Thailand Musical Instrument Set 1982

In 1982, Thailand produced a set of eight stamps featuring traditional musical instruments. Each stamp features either one or two instruments that are floating on a rather non-descript background. There are no musicians on the stamps. Such sets have been popular with countries around the world dating back to the 1960s.

Previously, I have written about sets from Gabon, El Salvador, Papau New Guinea, and Ethiopia, among others. As I have pointed out, sets of musical instruments stamps make sense for many reasons. First, they naturally make nice sets as even with differing design they suggest a relationship to each other as an easily identifiable group. Also, the image of an instrument evokes music. It can be a way to elicit positive feelings to a citizen about a common cultural element (music), contributing to national pride. The more identifiable a specific instrument or type of music is with a country, the more powerful it is as a visual symbol.

I have to say that the stamps are not particularly attractive. I do enjoy the traditional script (although the stamps are dual language and also with English) and the design in the border. The instrument depictions are accurate, but simple. More than the individual stamps, I have a pair of covers with a beautiful embossed decoration of an instrument and an attractive cancellation that is a nice presentation of these somewhat mundane stamps. However, I think that the musical instruments themselves and their music is of great interest.

Piphat Ensemble

In Thailand, one of the classical ensembles is known as the piphat ensemble. It is primarily made of wind and percussion instruments. The stamps in the 1982 Thai series match the specific type known as piphat khrueang khu, arranged in pairs of instruments, high and low. Many instruments in Thailand are related to instruments and musical styles found in other parts of southeast Asia. The Thai piphat ensemble is related to the Laotian pinphat ensemble. Check out this post about stamps featuring similar instruments from Laos.

The first stamp features two pairs of different size cymbals. The smaller pair, the ching are high pitch and function as a time keeper. The larger (in diameter) cymbals are the chap. They are actually made of much thinner brass. Both instruments names are onomatopoeic.

The 1 Baht denomination stamp has a green background. It features two examples of a reed instrument, much like an oboe. The main difference is that an oboe is a double reed with two pieces of cane that vibrate, the Thai instruments have four pieces that vibrate, they are quadruple reed instruments. The smaller, and higher pitch of the two is the pi nok. The slightly larger, and lower pitch instrument is the pi nae.

Next, the 1.25 Baht stamp, features drums. A pair of barrel drums is known as the klong that. The pair is played with a set of wooden sticks, whereas the taphon sits on its side on a stand and has two heads, that a player sounds with their hands. The taphon is a sacred instrument and in addition to its use in the piphat ensemble appears in a variety of folk styles in Thailand.

The 1.50 baht stamp features other percussion isntruments. The stamp features the hong mong, a gong that is played with a mallet. The small krap are wooden sticks that beat together to keep time.

Melodic Percussion Instruments

The next two stamps feature the khong wong yai and the khong wong lek. Both instruments consist of a set of small bronze pots. A player sits in the middle of a circular rack that holds the pots. The khong wong yai is a bass instrument, and the khong wong lek is a higher treble instrument.

Finally, the last two stamps feature wooden xylophone type instruments. The ranat ek has a beautiful curved stand with bars that curve upwards from the center. It is a treble instrument. The ranat thum sits lower on a flatter stand with a more slight curve to its bars. This is a lower bass xylophone.

FInally, enjoy a slightly smaller piphat ensemble playing traditional Thai music.