Les maîtres de la fête : une cérémonie du wai khru de la province de Phetchabun (Thaïlande)

• Main Author: Edouard Degay Delpeuch
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Université de Provence 2018-05-01
• Series: Moussons
• Subjects: Anthropology of music; wai khru; ritual; Buddhism; transmission; festivities
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/moussons/4169

The tribute to master ceremony, also known as wai khru, has already raised the interest of several studies (Wong & Lysloff 1991, Wong 2001), the aim here is to understand what the ritual becomes once the transmission of music is no longer ruled by the master-student relationship. Created less than ten years ago in Lomsak, Phetchabun province, at the limit of North and Isan regions of Thailand, the destiny of Khun Narin Sin Phin Prayuk has undergone a considerable turn once it published a first video on YouTube. Found and broadcasted within the American musical blogsophere, the band has then been contacted by an independent music label to record a first album. In 2015, the band was invited to play Western music festival under the name Khun Narin Electric Phin Band. Beyond relationship to an embodied master, wai khru takes place between Buddhism and propitious worship, quality of performance and mindblowing festivities. This paper highlights the significant role this ceremony plays to balance the opposite forces of Thai festivities.