Phi Faa Ritual Music of the Northeastern Part of Thailand

Abstract

This article describes the indigenous peoples belief underlying the Phi Faa or the Shaman's ritual. The research focused on the components of the Phi Faa ritual as well as its music and how they interact. This study was comprised of site visits to each of the fourteen provinces in the Northern Isarn region of Thailand where data was collected from each regional cultural center. It was found that Phi Faa rituals were mainly in the following seven provinces: Skon Nakorn, Mukdahan, Nakorn Phanom, Udonthani, Kalasin, Khon Khaen and Chaiyaphum. It was also determined that the musical instrument used the most often in this ritual was the khean (a mouth organ) and the rhythm of the lyrics were sung in the Isarn style named "Moh Lum". In the Phi Faa rituals, this style is specifically referred to as "Lamlong". In all the observed ailment rituals, Lamlong was sung by the medium and accompanied by the Khean to praise the ghosts as well as plead with them to come aid the people suffering from sickness. In addition, the Medium consulted oracles to discover the cause(s) of the sickness. Even though the melodies of each song among the seven provinces are more similar than different, the lyrics were completely different due to the medium's spontaneous or improvised delivery. One notable departure from the general pattern of the Phi Faa ritual was found in the Kalasin province which was made up of mostly instrumental music with hardly any singing of lyrics.