Music of Thailand

The music of Thailand reflects its geographic position at the intersection of China and India, as well as historical trade routes including with Africa, Greece and Rome.

Traditional Thai musical instruments are varied and reflect ancient influence from far afield – including the klong thap and khim (Persian origin), the chakhe (Indian origin), the klong chin (Chinese origin), and the klong khaek (Indonesian origin).

The two most popular styles of traditional Thai music are luk thung (Thai: ลูกทุ่ง or เพลงลูกทุ่ง) and mor lam (Isan and Thai: หมอลำ). The latter in particular has close affinities with the music of Laos.

Aside from the Thai, ethnic minorities such as the Lao, Lawa, Hmong, Akha, Khmer, Lisu, Karen and Lahu peoples have retained traditional musical forms.

Though Thailand was never colonized by colonial powers, pop music and other forms of modern Asian, European and American music have become extremely influential.