Tanprasert

AAWM JOURNAL VOL. 9 NO. 2 (2021)

Sounding Thai: Instrumental Translation, Language-Melody Correlation, and Vocal Expressivity in Thai Sakon Music from the 2010s

Teerapaun Tanprasert and Joti Rockwell

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Abstract:

Thai sakon is a genre of Thai popular music with an international, widely palatable sound and overt stylistic influences from Western pop and rock. This article analyzes some of the most widely marketed and listened-to performances of Thai sakon from the 2010s, showing how the genre is rooted in Thai musical practices in a variety of ways. Analytical exploration of several recordings from this decade reveals aspects of Thai traditional music, both folk and classical, which points toward a view of Thai sakon as more of a hybrid form than a straightforward replication of Western soft rock. Underneath the broadly familiar currency of studio production, rock-pop instrumentation, and transparent diatonicism in Thai sakon, one can hear distinctive approaches to instrumental performance, linguistic-melodic relationships, and vocal expression. Software-assisted music analysis that integrates traditional transcription, spectrograms, fundamental frequency measurements, and an examination of speech tone-melody correlation casts such approaches into relief. Focusing on several selected recordings from the 2010s, we proceed by providing a brief historical context for Thai sakon and considering lyrics that relate to Thai traditions. We then examine aspects of instrumentation including hybridity and translation, compare the tones of the Thai language in lyrics to vocal melodies, and identify traditional Thai vocal practices. The article concludes with thoughts about underlying historical dynamics and ideas for further research.

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Keywords: Thai popular music, Thai sakon, popular music analysis, speech tones and melody, instrumental translation, analysis of voice

Contributor Information:

Joti Rockwell is Associate Professor of Music at Pomona College.

Teerapaun Tanprasert is a graduate student in the Department of Computer Science at University of British Columbia.

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