Appropriating the Exotic: Thai Music and the Adoption of Chinese Elements

Abstract

�� ��� Making imports Th ai is actually an old tradition. While all nationalities absorb outside infl uences, Th ai have retained their distinctiveness and independence despite living at a crossroads of cultures: Chinese, Indian, Western, Japanese, Khmer, Burmese, Malay, and indigenous tribes. Th e customization of imports is key to that elusive, immutable Th ainess, since the essence lies not in invention, but transformation. Anything, given time enough to steep here, can end up very Th ai. (11) Essentially, that has been the process in the relationship between Chinese and Th ai cultures. With regard to music I will address not just the broader question of how Chinese culture infl uenced Th ai music, but, specifi cally, how the segment of the Th ai classical repertory called samniang jin (“Chinese accent”) relates to Chinese music. First, what does “Chinese culture” mean in the context of Th ailand? Numerous other questions must be addressed too. Who came, when, from where, for what reasons, and what has become of them and their descendants? Is it reasonable to speak of “Chinese-Th ai” today, who are they, and how consciously Chinese are they? Th e answers to many of these questions will depend on who is speaking