Kantrum (, ) is a type of

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

played by the Khmer in

Isan Northeast Thailand or Isan (Isan language, Isan/, ; ; also written as Isaan, Isarn, Issarn, Issan, Esan, or Esarn; from Pāli ''isāna'' or Sanskrit ईशान्य ''īśānya'' "northeast") consists of 20 provinces in northeastern Thai ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, living near the border with

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

. It is a fast, traditional

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded dance musi ...

. In its purest form,

cho-kantrum Kantrum (, ) is a type of folk music played by the Khmer Surin, Khmer in Isan, Thailand, living near the border with Cambodia. It is a fast, traditional dance music. In its purest form, cho-kantrum, singers, percussion and fiddles dominate the s ...

, singers, percussion and

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

s dominate the sound. A more modern form using electric instrumentation arose in the mid-1980s.

Language

Kantrum is interesting from a linguistic perspective. As the Khmer native to

are bilingual, kantrum songs can be sung in Thai ( Isan dialect), Northern Khmer or a combination of the two. In the case of the later, it is most common that a complete verse will be sung in Thai followed by a reciprocating verse in Khmer. However,

code switching In linguistics, code-switching or language alternation occurs when a speaker alternates between two or more languages, or language varieties, in the context of a single conversation or situation. These alternations are generally intended to i ...

between the two languages within the same verse also occurs, lending to a wide variety of possibilities for rhyming and tonal euphony.

Performers

In the late-1980s, Darkie became the genre's biggest star, crossing into mainstream markets in the later 1990s. In the mid-2010s, Darkie found popularity online, particularly among Westerners, for his rendition of the

Sinn Sisamouth Sinn Sisamouth (c. 1932 – c. 1976) was a Cambodian singer-songwriter active from the 1950s to the 1970s. Widely considered the "King of Khmer Music", Sisamouth, along with Ros Serey Sothea, Pen Ran, Mao Sareth, and other Cambodian artists ...

song Sat Tee Touy. Another artist known for Kantrum is

Chalermpol Malakham Chalermpol Malakham (also written Malakam, ; born 10 October 1962 in Surin Province), is a singer from the Isan area of Thailand. Known mostly for the Luk Thung and Mor lam styles, he is also considered a talented performer of Kantrum. Althoug ...

, although he is also a popular performer of the

Luk Thung Luk thung (, , ) is a genre of Thai music that emerged after World War II in the Central Thailand, central region of Thailand. The genre was derived from phleng Thai sakon, and developed in the early-20th century. Suphan Buri in particular beca ...

and

Morlam Mor lam ( Lao: ໝໍລຳ; Isan: หมอลำ ; , , ) is a traditional Lao form of song originating in Laos that is also popular in Isan, where the majority of the population is ethnic Lao. ''Morlam (or molam)'' is a traditional storyte ...

styles of music.

Language

Performers

See also