Khon ( Thai : โขน , pronounced [kʰǒːn] ) is a dance drama genre from Thailand . Khon has been performed since the Ayutthaya Kingdom .
41-488: It is traditionally performed solely in the royal court by men in masks accompanied by narrators and a traditional piphat ensemble. A variation of this genre with female performers is called khon phu ying ( โขนผู้หญิง ). Khon is a Thai traditional dance which combines many arts like dance and drama. There was no exact evidence that dates its provenance , but it is mentioned in Thai literature's Lilit Phra Lo (c. 1529) which
82-411: A dialect continuum . Thai language is spoken by over 69 million people (2020). Moreover, most Thais in the northern (Lanna) and the northeastern (Isan) parts of the country today are bilingual speakers of Central Thai and their respective regional dialects because Central Thai is the language of television, education, news reporting, and all forms of media. A recent research found that the speakers of
123-565: A second language among the country's minority ethnic groups from the mid-late Ayutthaya period onward. Ethnic minorities today are predominantly bilingual, speaking Thai alongside their native language or dialect. Standard Thai is classified as one of the Chiang Saen languages—others being Northern Thai , Southern Thai and numerous smaller languages, which together with the Northwestern Tai and Lao-Phutai languages, form
164-539: A Khon performance, and recorded what he saw in great detail: The Siamese have three sorts of Stage Plays: That which they call Cone [khôn] is a figure dance, to the sound of the violin and some other instruments. The dancers are masked and armed, and represent rather a combat than a dance. And though every one runs into high motions, and extravagant postures, they cease not continually to intermix some word. Most of their masks are hideous, and represent either monstrous Beasts, or kinds of Devils. The Show which they call Lacone
205-533: A four-way distinction among stops and affricates . The maximal four-way occurred in labials ( /p pʰ b ʔb/ ) and denti-alveolars ( /t tʰ d ʔd/ ); the three-way distinction among velars ( /k kʰ ɡ/ ) and palatals ( /tɕ tɕʰ dʑ/ ), with the glottalized member of each set apparently missing. The major change between old and modern Thai was due to voicing distinction losses and the concomitant tone split . This may have happened between about 1300 and 1600 CE, possibly occurring at different times in different parts of
246-530: A syllable that formerly began with a voiceless consonant (including glottalized stops). An additional complication is that formerly voiceless unaspirated stops/affricates (original /p t k tɕ ʔb ʔd/ ) also caused original tone 1 to lower, but had no such effect on original tones 2 or 3. The above consonant mergers and tone splits account for the complex relationship between spelling and sound in modern Thai. Modern "low"-class consonants were voiced in Old Thai, and
287-641: Is a kind of ensemble in the classical music of Thailand , which features wind and percussion instruments. It is considered the primary form of ensemble for the interpretation of the most sacred and "high-class" compositions of the Thai classical repertoire, including the Buddhist invocation entitled sathukan ( Thai : สาธุการ ) as well as the suites called phleng rueang . It is also used to accompany traditional Thai theatrical and dance forms including khon ( Thai : โขน ) (masked dance-drama), lakhon (classical dance), and shadow puppet theater . Piphat in
328-399: Is a poem intermix with Epic and Dramatic, which lasts three days, from eight in the morning till seven at night. They are histories in verse, serious, and sung by several actors always present, and which do only sing reciprocally .... The Rabam is a double dance of men and women, which is not martial, but gallant ... they can perform it without much tying themselves, because their way of dancing
369-577: Is a simple march round, very slow, and without any high motion; but with a great many slow contortions of the body and arms . Of the attire of Siamese Khôn dancers, La Loubère recorded that, "[T]hose that dance in Rabam, and Cone, have gilded paper-bonnets, high and pointed, like the Mandarins caps of ceremony, but which hang down at the sides below their ears, which are adorned with counterfeit stones, and with two pendants of gilded wood." The origin of Khon
410-456: Is arranged by adding ranat ek lek (ระนาดเอกเหล็ก; treble metallophone) and ranat thum lek (ระนาดทุ้มเหล็ก; bass metallophone) to the wong piphat khrueang khu . Wong piphat nang hong ( Thai : วงปี่พาทย์นางหงส์ , Thai pronunciation: [woŋ pìːpʰâːt naːŋ hǒŋ] ) is an ensemble used in funerals. It is arranged by replacing the pi nai and pi nok with a pi chawa . The name nang hong comes from name of its main music, which
