no easy task with a syncopated anacrusis.

A key factor in the original’s appeal is the ubiquitous nature of the

characters – the peasant boy and girl are hard-working urban m

igrantsdraw

n together by their humble origins. T

he girl is identified as ‘Yupin’,

a traditional peasant name that can also be used to refer to any w

oman

whose nam

e is unknown. A

second factor is that lukthung provides thecom

fort of tradition to those who are m

ost confronted by the alienationof cosm

opolitan life (see Am

porn, 2006, pp 40–41). Although tem

ptedby their independence, the characters choose to conform

to societalexpectations by seeking parental blessings on their relationship andreturning to live in the girl’s hom

e town. F

inally, the song itself is aw

ell known sym

bol of the inequality of modern T

hailand. In 1990, song-

34U

nlike gold or platinum records in the W

estern pop industry, it does not signify salesof a certain am

ount.35

The first lines of this version are – M

: ‘My village drinks alcohol, alcohol before

food every time’; F

: ‘I like to drink beer, I drink beer before looking for food’.

Red and yellow

songs599

598South E

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writer C

holathi Thanthorng com

plained that Soraphet w

as paid only60,000 baht by his com

pany for a song that had made over 44 m

illionbaht (U

bonrat, 1990, p 65). Soraphet has inform

ed this writer that he is

unable to re-record his most fam

ous song because he does not own the

copyright (interview w

ith the author, 23 January 2010). Each of these

channels of identification resonates with the red-shirt constituency on

deeply emotional levels.

Num

suea khao sao suea daeng [‘The B

oy in the White S

hirt and theG

irl in the Red S

hirt’]36 draw

s on these collective meanings and m

emo-

ries while adding new

layers of meaning in a political context. F

irst, itappears to be sung by the original fem

ale singer, Norngnut D

uangchiwan,

who now

lives in Norw

ay. 37 The ubiquitous peasant girl of the original

is individualized in the lyrics as the Isan celebrity Norngnut and ac-

knowledged as politically stronger and m

ore aware than the m

aleprotagonist. H

er acceptance of him as a partner depends on his accept-

ance of and active participation in her politics. The subtext is clear –

those who w

ere formerly subservient now

have a political agenda. Sec-

ond, some elem

ents of the song are informed by new

realities. The

villagers in the original are identified by the kind of labour they pro-vide, w

hereas in the red-shirt version they are identified according topolitical persuasion. A

t the time of the original song, D

ao Khanong w

asa new

, vibrant market place; but it is now

run-down and out of favour.

The characters of the red-shirt version go to D

ao Khanong to attend a

protest, rather than for social or comm

ercial reasons.T

his is a translation of Num

na khao, sao na kluea:

M:

My village farm

s rice, plants rice at all times

F:

I harvest salt, sell salt to buy food to eatM

:M

y village is in Kalasin

F:

As for m

e, Yuphin, I live in S

amut S

akon

M:

I have come to m

eet a beautiful girl and visit Dao K

hanongF

:I count it as good luck that w

hen I met you, you greeted m

efirst

M:

I really want to go to live at S

amut S

akonF

:F

rom w

hat you say I’m afraid that is not true

36F

ound on an undated VC

D purchased at a red-shirts dem

onstration in Khon K

aen on31 January 2010.

37T

his demonstrates the involvem

ent of the Thai diaspora in the present political struggle.

Correspondingly, 70s pop star N

ata Wiyakan returned from

living in Canada to ap-

pear on the PAD

’s performance stage.

M:

I, the rice farmer, love a young girl

F:

I am a salt field girl

M:

The rice field boy w

ill never forsake you

M:

If I will go w

hat will your father say?

F:

I’ll be very happy if you truly go ask for my hand

M:

The rice field boy guarantees I w

ill not forsake youF

:If you love m

e truly don’t leave the salt field girl.

And this is a translation of N

um suea khao sao suea daeng:

M:

My village is w

hite-shirt. I’ve met a strong w

oman

F:

I am a red-shirt w

oman of the strongest kind

M:

My house likes to w

atch Nattaw

utF

:A

s for me, N

orngnut, I follow everyone

M:

I came to m

eet my red-shirt sister and have visited D

aoK

hanongF

:S

o that is my good luck to m

eet you before you turn into ayellow

shirtM

:I am

interested in the red shirts – you must help to teach m

eF

:F

rom w

hat you say I’m afraid you are not truly red

M:

I want to go to the protest. C

an you come as m

y friend?F

:S

o you must w

ait till the end of the month

M:

If you’re my friend don’t leave m

e

M:

If I change to become a red shirt, are you going to tease m

e?F

:I w

ill be very happy if you become truly red

M:

This w

hite-shirt man guarantees that I w

ill not go back on my

word

F:

If you love me truly don’t leave the red shirt girl.

