Thailand’s Two Anthems

Posted on January 7, 2011 by Mike

Thailand has two anthems, one is the Royal Anthem and the other is known as the National Anthem. This is unusual for a monarchy since most have just a National Anthem although Denmark and Sweden are similar to Thailand.

If you live in Thailand or have visited you will no doubt be familiar with the National Anthem which is played at 8am and 6pm everyday on national TV and radio. It also starts the school day across the country as children line up and stand to attention in the school yard while the national flag is raised.

The Royal Anthem on the other hand is played on State occasions, Royal birthdays and when a member of the Royal Family is present at an event.  It is also played  before every film shown in a Thai cinema.

The history surrounding the anthems is quite interesting particularly the Royal Anthem which believe it or not is at least partly associated with the British National Anthem, “God Save the Queen.” Since it seems that in 1871 King Rama V  had the music created after visiting Singapore(British colony) where a military band played the British Anthem.

On his return to Thailand His Majesty King Chulalongkorn instructed a  band master at the Royal Thai Calvary, to compose a musical piece of similar style. The resulting Thai Royal Anthem is a blend of styles incorporating ideas from the original Royal Anthem( Phleng Sarasern Phabarami) and the British National Anthem into a piece that is suitable for playing on military bands instruments rather than traditional Thai instruments. The Royal Anthem was originally set to words for four voices.

The National Anthem(Phleng Chat Thai) on the other hand came about in 1932 when the revolutionary leaders demanded that Siam have a separate National Anthem since the political system was changed from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. The words of the Thai National Anthem were changed in 1939 when the country adopted its modern day name in place of Siam although the original tune was retained. The new words being provided by an Officer in the Royal Thai Army.

Although the actual origins of the music for both anthems are debated in Thailand it is interestingly to note,  given that Thailand can sometimes appear somewhat xenophobic, that in one version of the story, the Royal Anthem was written by a Portuguese person while the National Anthem was written by the son of an American/German who was married to a Thai citizen.

Whatever the true origins of the anthems it is important that whenever you are in Thailand it is expected that you will pay your respects when either anthem is played. You can do this by standing up, keeping still and remaining quiet during the playing. Thais take the anthems very seriously and it is not very long ago that a Thai person was prosecuted under lèse majesté law for failing to stand when the Royal Anthem was played in a cinema.

Source Material:

Thaiwaysmagazine

Wikipedia

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  • http://www.phanathailife.typepad.com Lawrence

    I knew there were the two anthems but could never remember which was which. I wonder if I will now. But much of your information was new to me, so thanks for that, Mike.

    • http://www.thailand-blogs.com Mike

      Lawrence I can tell the different tunes now. An easy way is the National Anthem is played at 8am and 6pm and you can hear the Royal Anthem on Channel 7 in the evenings.

  • http://paulgarrigan.com/ Paul Garrigan

    Hi Mike. First of all, well done on winning Thai Blog of the Month – very well deserved. Hopefully this will be a good omen for a win elsewhere in your near future.

    When you work in the schools in Thailand you get to know the national anthems very well. It is the signal that work is going to start – on special days we’d have both the anthems so it meant a bit longer in the office before hitting the classroom :-) When I was in Thamkrabok temple for detox they also had the national anthem every day there. We were expecting to come outside and stand to attention and sing the anthem. It was the strangest sight you’ve ever seen with at least half those standing going through the shakes because of drugs or alcohol withdrawal.

    • http://www.thailand-blogs.com Mike

      Paul thank you, Richard has been very supportive over the last few months with this blog and the Medical Tourism Competition. Great bloke who does some really interesting stuff on Thailand.

      As for the anthems, yes I can imagine your “joy” at school given your revelations in your recent series of stories about teaching.

      I now have an interesting mental picture about the detox temple too ;-)

  • http://www.thailand-blogs.com Mike

    Thanks Lawrence. Yes I opted MTF out of Richards site when the format was a bit different and published a full feed.
    If i win the med-blog it will be listed as a 21st century miracle, but thank you for your support and comments there too.

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