Kon baan diaokan or ‘we’re from the same village’
star/fan interaction in Thai lukthung
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/prbt.v12i1.69Keywords:
fandom, Isan, lukthung, Mangpor Chonticha, Thai country musicAbstract
Phleng lukthung or Thai country song, is an acculturated song genre of Thailand which draws on modern and traditional cultural forms, appeals to both urban and rural populations, can be nationalistic, yet is also emblematic of the large and historically marginalized Isan minority. Isan people have exerted increasing influence as the dominant consumers of the lukthung music industry. As a result certain notions of Lao-Isan identity, such as inferred equality, ethnic solidarity and determined resistance to chauvinism, have become associated with lukthung music and its fandom. Whereas Thai pop largely emulates global concepts of fandom, lukthung fan culture draws heavily on the Thai discourse of community and the customary performer/audience relationships found in traditional genres such as like and molam. This article describes two main aspects of lukthung fan culture: (i) the opportunities for interaction between fans and performers at concerts and (ii) the communities formed by singers and their fan clubs. The ways in which Isan identity is expressed within these two aspects is assessed according to theories of marginalized and dominant fandoms.
References
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Barrow, Richard. 2008. ‘The pro-Government Rally’. Paknam Web. http://www.thai-blogs. com/index.php/2008/09/03/the-pro-government-rally?blog=5
Chaba Mueangjan. 2004. ‘Jenphop Jopkrabuanwan—Sangsan phuea ngan lukthung’. Wathanatham Thai.
Chomthongdi, Jacques-chai, and Chanida Chanyapate. 2009. ‘Bangkok Held Hostage to Continuous Bipolar Struggles: What’s the Way Out?’ Focus on the Global South. http:// focusweb.org/bangkok-held-hostage-to-continuous-bipolar-struggles-what-s-theway-out.html (accessed 12 March 2010).
Connell, John, and Chris Gibson. 2002. Sound Tracks: Popular Music, Identity, and Place. New York: Routledge.
De Kosnik, Abigail. 2008. ‘Participatory Democracy and Hillary Clinton's Marginalized Fandom’. Transformative Works and Cultures 1. http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/47
Downes, William. 1984. Language and Society. London: Fontana Paperbacks.
Gray, Jonathan, Cornel Sandvoss and C. Lee Harrington. 2007. Fandom: Identities and Communities in a Mediated World. New York: New York University Press.
Haughton, James. 2009. ‘Building Modern Communities in Capitalist Thailand’. In Tai Lands and Thailand: Community and State in Southeast Asia, ed. A. Walker. Singapore: NUS Press.
Hesse-Swain, Catherine. 2006. ‘Programming Beauty and the Absence of Na Lao: Popular Thai TV and Identity Formation among Youth in Northeast Thailand’. GeoJournal 66.3: 257–72.
Jory, Patrick. 1999. ‘Political Decentralisation and the Resurgence of Regional Identities in Thailand’. Australian Journal of Social Issues 34.4: 337–52.
Kanokporn Chanasongkram. 2007. ‘Patrons of the Arts’. Bangkok, Panthip.com. http://topicstock.pantip.com/chalermkrung/topicstock/2007/10/C5911590/C5911590. html
Keyes, C. 1967. Isan: Regionalism in Northeastern Thailand. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms International.
Lockard, Craig. 1998. Dance of Life: Popular Music and Politics in Southeast Asia. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Mae Wanphen. 2009. ‘ “Mae yok” yok radap pen “Faenclub”?’ Ks Ks, June: 48–52.
McCargo, Duncan, and Krisadawan Hongladoram. 2004. ‘Contesting Isan-ness: Discourses of Politics and Identity in Northeast Thailand’. Asian Ethnicity 5.2: 219–34.
Miller, Terry. E. 1985. Traditional Music of the Lao: Kaen Playing and Mawlum Singing in Northeast Thailand. Westport, CN: Greenwood Press.
—2005. ‘From Country Hick to Rural Hip: A New Identity through Music for Northeast Thailand’. Asian Music 36.2: 96–106.
Miller, Terry. E., and Andrew C. Shahriari. 2006. World Music: A Global Journey. New York and London: Routledge.
Mitchell, James. 2009a. ‘Sorapet Pinyoo and the Status of pleeng luuk tung’. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 40.2: 295–321.
—2009b. ‘Thai Television and pleeng luuk tung: The Role of Television in the Isan Cultural Revival’. Perfect Beat 10.1: 79–99.
—2010. ‘Waeng Phalangwan: A Lao-Isan Perspective on Thai lukthung’. Journal of LaoStudies 2.1: 66–96.
Mulder, Nils. 2000. Inside Thai Society. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books.
Rogers, Martyn. 2009. ‘Between Fantasy and “Reality”: Tamil Film Star Fan Club Networks and the Political Economy of Film Fandom’. South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies 32.1: 63–85.
Siriphon Kropthong. 2004. Wiwathanakan phleng lukthung nai sangkhom Thai. Bangkok: Phantakit Publishing.
Thompson, John B. 1995. The Media and Modernity: A Social Theory of the Media. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Tulloch, John and Henry Jenkins. 1995. Science Fiction Audiences: Watching Doctor Who and Star Trek. London: Routledge.
Ubonrat Siriyuvasak. 1990. ‘Commercialising the Sound of the People: Pleng luktoong and the Thai Pop Music Industry’. Popular Music 9.1: 61–77.
Unattributed. 2003. ‘Blacklist Cut Down to 3 Songs’. The Nation. Bangkok. http://www. thailandqa.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2062
Unattributed. 2009. ‘CPJ Calls for Journalist Security amid Thai Protests’ (April 10, 2009). http://cpj.org/2009/04/cpj-calls-for-journalist-security-amid-thai-protes.php
Waeng Phalangwan. 2002. Lukthung Isan: Prawatsat Isan tamnan phleng lukthung. Bangkok: RP Books.
Yoshinori Nishizaki. 2007. ‘Constructing Moral Authority in Rural Thailand: Banharn Silpaarcha’s Non-violent War on Drugs’. Asian Studies Review 31: 343–64.
Published
2011-09-23
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Mitchell, J. (2011). Kon baan diaokan or ‘we’re from the same village’: star/fan interaction in Thai lukthung. Perfect Beat, 12(1), 69-89. https://doi.org/10.1558/prbt.v12i1.69