The use of lukthung by the PA

DL

ogically, there would be significant advantage for the yellow

and pinkshirts in em

ploying lukthung and morlam

to spread their message. M

orlamw

as used beneficially by the United S

tates Information S

ervice (US

IS)

during the Vietnam

War and by the T

hai government during the com

-m

unist insurgency (see Miller, 1985, pp 56–57). H

owever, until the recent

campaign by the red shirts, the PA

D ignored m

orlam and tended to

send the wrong m

essages when attem

pting to use lukthung. In concen-trating on hegem

onic and satirical elements, the PA

D has m

issed an

Red and yellow

songs601

600South E

ast Asia R

esearch

opportunity to engage with the w

orking class on a visceral level. For

example, Joy S

irilak became a popular lukthung star after her appear-

ance in the soap opera Sao noi café [The Y

oung Girl in the C

afé, 2000].Y

et when she appeared for the PA

D in July 2008, rather than any of her

hits, she sang only Khon T

hai rak chat lae satsana [‘Thais L

ove theN

ation and Religion’], honouring the three institutions. 38 It is signifi-

cant that most of the use of m

orlam and lukthung by the PA

D has occurred

since the beginning of the 2010 Songkran protests in the context of

YouT

ube videos satirizing the red-shirts demographic. T

he mocking

Khw

ai, khwai, khw

ai (daeng)39 is fast lukthung; S

uraphon Som

batjaroen’sK

hamen lai khw

ai 40 [‘The C

ambodian B

uffalo Herder’] accom

paniessim

ple animation of T

haksin riding the other red-shirt leaders; andF

olkner’s Mob W

eng [‘Weng’s m

ob’, alluding to Dr W

eng Tojirakarn]

41

is a cross between lukthung and m

orlam. 42

Likew

ise, attempts by the pink shirts and the D

emocrat governm

entto capitalize on the popularity and ubiquity of lukthung have usuallycom

e across as forced and heavy-handed. On 27 D

ecember 2009, the

long-running television concert lukthung show, W

ethi Thai [T

hai Stage],

diverted from its usual program

ming to broadcast a pink-shirt rally fea-

turing Prim

e Minister A

bhisit. When long-term

fans of the show arrived

at the alternative venue, they discovered that about a thousand pink-shirted supporters had already arrived by bus, along w

ith a sizeablesecurity presence. T

he stage featured a huge backdrop of the King w

itha halo effect looking over farm

ers planting rice. An introductory film

interspersed footage of the King w

ith footage of Abhisit and his gov-

ernment. B

efore the Prim

e Minister m

ade his appearance, Gram

my artist

Mon K

haen sang morlam

accompanied by 10 dancers all holding khaen,

the musical sym

bol of Isan. Abhisit and other dignitaries then sang C

homthung [‘A

dmiring the R

ural Scenery’] (see F

igure 4), originally sungby lukthung legend P

hloen Phrom

daen, before being presented with

garlands and roses by a procession of poor people. Despite being carefully

38T

his performance can be view

ed at http://ww

w.boringdays.net/joy-pad-beloved/.

39T

his video can be viewed at http://w

ww

.youtube.com/w

atch?v=oL

agRkoS

W1I&

feature=related.

40T

his video can be viewed at http://w

ww

.youtube.com/w

atch?v=84T

yfpvwL

p8&feature=

related.41

In 1976, Weng w

as a student leader who joined the arm

ed struggle of the CP

T and

later took part in the 1992 democracy m

ovement. H

e has become one of the key

leaders of the UD

D.

42T

his video can be viewed at http://w

ww

.youtube.com/w

atch?v=yc_K

kCD

bLX

Y&

feature=related.

Figure 4.

Abhisit singing next to fam

ous likay and lukthung singer Chaiya M

itchai.B

ehind them is Finance M

inister Korn C

hatikavanij.P

hoto by Peter G

arrity.

designed to appeal to the lukthung demographic, the overall effect w

asunderm

ined by the Prim

e Minister’s obvious discom

fort and lapses inm

emory during the song.

