Moderator : Asst. Prof. Dr. Suppabhorn Suwanpakdee

"Ladda Silapabanleng" The first female Stage play and film director in Thailand after World War II

Associate Professor Dr.Sirimongkol Natayakulwong

Department of Performing Arts, Faculty of Fine-Applied Arts and Cultural Sciences, Mahasarakham University, Thailand

Musical plays and films are forms of entertainment in Thailand that have been popular since before World War II. Along with traditional Thai dance performers such as those who dance Lakon and Khon, most of those who have roles in directing Thai stage plays or movies work in both types of entertainment. In Thai entertainment arts, women are traditionally only performers. However, Ladda Silapabanleng, the daughter-in-law of the Silapabanleng family, a well-known family of traditional Thai musicians, and a former leading actors at Thailand's College of Dramatic Arts, became the first woman to demonstrate her talents in directing Thai stage plays and films. Her work led to the fame of the Phakawalee troupe in particular. Especially in tragedies, such as the stage play ""Khamphayabat"" and the Thai movie ""Fire of Life,"" she launched the careers of many leading Thai artists in the country. The name Ladda Silapabanleng is therefore a representative image of the first Thai woman in the theatre and film industry of Thailand. In the era after World War II, her career shows us an evolution towards equality between males and females in the Thai entertainment industry, as Thailand's leading female director was seen as equivalent to a male director.

 

Today, her work is preserved and published in book format, film, and in the internet database at the Museums of music Sorn-Prasith Silapabanleng by Kultorn and Film Archive (Public Organization).

 

Silapabanleng’s Siamese Music and the arrangements in a contemporary context

Asst. Prof. Dr. Chanyapong Thongsawang

School of Music, Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music, Thailand

 

 

Prasidh Silapabanleng (1912-1999), a prominent Thai composer and National Artist, learnt Thai traditional music from his father, Luang Praditpairoh, and later studied composition with Klaus Pringsheim at the Tokyo Academy of Music in Japan. His compositions, combining Siamese characteristics and classical compositional techniques, can be divided into three main categories: 1) Orchestral works (e.g., Siamese Suite and Siamese Romance); 2) Arrangements of Thai traditional music (e.g., Siang Tian, Damnoen Sigh and Cherd Nai); and 3) Theatre music for the Phakavali troupe in collaboration with his wife, Ladda (Saratayon) Silapabanleng, as the theatre director.

 

The presentation will demonstrate how Prasidh Silapabanleng interpreted Thai traditional music in a classical way from his arrangements for western instruments. He not only arranged Siang Tian and Damnern Sigh for a string quartet but also for an orchestra with new lyrics. Siamese Suite, composed in 1953 for a submission to a composition competition in Belgium, illustrates Siamese characteristics in a symphonic work.

 

To celebrate the 111th anniversary of Prasidh Silapabanleng, the author will arrange Siamese Suite as a piano concerto and transform the theatrical play Phakavali in 6 acts (over 2 hours) into the Phakavali Ballet Suite in one act (ca. 30 minutes) with a visual choreographic design that illustrates the mythological fantasy of the tragic love between the goddess Phakavali and Prince Stanonda. Five theme songs of the play will be adapted to suit dancing steps with additions of Thai traditional music, depicting Lord Indra in heaven, and include selected dramatic classical music to conclude the tragic story when the leading actor and actress die in an inferno. This project is part of a larger initiative to promote valuable Thai musical literature by adapting it in a contemporary style and by making it more accessibie and simpler.

PROGRAM 

François Couperin: Les Goûts réunis, ou Nouveaux concert', Concerto No. 7

Gravement – Gavotte – Fuguète

PERFORMERS:

Tomoyuki Kida, Alto recorder & Small pipe

Makiko Asahi, Harpsichord

Naphat Saengtubtim, Flute

Jirayut Thaolipo, Double bass

Siriprapa Thongsri & Pranote Sriworaku, Dancer

Prasidh Silapabanleng: Oh Love & Winter Wind

PERFORMERS:

Kurara Tsuruse & Pranote Sriworakul, Dancer

Phoom Santipornwit, Piano