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luk krung

Luk Krung

Thailand · 1940s

Romantic Sentimental Chill Dreamy Dancing

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Description

Luk krung ("urban child") is a sophisticated Thai popular music style that emerged in Bangkok’s urban milieu. It contrasts with luk thung ("country child") by favoring refined, urbane lyrics, polished arrangements, and crooning vocal delivery.

Musically it blends Western big-band jazz, swing, ballroom dance rhythms (waltz, rumba, bolero), and classical string writing with Thai melodic sensibilities and prosody. Typical performances feature elegant melodies, lush strings, woodwinds and brass, and a suave rhythm section supporting expressive, carefully articulated Thai vocals.

The genre is closely associated with the Suntharaporn orchestra and mid‑20th‑century cosmopolitan culture in Thailand, and it continues to inform contemporary Thai pop balladry and orchestral arrangements.

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Jazz is an improvisation-centered music tradition that emerged from African American communities in the early 20th century. It blends blues feeling, ragtime syncopation, European harmonic practice, and brass band instrumentation into a flexible, conversational art. Defining features include swing rhythm (a triplet-based pulse), call-and-response phrasing, blue notes, and extended harmonies built on 7ths, 9ths, 11ths, and 13ths. Jazz is as much a way of making music—spontaneous interaction, variation, and personal sound—as it is a set of forms and tunes. Across its history, jazz has continually hybridized, from New Orleans ensembles and big-band swing to bebop, cool and hard bop, modal and free jazz, fusion, and contemporary cross-genre experiments. Its influence permeates global popular and art music.

Swing is a jazz style centered on a buoyant, danceable groove created by a walking bass, four-to-the-bar rhythm guitar, a backbeat emphasis on 2 and 4, and a lilted “swung” eighth-note feel. Typically performed by big bands (saxes, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section) as well as small combos, it balances written arrangements with improvised solos. Hallmarks include call-and-response between horn sections, riff-based melodies, shout choruses that build intensity near the end of an arrangement, and rich sectional voicings grounded in blues language and ii–V–I harmonic motion. Tempos range from medium to brisk, serving social dances like the Lindy Hop and Jitterbug. Swing’s expressive phrasing, dance-floor focus, and sophisticated arranging made it the dominant popular music of the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Big band is a large-ensemble style of jazz and popular dance music built around brass, reed, and rhythm sections playing arranged parts. Typical instrumentation includes five saxophones (often doubling clarinet/flute), four trombones, four trumpets, and a rhythm section of piano, guitar, upright bass, and drum set. The music emphasizes swing rhythms, call-and-response between sections, riff-based writing, and dramatic shout choruses, while leaving space for improvised solos. Born in American ballrooms and theaters, big band became the sound of the Swing Era, providing both music for dancing and a platform for sophisticated arranging and orchestration that shaped much of 20th‑century jazz and popular music.

Classical music is the notated art-music tradition of Europe and its global descendants, characterized by durable forms, carefully codified harmony and counterpoint, and a literate score-based practice. The term “classical” can refer broadly to the entire Western art-music lineage from the Medieval era to today, not just the Classical period (c. 1750s–1820s). It privileges long-form structures (such as symphonies, sonatas, concertos, masses, and operas), functional or modal harmony, thematic development, and timbral nuance across ensembles ranging from solo instruments to full orchestras and choirs. Across centuries, the style evolved from chant and modal polyphony to tonal harmony, and later to post-tonal idioms, while maintaining a shared emphasis on written notation, performance practice, and craft.

Thai classical is the courtly and theatrical art music of Thailand, crystallizing in the Sukhothai and Ayutthaya kingdoms and flourishing in Bangkok’s Rattanakosin era. It is performed by standardized ensembles (piphat, khruang sai, and mahori) that accompany classical dance-drama (khon, lakhon), rituals, and concerts. The music features a seven-tone, roughly equidistant heptatonic tuning, heterophonic textures (each instrument elaborating the same core melody at different densities), and cyclic rhythms articulated by small cymbals (ching) and drums (taphon, klawng). Signature timbres include the pi nai (quadruple-reed oboe), wooden xylophones (ranat ek/thum), gong-circles (khong wong yai/lek), spike fiddles (saw duang, saw u, saw sam sai), the hammered dulcimer (khim), the zither (jakhe), and flutes (khlui). Repertoire consists of named pieces and suites (thao) performed at three structural tempo levels (sam chan → song chan → chan diao), moving from expansive elaboration toward concise, driving climaxes.

Bolero is a romantic Cuban song genre that emerged in the late 19th century in Santiago de Cuba within the trovador tradition. It is characterized by a slow to moderate tempo, lyrical melodies, and intimate, sentimental lyrics centered on love, longing, and heartbreak. Unlike the Spanish dance of the same name, the Cuban bolero is a vocal, guitar-led form that later expanded to trios and orchestras. Its rhythmic backbone often draws on the habanera/tresillo feel, while harmony ranges from simple tonic–dominant motion to lush progressions with secondary dominants and jazz-inflected extensions in later styles. Bolero became a pan–Latin American idiom during the 20th century, shaping the repertoire of trios románticos and crossover stylings in Mexico, Puerto Rico, and beyond, and laying crucial foundations for later romantic currents in Latin pop and ballad traditions.