It has already been established that the PAD

has been far less likelyto m

ake use of phleng plaeng than the UD

D, yet an exception to this

rule shows w

hat the unifying force of lukthung might achieve. A

t aPA

D rally in M

ay 2008, Nga C

aravan sang a phleng plaeng of Fon

duean hok [‘Rains in June’], com

posed by Phaibun B

utkan in 1968 forR

ungphet Laem

sing. 43 The choice of song hints at com

promise – P

haibunbeing honoured by both the establishm

ent, as Central T

hailand’s great-est songw

riter, and the Collective of T

hai Revolutionary S

ongs Project

[Khrongkan banthuek lae phoei-phrae praw

attisat ngan phleng pathiwat],

as the father of left- wing protest (W

at, 2003, pp 251–253). The original

evokes the spirit of rural Thailand w

ith the sound of frogs calling in the

43T

his performance can be view

ed at http://ww

w.boringdays.net/w

et-firewood/.

Red and yellow

songs603

602South E

ast Asia R

esearch

rice fields during the rainy season. Nga’s version m

aintains the wistful,

lilting singing style and some of the lyrics of the original, w

hich suitedthe inclem

ent weather in w

hich the protest took place. The restrained

altered lyrics attacked corruption and the bullying of the press without

resorting to the extreme invective characteristic of recent PA

D songs.

Overall, it cam

e across as a well perform

ed and credible piece of propa-ganda that could have appealed to the w

orking class.

Con

clusion

An exceptionally poignant m

oment occurred at the red-shirts concert in

Khao Y

ai on 15 Novem

ber 2009 when A

dison Phiangket broke dow

nw

hile singing about his younger brother, killed during the CP

T insur-

gency (Nostitz, 2009; see F

igure 5). The sym

bolism of this m

oment

shows w

hy the red shirts have succeeded in becoming a nationw

idem

ovement. A

s Adison and W

isa discovered 30 years earlier, real changein the T

hai social order could not be brought about by weapons or ide-

ology. The cultural disjunction that developed betw

een the CP

Tleadership, B

angkok students and Isan farmers show

ed Adison that a

comm

on purpose was best prom

oted through a musical genre that rep-

resents all Thais. A

significant factor in the cultural unity of the redshirts has been that their favoured genre, lukthung, allow

s for regionaland ethnic differences w

hile maintaining a high degree of T

hainess. Incontrast, the yellow

shirts have confined their appeal by explicitly pre-ferring elite and W

esternized genres that exclude Thailand’s w

orkingclass. W

hile it is surprising that the PAD

have not made greater use of

lukthung, perhaps this is a reflection of the degree to which lukthung

and morlam

have become conflated in the eyes of the T

hai public.T

his article shows that, although the PA

D has used a m

uch wider

variety of music than the U

DD

and has produced music of better qual-

ity, its choices have acted to exclude the majority of T

hais. Perhaps this

issue of agency is what truly connects the three periods exam

ined here.D

uring the era of phleng chiwit, talented, highly educated songw

ritersprotested on behalf of the m

uted lower classes, but the state w

as even-tually able to stifle their criticism

by force. During the struggle of the

CP

T, the rank-and-file insurgents had songs w

ritten for them by B

ang-kok students in genres prescribed by the C

PT

leadership, but were also

able to produce phleng plaeng in their preferred genre of lukthung. After

the insurgency, however, phleng phuea chiw

it was celebrated as the

official Thai protest genre, w

hile lukthung plaeng were silenced. D

uring

Figure 5.

Adison Phiangket m

ourns his younger brother.P

hoto by Nick N

ostitz. Used w

ith permission.

the present conflict, both sides have made use of lukthung, but, by chan-

nelling a wide variety of cultural m

emories and m

usical elements w

ithinthe genre, the red shirts have successfully appealed to the w

orking class.P

erhaps this indicates that, for the first time in T

hai history, working

class Thais are m

aking their own political choices.

It appears that lukthung has gained traction among the red shirts because

of the social configuration of their movem

ent. Attem

pts to use lukthungby the yellow

shirts have not been successful because lukthung doesnot have the sam

e emotional resonance w

ithin their demographic. T

hisdiscussion can contribute to the larger discussion of protest m

usic throughthe w

ay it has highlighted deeply felt issues of identity and emotional

investment associated w

ith a musical genre and how

these can be har-nessed to political ends. T

here is scope for further investigation,particularly into the role played by m

usic during the dormant periods of

each group. It will be tem

pting to apply Eyerm

an and Jamison’s obser-

vation that ‘Music, and song…

can maintain a m

ovement even w

hen itno longer has a visible presence in the form

of organizations, leaders,and dem

onstrations’ to the red shirts post of May 2010. L

ukthung may

Red and yellow

songs605

604South E

ast Asia R

esearch

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