Beautiful South Thai

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

If those who were born and maintain relation with the state in northern Malaysian Peninsula like Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan, and Northern Perak, they would also find it hard to resist from the influence which coming from neighboring states in neighboring country which is Thailand...

This song was actually produced during the Southern Thai insurgency in Pattani and Yalar provinces during the administration of Mr. Thaksin Shinawat. I have nothing against Mr. Shinawat nor any leader in Thailand. Even we Muslim outside of Thailand border actually respect Thai emperor, Mahagasatr Bhumibal just like we respect the Sultan who lead our state and we would kick those who insult him or his consort. This song was sung by Southern Thai artists whom are Luang Gai and Jiep Benjabarn. Luang Gai is a Muslim while Benjabarn is a Buddhist.

When I stayed in late grandparents' house during weekend off, I just tuned to Thai radio station and sleep beside radio because I felt bored being there alone while grandparents doing their chores around or taking a nap in the noon. I didn't really pray like a Muslim when I was 13 years old and I would hide myself during prayer times while we were in the madarasah, hahahaa. 

This song actually encourages Southern Thais to maintain unity and co-exist in peace since we are brothers and sisters. Our state was once almost being integrated into a Thai province in Southern Thai too while one of our territory which is Satun (Setul) had already being an integrated part of Southern Thai province. These singers are using Southern Thai dialect, it's not Central Thai dialect used in Bangkok or elsewhere in Thailand. We share great deals of similarity with them outside the border there, hahaha. When we went to Thailand whether in Dannok or Bangkok, we would speak using Southern Thai dialect unless if the people speak to us in Malay.

I remember during lexicography project during first degree, I used this song as a project and the lecturer for this course, Dr. Aniswal is also a Kedah person but she had been living in London for many years so her Malay or Kedahan Malay sound quite different in accent even when she tried to speak in Malay. Well, I understand her situation and she's a nice person who does not boast around even when she lived there in Britain because we love our state no matter where we are. I used to use Thai model for our interpreting project where most of colleagues using well-known languages such as Swedish, French, Arabic, and other Caucasoid languages but we only use a modest language which is Thai and we didn't record it in video but simply talking whatever we had in our mind, lol. It was so hilarious when I played a character as a Tuk Moh Siam (Thai shaman) speaking to a Malay patient (Birshahman) with Amir as my interpreter. I don't know whether lecturer was laughing because I felt quite ashamed speaking in Southern Thai dialect in front of people who didn't speak the language. Whatever it is, we passed the course so it can flow down the stream, hahahahaa.... 

I heard that there are Dai people in Southern China... I guess in Jinghung city or Sipsongbanna of Yunnan province. They speak the language resembles Thai and Lao. Cultural traits are almost the same too with Theravada Buddhism and support of Gathin offerings by the emperor of Thailand. I used to listen to some videos where those people conversing in their language and I could more or less understand them, haha.

It's rainy season now and I don't know what happened to those in Bangkok. I also wish that Southern Thai do not being hit by flood because it will sure affect our states up here. If we have more sustenance with us, we may also help those in Thailand and Cambodia with some donation.   

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace, and love, amin!   

Kinnaree: Mytholgical Bird

Assalaamu'alaikum wa Rahmatullah!

This is apart of varieties of cultural traits shared by people in Southern Thailand, Northern and Eastern Coast States of Malaysia like Kedah, Perlis and Kelantan. Since not all of the people visiting Buddhists area, they might also want to know about these. 

So, don't worry we have videos and many things nowadays unlike those days back then. Although we do not practice it, some of our people in northern area especially of Buddhism background are still practicing it.

This is actually from my past experience as a kid who was 'dumped' to the state bordering Thailand. I encountered these cultural traits like Lung Norah or Menorah dance which is a dance originated from Southern Thailand when I wandered around like a strayed wild goose. 

Southern Thailand and Northern Malaysian states were previously an integral part of legendary Langkasukan empire. This performance is only prominent in Southern Thailand and also shared in Northern Malaysia predates the Siamese empire of Sukhothai (12th C) and Sri Ayutthaya (13th C). 

Sometimes, this performance also being part of ritual in commemorating the dead. Also performed during thambun festival at temples like in Pendang district in Kedah. Never been to Pendang temples but I heard from people there. I am just familiar with those in Perlis and Kubang Pasu. Usually, this dance portrays story about kinnaree sacrifice for love in fire. It sounds like the name of a bird in malay too. According to mythologies, it is a kind of angelic half human bird in buddhists' mythology. You may see this half human bird statues at Thai temples everywhere in those states mentioned or in Thailand. 

The word menora is actually derived from Sanskrit word, manohara which means pretty and it is referring to the main character of the dance. This character was derived from phra phrannyasa jatoq or jataka tales. What I heard about Hindus'... I mean Indians' mythology, this kind of creature is associated with half human horse or centaur. I guess mentioned somewhere in mahabharata.

Performers would perform dances that they are good at like mentioned in the video. Sometimes they have po' phrant which acts as pak lawak or joker if the performance has the dialogue or simply without dialogue one. They also have musicians. You can hear the sound from the video. Before the performance took place, performers might also paying homage to sages or phra phor statues and peforming rituals like Kaliya Natarat. You spell it as Kaliya Nataraja. It is for them to get blessings from their teachers. They may also seeking protection from Hindu god whom role in buddhism is as the protector of the three gems or buddhist principles like viganet, write it as viganeswara. Viganet is the elephant head god where you could also see in Malaysia at Indians' premises like shops and others. They believe that it is to banish obstacles during performance and making it flows well. 

This puja session applies to wayang kulit and other performances as well. That's why Kelantan state government had banned wayang kulit among Muslim practitioners when it was associated with these rituals. It is not easy to change people thinking as to say da'awa is not performed in one day. The ulamas in Patani and other parts of South Thai were having hard times too. It still goes on because the result is not showing up only in one day or in a blink of an eyes. It takes every sacrifice including these people tears and time to change people thoughts. These people have to monitor the environment and people around too.

I used to bring friend who mingles with me like Azren to see these kinds of performance just for fun and to introduce to friend different things that exist in this world. We also had USM cultural nights in Dewan Budaya. Last time during first degree, I went for Thai Cultural Nights and they were sponsored by Thai Consulate of Penang. Sometimes I was there to support my Thai seniors who took part in cultural performances. They served luxurious Thai cuisine as well after the performances and movies screening for two nights. 

Most of my Thai seniors are actually Buddhists and I wasn't really talking to Muslim Thais whom ethnically are Malays of Southern provinces neighboring our states. Those Buddhist seniors or mine are also of Malay descents and natives of Southern Thai provinces. A Thai Buddhist senior had also wonders, why I know many things about Thai Buddhism including Jaya Mangala Gatha despite that I am a Muslim. We had long discussions until late night regarding a prophesied event in Abhidhamma Pitaka and other Buddhist texts that we commonly read because that friend is quite religious, heheheheheehe... She suspects that I am a Buddhist. I was just lazy to explain. My mouth as always, feels heavy to open up.

This is just an additional knowledge for share among friends, brothers, and sisters. I watched these too last time whether at temple festivals or at the university these recent. Just sharing around for others to see how it works if others have no experience.  

Sealed with prayers for peace, mercy, and love for brothers and sisters in faith and for humanity, amin!