451-475: Is arranged by adding ranat thum and khong mon wong lek to the piphat mon khrueang ha . Wong piphat mon khrueang yai ( Thai : วงปี่พาทย์มอญเครื่องใหญ่ , Thai pronunciation: [woŋ pìːpʰâːt mɔːn kʰrɯ̂əŋ jàj] ) is arranged by adding ranat ek lek and ranat thum lek to the piphat mon khrueang khu . The piphat mon ensemble is usually used in funerals, but it can be used for other events as well. The piphat ensemble can be mixed with
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#1732772201895492-406: Is based on the tales of the epic Ramakien (Thai adaptation of Indian Hindu epic Ramayana ), as Thai literature and drama draws great inspiration from Indian arts and legend . Khon Ramakien originally could be performed by men only. Women performed only as angels and goddesses. Today women perform as monkeys and demons. In the past, Khon was performed only by the royal family, with the sons of
533-646: Is believed to derive from the Mon people , an ancient Mon-Khmer -speaking people of mainland Southeast Asia, and uses special instruments such as an upright gong circle called khong mon . Wong piphat mon ( Thai : วงปี่พาทย์มอญ , Thai pronunciation: [woŋ pìːpʰâːt mɔːn] ) has three sizes: Wong piphat mon khrueang ha ( Thai : วงปี่พาทย์มอญเครื่องห้า , Thai pronunciation: [woŋ pìːpʰâːt mɔːn kʰrɯ̂əŋ hâː] ) consists of: Wong piphat mon khrueang khu ( Thai : วงปี่พาทย์มอญเครื่องคู่ , Thai pronunciation: [woŋ pìːpʰâːt mɔːn kʰrɯ̂əŋ kʰûː] )
574-467: Is called piphat khrueang khu , and consists of eight musical instruments. The other two instruments are the ranat thum (xylophone), which produces a deeper sound than the ranat ek , and khong wong lek , a gong circle that is higher in pitch than the khong wong yai . The largest form of piphat ensemble is the piphat khrueang yai , which consists of ten musical instruments. Another ones are ranat ek lek and ranat thum lek ; these are almost
615-523: Is derived from or borrowed from Pali , Sanskrit , Mon and Old Khmer . It is a tonal and analytic language . Thai has a complex orthography and system of relational markers . Spoken Thai, depending on standard sociolinguistic factors such as age, gender, class, spatial proximity, and the urban/rural divide, is partly mutually intelligible with Lao , Isan , and some fellow Thai topolects . These languages are written with slightly different scripts, but are linguistically similar and effectively form
656-467: Is hinted at by the origin of the word "Khon". Its origin is not precisely known, but there are four possibilities. First, "Khon" in Benguela Kalinin appears in the words " kora " or "Khon" which is the name of a musical instrument made of Hindi leather. Its appearance and shape are similar to the drum. It was popular and used for local traditional performances. It was assumed that kora was one of
697-583: Is intended for funeral ceremonies. A royal variant for Thai royal funerals , Wong piphat nang hong khruang yai (for the King) or Wong piphat nang hong khrueang khu (for senior members of the Royal Family), introduced during the reign of King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) for use in royal funerals of the Chakri Dynasty , was reinstated during the reign of King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) in 1995, during
738-408: Is supplemented by Western instruments like trumpets, saxophones, clarinets and even a drum kit, guitars and an electric piano. Some of these have also appeared in the normal ensembles. Wong piphat duek dam ban ( Thai : วงปี่พาทย์ดึกดำบรรพ์ , Thai pronunciation: [woŋ pìːpʰâːt dɯ̀k.dam.ban] , literally "ancient ensemble") was proposed by Prince Naris . It consists of: The piphat mon
779-399: The khrueang sai ensemble to create a new ensemble called khrueang sai prasom piphat (เครื่องสายประสมปี่พาทย์ or เครื่องสายผสมปี่พาทย์). This hybrid or combined ensemble can also accommodate Western instruments as well. The Cambodian equivalent of the piphat is called pinpeat . The Myanmar equivalent to piphat is known as hsaing waing . The instrumentation is very similar to
820-466: The Northern Thai language (also known as Phasa Mueang or Kham Mueang) have become so few, as most people in northern Thailand now invariably speak Standard Thai, so that they are now using mostly Central Thai words and only seasoning their speech with the "Kham Mueang" accent. Standard Thai is based on the register of the educated classes by Central Thai and ethnic minorities in the area along
