Enough about elephant farts …. Here are some more items of Thai ephemera. They are images from lam tat booklets, taken from the reference works of Anake Nawigamune.
Lam tat (ลำตัด) is a Thai folk performance. It came to Siam from Malaysia during the reign of Rama V (1853 – 1910). Performances are sharp, witty, aggressive, and overtly sexual. Performers sing in turn, replying to each other in song, relying upon repertoire and improvisation. Booklets of lam tat lyrics were sold in markets.
Many performances were based on popular news items like murder, robbery, corruption among mandarins, capture of bandits etc. The covers were very eye-catching, using photos or drawings based on real events. The examples of booklet covers presented here were published between 1924 and 1934.
The Son Killed his Father (1926)
She Killed Her Lover (1929)
Ee Nak Phra Khanong - popular ghost story (1920s)
The Brave Policeman (1928)
[This post is provided by the National Library of Australia as part of our Book Zone feature. For further information on the featured publications contact Saowapha Viravong at sviravong@nla.gov.au]
18 responses so far ↓
1 semuren // Sep 21, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Does Lam tat still exist? Do you know of any English literature on Lam tat?
2 Andrew Walker // Sep 21, 2009 at 9:36 pm
This is fascinating. Can we have a sample of text from one of them? Why did he kill his father? Why did she kill her lover? Was there a connection?
3 Susie Wong // Sep 21, 2009 at 11:24 pm
How could we prove that those pictures were original? William Gedney, an American who studied Thai language wrote in one of his articles that he had produced many fake old pictures on Thailand. He said he learned the techniques when he served the CIA as a Thai translator. This technique was later transferred to others. Secondly, to tie a boy in a post is certainly not a Thai culture. Lastly, common Thai women do not carry rifle during those periods. It was record that the British soldier Mr. Thompson was the first person who brought/introduced rifle to Thailand during the liberation of Siam from Japan.
I think history is important. It also must be based on fact. It is troubling for me to see an attempt to distort facts.
4 Ralph Kramden // Sep 22, 2009 at 10:21 am
Susie: too much conspiracy theory for me. These are from the 1920s, not the 1940s. Plenty of this material about. Rifles introduced in WW2? Are you serious? Look at photos of the Thai army before 1932. Maybe it was the Portuguese who introduced muskets but these were smooth bores and a rifle refers to rifled barrels. These date to the 15th century but more reasonably to the late 18th century. They were in Asia soon after and were available in Siam.
5 chris baker // Sep 22, 2009 at 11:06 am
‘Secondly, to tie a boy in a post is certainly not a Thai culture.’ Ummm, Susie, that’s the standard execution procedure. Very ‘Thai culture.’
Anake has got piles of illustrations in this style. Go and look at his museum. I don’t think Gedney can have made all of them. Not quite all.
I can remember watching lamtat at wat fairs around 20 years ago. Probably still happens.
Although it ‘came from Malaysia’ in R5, it’s only a slight adaptation of an old Thai tradition of counterpoint singing. The ‘Malay’ addition was just a new element to make it fresh and exotic, like playing Mae Nak as Broadway.
Nice post.
6 Saowapha // Sep 22, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Unfortunately we don’t have these rare Lamtat booklets in the Thai collection at the NLA. Sorry no sample of the text is available. These images were reproduced from one of Anake Nawigamune books: Phāp thāi læ singphim / Anēk Nāwikkamūn (ภาพถ่ายและสิ่งพิมพ์)
Chris, thanks I’ve never been to the museum but next time when I am in Thailand I will make sure his museum is on top of my ‘must do’ list, Saowapha.
7 Susie Wong // Sep 22, 2009 at 5:53 pm
1. The historical date of the reign of Rama 5 (1853 – 1910)was incorrect. The correct date should be Rama 4 ( 1851- 1868) and Rama 5 (1868-1910).
2. In the early 1860s, Anna Leonowens, school teacher to Rama5 (1868-1910), recorded that Rama 5 was still without shoes or shirt as yet when he danced with her. Because of this fact, the musical “the King and I” is still prohibited to show in Thailand up till now. Lamtat is a performance for lower class Thais. The period (1925-1935) was Rama7, the elites began to dress western and access to weapons, however, not ordinary people.
3. Nonthaburi province is the area of Mon ethnic, they do not wear head band. The man doesn’t look Thai at all. Furthermore, Thai people (whatever ethnics or religions) respect their father highly, the story of killing a father during that period (still primitive era) was impossible.
4. With the request of Rama 4, the French Catholic priests developed the written Thai language based on Bali and Sansakrit (Indian). Both Phumipon and Sirikit studied at Catholic schools during their early age. We can ask those Catholic schools for comparison of the materials. William Gedney, a Thai linguist, learned Bali and Sansakrit as well. Gedney had the technique of how to make something looked antique, fluent in the language, and involved in politics, for those reasons, I would like a scientific proof of the originality of those works.
