(Photo Credit: Chiang Mai News)
This article examines the ongoing efforts to preserve and transmit traditional Lanna (Northern Thai) music in urban Chiang Mai, where modern lifestyles and cultural shifts pose increasing challenges. Joel Akins highlights how transmission occurs through both formal academic institutions and informal networks of master musicians and apprentices. Despite a shrinking pool of knowledge-bearers and youth disengagement, dedicated individuals and communities continue to breathe life into Lanna musical traditions through performance, education, and public festivals.
The Thailand Foundation invites you to explore this article as a testament to the enduring role of music in shaping regional identity and cultural continuity. Lanna music reflects Thai values of respect, particularly for one’s identity and heritage. Through its graceful tunes, Lanna music continues to weave the heart of modern Lanna people to the hearts of their ancestors.
Author: Joel Akins
This article was published in the Rian Thai International Journal of Thai Studies and is being shared by the Thailand Foundation with permission from the Thai Studies Center, Chulalongkorn University, all rights reserved to the owner of the material.