861-570: The Southwestern branch of Tai languages . The Tai languages are a branch of the Kra–Dai language family , which encompasses a large number of indigenous languages spoken in an arc from Hainan and Guangxi south through Laos and Northern Vietnam to the Cambodian border. Standard Thai is the principal language of education and government and spoken throughout Thailand. The standard is based on
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#1732772201895902-693: The Thổ people . Thai language Thai , or Central Thai (historically Siamese ; Thai: ภาษาไทย ), is a Tai language of the Kra–Dai language family spoken by the Central Thai , Mon , Lao Wiang , Phuan people in Central Thailand and the vast majority of Thai Chinese enclaves throughout the country. It is the sole official language of Thailand . Thai is the most spoken of over 60 languages of Thailand by both number of native and overall speakers. Over half of its vocabulary
943-504: The Khmer system first before the Thai borrowed. Old Thai had a three-way tone distinction on "live syllables" (those not ending in a stop), with no possible distinction on "dead syllables" (those ending in a stop, i.e. either /p/, /t/, /k/ or the glottal stop that automatically closes syllables otherwise ending in a short vowel). There was a two-way voiced vs. voiceless distinction among all fricative and sonorant consonants, and up to
984-752: The Piphat Mon, which indicates a common origin. Gong-chime ensembles are also found in other Southeast Asian nations, such as Gamelan in Indonesia, and Kulintang in the Philippines. Gong-chime ensembles can also be found in Vietnam , although they're no longer played among the ethnic Viet, they're still played among the indigenous peoples in the Space of gong culture , as well as among the Muong people and
1025-491: The Thai-speaking area. All voiced–voiceless pairs of consonants lost the voicing distinction: However, in the process of these mergers, the former distinction of voice was transferred into a new set of tonal distinctions. In essence, every tone in Old Thai split into two new tones, with a lower-pitched tone corresponding to a syllable that formerly began with a voiced consonant, and a higher-pitched tone corresponding to
1066-545: The dialect of the central Thai people, and it is written in the Thai script . Hlai languages Kam-Sui languages Kra languages Be language Northern Tai languages Central Tai languages Khamti language Tai Lue language Shan language others Northern Thai language Thai language Southern Thai language Tai Yo language Phuthai language Lao language (PDR Lao, Isan language ) Thai has undergone various historical sound changes. Some of
1107-555: The earlier time was called phinphat . It is analogous to its Cambodian musical ensemble of pinpeat and Laotian ensemble of pinphat . The smallest piphat , called piphat khrueang ha , is composed of six instruments: pi nai (oboe); ranat ek (xylophone); khong wong yai (gong circle); taphon or other Thai drums; glong thad , a set of two large barrel drums beaten with sticks; and ching (small cymbals). Often other small percussion instruments such as krap or chap are used. A slightly larger piphat ensemble
1148-485: The heroes, the heroines, the ogres, and the monkeys. The monkeys are some of the most important roles in Khon. The best-known monkey characters in the story is the monkey warrior Hanuman. Modern Khon contains many elements from the lakhon nai and today, includes female performers playing female characters, formerly performed by men. While the ogre and monkey characters wear masks, most of the human characters do not. Khon
1189-657: The instruments used in Khon performances. In the Tamil language "Khon" derives from the word "koll" which is close to "goll" or "golumn" in Tamil. These Tamil words relate to dressing or decorating the body from head to toe as in the use of Khon costumes. "Khon" in Iran was derived from the words "zurat khan" which means 'handed-doll' or 'puppet', used in local performances. Its songs were similar to current Khon. Khon roles are dictated by long-standing tradition. The principal characters are
1230-454: The king performing as monkeys and demons. Thai Khon stresses realistic dance moves, especially the monkey, which focuses on beauty and fine monkey-like dancing postures. Khon training is begun at a very young age, so that the performer can become flexible enough to do back flips, especially by the Vanara (forest dwellers or monkey) character. Piphat A piphat ( Thai : วงปี่พาทย์ )
1271-528: The local patois as pronounced in Guangdong Ayutthaya , the old capital of Thailand from 1351 - 1767 A.D., was from the beginning a bilingual society, speaking Thai and Khmer . Bilingualism must have been strengthened and maintained for some time by the great number of Khmer-speaking captives the Thais took from Angkor Thom after their victories in 1369, 1388 and 1431. Gradually toward the end of
