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Intellectual Cultural Heritage
53
Lam Phaya
Phaya
is an adage, a proverb, or a riddle. It is a
rhymed expression, with scansion and meters.
Phaya
is
therefore an expression that requires laconic wit, ingenuity
and brevity.
Lam Phaya
is a traditional folk singing of courtship
dialogue of the northeasterners, in which a male
Mo Lam
(singer) and a female one are engaged in the following
verbal acts:
Chai Phaya, Wao Phaya, Phut Phaya
, and
Khae
Phaya
. The male singer poses the question or “attacks,” the
female singer responds or counterattacks. The singing is
accompanied by a
khaen
(kind of reed mouth organ), a
phin
(a plucked pair-string musical instrument), a drum, a
wot
(a kind of Thai traditional pipes, similar to panpipes, with six
to nine small bamboo tubes of different length arranged
together in a round bundle instead of in a row) and a pair of
ching
(a pair of small cymbals).
In the old days,
Lam Phaya
only involves
Chai Phaya
Kiao
(a courtship dialogue exchanges) of the young men
and women during religious merit-making festivals, the
community’s traditional festivals, marriage ceremonies,
the
Long Khuang
rite (a courtship ritual when the man will
court the woman while she is weaving at home in the
evening), the
Long Khaek
practice (a traditional practice
where communi ty or group members contr ibute to a
collaborative activity) or funeral rites. Later
Lam Phaya
has
developed into a more elaborate spectacle and is performed
during many occasions to entertain the audience who also
benefit from the knowledge and the wisdom in the
Lam
Phaya
. In the past, young men and women enjoyed
exchanging of
Phaya
words that challenged them to find
witty words and expressions to counter each other. Attraction
is brought on by the appreciation of each other’s wit.
In the old days people usually sat on the floor: the
Mo Lam
or
Mo Phaya
and
Mo Khaen
sat in an inner circle,
while the audience sat in an outer circle. Sometimes the
performers stood up to dance (but the person who
Chai
Phaya
did not dance). Sometimes the spectators and the
performers worked while the
Lam Phaya
was performed.
Sometimes the performers were joined by a
Mo Soi
, who
interrupted to give more amusement to the spectators.
(“
Soi
” in the northeastern dialect means the expressions that
the northeasterners often say to interrupt the
Mo Lam
or
add to his words. It is a bawdy raillery in short verses,
improvised to rib the
Mo Lam
and the spectators. A person
skilled in this art is called “
Mo Soi
”).
In later development, the performers stand during the
performance, which compels them to make some dance
movements. Consequently, the music accompaniment
expands from merely one
khaen
to include a drum, a pair
of ching, a pair of
chap
(a pair of large cymbal) and other
instruments. The number of performers also increases from
two persons to between three to five persons or into a larger
group called the
Mo Lam Phaya
troupe. The northeasterners
continue to enrich their legendary oral tradition of Phaya until
today.
Examples of prominent
Mo Phaya
are Mae Da
Samong, Mae Sam-ang Unnawong, Mae Poe Phonlapheng,
Mae Bumlueam Phonlapheng of Ban Don Tan Vi l lage,
Don Tan District, Mukdahan Province.