Thai traditional music in crisis

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Transcript

00:00Thai traditional music was said to be in crisis 60 to 70 years ago. So let's explore what happened.

00:06Once a popular part of Thai history, it reportedly faced severe restrictions during the time when

00:11Prime Minister Plaek Phibulsongkham was in office. Historical evidence suggested that playing music

00:16was made illegal during that time, forcing musicians to sell their instruments and abandon

00:21their professions. This idea was emphasized in the movie Homrong, which shows the life of a young

00:26Thai musician fighting for the chance to play the music he loved. It is claimed that Plaek

00:31imposed these regulations to modernize and westernize Thailand, revealing Thai traditional

00:37music as outdated. However, some theories suggest that the decline was not due to regulations,

00:43but the influence of Western culture, which entered Thailand after World War II and during the Cold War.