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1312-551: The most significant changes occurred during the evolution from Old Thai to modern Thai. The Thai writing system has an eight-century history and many of these changes, especially in consonants and tones, are evidenced in the modern orthography . According to a Chinese source, during the Ming dynasty , Yingya Shenglan (1405–1433), Ma Huan reported on the language of the Xiānluó (暹羅) or Ayutthaya Kingdom, saying that it somewhat resembled
1353-415: The period, a language shift took place. Khmer fell out of use. Both Thai and Khmer descendants whose great-grand parents or earlier ancestors were bilingual came to use only Thai. In the process of language shift, an abundance of Khmer elements were transferred into Thai and permeated all aspects of the language. Consequently, the Thai of the late Ayutthaya Period which later became Ratanakosin or Bangkok Thai,
1394-575: The ring surrounding the Metropolis . In addition to Central Thai, Thailand is home to other related Tai languages . Although most linguists classify these dialects as related but distinct languages, native speakers often identify them as regional variants or dialects of the "same" Thai language, or as "different kinds of Thai". As a dominant language in all aspects of society in Thailand, Thai initially saw gradual and later widespread adoption as
1435-492: The royal vocabulary according to their immediate environment. Thai and Pali, the latter from Theravada Buddhism, were added to the vocabulary. An investigation of the Ayutthaya Rajasap reveals that three languages, Thai, Khmer and Khmero-Indic were at work closely both in formulaic expressions and in normal discourse. In fact, Khmero-Indic may be classified in the same category as Khmer because Indic had been adapted to
1476-627: The same as their ancestors, the ranat ek and ranat thum , but they have keys made from metal instead of wood. Wong piphat khrueang ha ( Thai : วงปี่พาทย์เครื่องห้า , Thai pronunciation: [woŋ pìːpʰâːt kʰrɯ̂əŋ hâː] ) is an ensemble consisting of: Wong piphat khrueang khu ( Thai : วงปี่พาทย์เครื่องคู่ , Thai pronunciation: [woŋ pìːpʰâːt kʰrɯ̂əŋ kʰûː] ) is developed from piphat khrueang ha , by arranging instruments in pairs of treble-bass. It consists of: Wong piphat khrueang yai ( Thai : วงปี่พาทย์เครื่องใหญ่ , Thai pronunciation: [woŋ pìːpʰâːt kʰrɯ̂əŋ jàj] )
1517-531: The state funeral rites for Srinagarindra , the Princess Mother, upon the initiative of Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, the Princess Royal , after years of absence. If playing for the king, the royal funeral ensemble has 10 to 12 instruments played, a few more than the simple ensemble, for senior members 8 to 9 instruments are used. In some funerals in Thailand the nang hong variant ensemble
1558-535: The terminology "low" reflects the lower tone variants that resulted. Modern "mid"-class consonants were voiceless unaspirated stops or affricates in Old Thai—precisely the class that triggered lowering in original tone 1 but not tones 2 or 3. Modern "high"-class consonants were the remaining voiceless consonants in Old Thai (voiceless fricatives, voiceless sonorants, voiceless aspirated stops). The three most common tone "marks" (the lack of any tone mark, as well as
1599-423: The two marks termed mai ek and mai tho ) represent the three tones of Old Thai, and the complex relationship between tone mark and actual tone is due to the various tonal changes since then. Since the tone split, the tones have changed in actual representation to the point that the former relationship between lower and higher tonal variants has been completely obscured. Furthermore, the six tones that resulted after
1640-453: Was a thorough mixture of Thai and Khmer. There were more Khmer words in use than Tai cognates. Khmer grammatical rules were used actively to coin new disyllabic and polysyllabic words and phrases. Khmer expressions, sayings, and proverbs were expressed in Thai through transference. Thais borrowed both the Royal vocabulary and rules to enlarge the vocabulary from Khmer. The Thais later developed
1681-507: Was written before the era of King Narai Maharaj . Historical evidence shows that the Thai art of stage plays must have already been highly evolved by the 17th century. In 1687, Louis XIV of France sent a diplomat Simon de la Loubère to record all that he saw in the Siamese Kingdom. In his famous account Du Royaume de Siam , La Loubère carefully observed the classic 17th century theatre of Siam, including an epic battle scene from