Page 103 - Nora a Living Dance Tradition of Southern Thailand
P. 103
In the 1700s and 1800s, performances
known as โ€manorahโ€ - like todayโ€s Nora
performances -were performed by Siamese
performers in Kedah and other places on
the Malay Archipelago.
In 1780, King Taksin of Thonburi
(r. 1767-1782) ordered a troupe from Nakhon
Si Thammarat to perform Nora in Thonburi
to celebrate the Emerald Buddha.
In the early Chakri dynasty, more Nora
troupes were brought to perform in Bangkok, and
some people from Southern Thailand moved
to Bangkok, taking Nora culture with them. In
the mid 1800s, King Rama III brought people
from the south to live in Bangkok near the
palace, including โ€chatriโ€ performers. Troupes
performed in Bangkok for Kng Rama III and
King Rama IV, with the latter king reporting in
1860 that โ€this lakhon chatri that you brought
for the [royal] funeral is very popular because
no one has seen it before.โ€ (S.Pongpaiboon
เธ เธฒเธเนเธเธฃเธฒ เธงเธฑเธ”เธกเธเธฑ เธเธกเธด เธกเธฒเธงเธฒเธช เธเธเธฑ เธซเธงเธฑเธ”เธชเธเธเธฅเธฒ
1999: 3871) groups assimilated to Central Thai culture, using its dialect to honor Buddhism,
the monarchy, mostly based in Phetburi, Bangkok and Ayutthaya, in distinction
Since the early 1800s, the term chatri with the now current term Nora (perhaps a shortened form of โ€Manorahโ€)
(literally, โ€valiant, powerfulโ€ but referring for the performance tradition we now know by that term.
perhaps to small groups of wandering A mural painting from 1863 in Songkhlaโ€s royal Wat Machimawat
performers) was used to refer to different shows a European soldier, with his wife and son, watching a Nora performance,
performing arts traditions from what is now among other depictions of southern Thai culture. Similar 19th century temple
Southern Thailand, including what we known mural paintings showing Nora have been seen in Kelantan, too.
today as Nora. This suggests that at this time,
the term โ€lakhon chatriโ€ may sometimes
refer to something like what we now call Nora. The memories of 19th- century Nora masters point to Nora communities
But by the early 20th century โ€lakorn chatriโ€ centered in the 1830s around Songkhla Lake. By the 1920s, families with Nora
typically referred to womenโ€s performing masters were known in Songkhla, Phattalung, Nakorn Si Thammarat, and Trang.
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