Tango is a music and dance genre that emerged in the Río de la Plata region at the turn of the 20th century, characterized by its dramatic phrasing, bittersweet harmonies, and close-embrace dance. The music typically features an orquesta típica with bandoneóns, violins, piano, and double bass, playing in 2/4 or 4/4 time with a distinctive syncopated pulse derived from the habanera and Afro-Rioplatense rhythms. Its sound blends European salon dances (waltz, polka, mazurka), rural gaucho song (payada, milonga), and Afro-Uruguayan/Argentine candombe. Melodies often lean minor, with chromatic inner lines, lush diminished chords, and expressive rubato. Vocal tangos frequently use lunfardo (Buenos Aires slang) to tell stories of love, loss, and urban life.

Waltz is a dance-music genre in triple meter, most commonly in 3/4 time, marked by a strong accent on the first beat and the characteristic “oom–pah–pah” accompaniment (bass note followed by two chords). Emerging from Central European folk dances and adopted by urban salons, the waltz spans both functional dance repertoire and concert pieces for piano or orchestra. Tempos vary by style: the Viennese waltz is fast and flowing, while the slow/English waltz is measured and lyrical. Melodies are typically long-breathed and cantabile, with 8- or 16-bar phrases and frequent modulations to closely related keys. The genre is culturally tied to Vienna and the Habsburg lands, where composers such as the Strausses and Lanner helped codify its form, but it has since permeated ballroom traditions, art music, folk repertoires, film, and popular music worldwide.

Chachachá is a Cuban dance‑music genre that emerged in early‑1950s Havana as a dancer‑friendly offshoot of danzón‑mambo. It is typically performed by charanga ensembles—flute and violins over piano, bass, güiro, and timbales—producing a light, elegant sonority distinct from the brass‑heavy mambo big bands. The groove is mid‑tempo with a clear, even pulse that supports the signature “cha‑cha‑chá” triple step heard in the dancers’ feet. Melodies are tuneful and diatonic, harmonies favor simple I–IV–V movements with occasional II–V turnarounds, and arrangements move from a lyrical cuerpo to a montuno section featuring coro‑pregón call‑and‑response, piano tumbao, and tasteful flute improvisations. The name “chachachá” is often traced to the shuffling sound of the dancers’ steps; composer‑violinist Enrique Jorrín simplified mambo syncopations to make the beat more square and intelligible, which helped the style spread worldwide through social and ballroom dance.

Easy listening is a lush, melodic, and unobtrusive style of popular orchestral music designed to be pleasant in the foreground and effortless in the background. It favors smooth textures, lyrical melodies, and gentle rhythms over virtuosic display or dense complexity. Typical arrangements feature string sections, woodwinds, soft brass, vibraphone, harp, piano, subtle Latin or light swing percussion, and sometimes wordless choirs. Repertoire often consists of standards, film and television themes, and instrumental covers of contemporary hits, presented with polished studio production and wide stereo imaging. The mood ranges from romantic and sentimental to breezy and exotic, prioritizing warmth, clarity, and relaxed pacing. Improvisation, if present, is restrained, with harmony that leans on jazzy extensions while staying consonant and approachable.

Pop is a broad, hook-driven style of popular music designed for wide appeal. It emphasizes memorable melodies, concise song structures, polished vocals, and production intended for radio, charts, and mass media. While pop continually absorbs elements from other styles, its core remains singable choruses, accessible harmonies, and rhythmic clarity. Typical forms include verse–pre-chorus–chorus, frequent use of bridges and middle-eights, and ear-catching intros and outros. Pop is not defined by a single instrumentation. It flexibly incorporates acoustic and electric instruments, drum machines, synthesizers, and increasingly digital production techniques, always in service of the song and the hook.

Piphat is a foundational Thai classical ensemble style centered on pi (a double-reed oboe), xylophones (ranat), gong chimes (khong wong), and drums (taphon, klong), with time articulated by small cymbals (ching) and hand cymbals (chap). It features heterophonic texture: all instruments follow the same melodic line but render it at different densities and ornamentation levels, creating a shimmering, interlocking sound. Piphat ensembles accompany court and temple ceremonies, masked dance (Khon), dance-drama (Lakhon), and shadow play (Nang Yai), using cyclical rhythmic frameworks and modal-melodic patterns characteristic of Thai classical practice. Variants include piphat mai khaeng (hard mallets, outdoor/ceremonial power), piphat mai nuam (soft mallets, more intimate color), piphat Mon (with Mon percussion color), and piphat nanghong (funerary repertory).

Mahori is a refined Thai classical chamber ensemble traditionally associated with royal and aristocratic entertainment. It features a soft, intimate sound built around bowed fiddles (saw duang, saw u, and sometimes the ornate saw sam sai), the plucked floor zither jakhe, and the bamboo flute khlui, supported by light hand percussion such as thon–rammana and ching. Unlike the louder piphat ensemble, mahori favors lyrical melody, supple dynamics, and heterophony—each instrument elaborates the same tune with individualized ornaments. Vocals, often setting classical Thai poetry, may be included. The repertoire adapts broader Thai classical forms and mode systems (thang), presented in layered tempi (sam chan → song chan → chan) that gradually intensify while preserving elegance.

Khrueang sai (literally “string ensemble”) is one of the principal ensembles in Thai classical music. It features a soft, indoor sound built around bowed and plucked strings, with bamboo flute and light percussion providing color and rhythmic articulation. A typical khrueang sai ensemble centers on the saw duang (high two‑string spike fiddle), saw u (low two‑string spike fiddle), and the plucked zither jakhe, joined by the khlui (bamboo flute). Time is marked by a small pair of crash cymbals (ching) and a drum pair (thon–rammana). The texture is heterophonic: instruments simultaneously render the same melody with individualized ornamentation and rhythmic elaboration. The repertoire ranges from courtly pieces to social functions, favoring graceful, lyrical, and intimate expression.

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