5. Many things were wrong and inaccurate about Thai political history. As a research institute and a specialized university, I expect truth to be important. So far Thai political history is based on inaccurate information. Analysis based on lies is simply useless, especially when the stake is about power and influence in the Asia Pacific Region.
8 Ralph Kramden // Sep 22, 2009 at 9:10 pm
SUsie: you claim to like facts. So give us some. What is the scientific facts you have on Gedney? Give us details and the sources.
9 Leif Jonsson // Sep 23, 2009 at 4:53 am
There is a cannon at the entry to the Nat’l Museum in Bangkok, and it has the caption; Cannon, foreign style, Bangkok period (samai rattanakosin). What this means is that time and space are configured in national terms (things are either Thai or foreign), and that dynasties are the lords of time and space and their proper coordinates. I’m reminded of the cannon as I get drilled in the correct dates for R5, R6, and R7. And to be told that the depiction of the guy about-to-execute-his-father is not properly Nonthaburi-like is a hoot. The ghost (Ee Nak) has something of a farang face. Is that inauthentic for a Thai ghost? I’ve witnessed a Thai ethnographer order people to change their clothes and the tools they use, so that they could be photographed in their ethnic representativeness. If an image matches our expectation of the thing represented, it is not a guarantee of authenticity.
10 Lleij Samuel Schwartz // Sep 23, 2009 at 8:30 am
re: Susie Wong
Indeed, we suffer from the same problem in America. For example, take a look at this comic book cover from 1938. It shows a Kryptonian man lifting a car above his head, when it is a well-known fact that super-strength, as well as, heat-vision, x-ray vision, and super-speed weren’t available to superheroes until after World War 2.
Wheels within wheels, Susie, wheels within wheels.
11 Susie Wong // Sep 23, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Ralph, you can google up for info about Gedney. Craig J. Reynolds did introduction on his work as well. Also, read Kukrit Pramoj’s critique on Gedney’s work as a hoax. Kukrit was great great grandson of Rama 1. You can also ask Suluk Sivalaksa about him, they were acquainted with each other. After all these homeworks, you then can ask me again. It is difficult to discuss the matter when another person’s head is empty. I mean because Gedney played both sides so without research and analysis you won’t be able to understand my explanation. So I prefer you to do some homework first.
12 Ralph Kramden // Sep 23, 2009 at 8:59 pm
Susie: I asked for facts related to your claim: “William Gedney, an American who studied Thai language wrote in one of his articles that he had produced many fake old pictures on Thailand. He said he learned the techniques when he served the CIA as a Thai translator. This technique was later transferred to others.” So to be precise, which article? And where does he say he transferred these techniques to others?
13 Bystander // Sep 24, 2009 at 11:10 am
Didn’t realize there could be such long conspiracy theory behind these rather mundane period illustrations. Look authentic, but downmarket to me. Nothing unusual is being portrayed here. Collectible value perhaps, sort of evocative of scenes from Anek Navikamul’s ‘when grandpa and grandma were kids’ series. Susie should go read this book at the earliest opportunity.
14 chris baker // Sep 24, 2009 at 12:17 pm
We can all stop worrying about Susie’s great concern for history.
‘Real Face’ is of course not Gedney’s work. In neither the book nor Craig Reynolds’ Intro is there anything about Gedney manufacturing documents.
15 toby // Sep 25, 2009 at 8:30 am
Really Fascinating. Thank you
16 Susie Wong // Sep 27, 2009 at 6:17 am
The pictures shown also spelled Thai words wrong.
The word murder ฆาตกรรม, the picture spelled it wrong as ฆาฎกรรม.
The word Nonthaburi province นนทบุรี, the picture spelled it wrong as นนท์บุรี. It shows clearly that the pictures were not done by native Thai.
17 reader // Sep 30, 2009 at 12:33 am
Susie, have a look at the Royal Institute Dictionary:
ฆาฏ (โบ; เลิก) น. การฆ่า, การทําลาย. ก. ตี.
ฆาฏ is an archaic spelling of ฆาต, and is now obsolete. That actually adds to the covers authenticity, doesn’t it?
As for นนท์บุรี, anyone who has lived there can tell you นนท์บุรี is still a common variant pronunciation of the name, even if that spelling is no longer common (but still well attested — 17,000 reported Google hits). The spelling เมืองนนท์, a variant form of the same name, can be seen in this 1903 document (PDF) from the Royal Gazette (”แจ้งความเรื่องย้ายกองเกษตร์ในอำเภอเมืองนนท์ไปทำการในอำเภอราชบูรณะ”). While นนทบุรี is the official spelling, it’s entirely reasonable to expect a spelling that reflects the colloquial pronunciation in an unofficial publication (for entertainment, no less) such as this one.
The ball is now in your court with respect to burden of proof.
18 Somkit // Nov 14, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Khun Susie, your dedication to the ‘one true truth’ in the face of these nefarious attempts to distort and deface our Thai history and culture makes me want to weep with joy. I am proud to be a Thai today.
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