Thai National Anthem

The story

Before 1932 the royal anthem "Sansoen Phra Barami" served as Siam's anthem in fact. Phra Chenduriyang, a royal music adviser to the court, recalled in an autobiography written in 1954 that his friend Luang Nithetkolakit of the Royal Siamese Navy had asked him for a new "national anthem of Siam" in the manner of La Marseillaise; loyal to the king, and wary of the rumours of a coup, he put the request off. About five days after the coup of June 1932, Luang Nithetkolakit revealed that he was a member of the People's Party (Khana Ratsadon) and asked again, now on behalf of the new regime. Phra Chenduriyang reluctantly promised the tune in seven days and finished it on 6 July 1932, on a tram from Tha Tien to Bang Khun Phrom on the way to his work at Suan Misakawan near Dusit Palace. He arranged it for the Royal Siamese Navy Orchestra, in a tune vaguely like Poland's anthem "Poland Is Not Yet Lost", and asked that his name be kept secret. When the orchestra first played it at the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall the following week, the newspaper Srikrung named him as the composer; the Minister of the Palace reprimanded him for making an anthem on his own initiative, and although the new prime minister, Phraya Manopakornnitithada, explained that the idea had been the government's, in October 1932 he was punished with the loss of his post and later taken back on half his former salary.

The People's Party asked Khun Wichitmatra for words. His "Phleng Chat Sayam", two stanzas of eight lines, was printed with the music by the Srikrung press by 29 August 1932 and became popular, though it was never declared official; lines that spoke of seizing power were banned as likely to stir unrest. In 1934 the government held a competition, judged by a committee chaired by Prince Wan Waithayakon, for a Thai-style and a Western-style anthem. The Thai-style winner, "Mahanimit", Changwang Thua Pathayakosol's arrangement of the classical piece "Tra Nimit", was broadcast for a time but never submitted to the Cabinet, as the committee judged that joining two existing pieces would lessen its sacredness. For the Western style the committee kept Phra Chenduriyang's melody, with a revised version of Khun Wichitmatra's words and a second set by Chan Khamwilai; the Cabinet approved them on 20 August 1934. Sung in full, the 32 lines took almost four minutes, and most people sang only Khun Wichitmatra's part. Regulations of February 1935 under Phraya Phahonphonphayuhasena's government added a short instrumental version, about ten seconds of the closing bars, for public ceremonies and ordinary occasions.

In 1939, when the country's name was changed from Siam to Thailand, a new competition was held for words of eight lines naming the country, still sung to Phra Chenduriyang's melody. Luang Saranupraphan's words won and were adopted under the sixth of the Thai cultural mandates on 10 December 1939. Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram ordered the anthem played every day at 08:00 and 18:00 and the people to stand for it; under his rule those who did not could be fined up to 2,000 baht and imprisoned for up to a year, a law since abolished. Today the anthem accompanies the raising and lowering of the national flag in schools, workplaces and public buildings, and since the 1980s radio and television have broadcast it twice a day. Most people still stop and stand of their own accord; soldiers and police are required to salute it. Pupils assemble before the raised flag to sing it at 08:00 every school day, and those who arrive after it are marked late.

What it says

A national anthem of the Thai nation, sung at the daily raising and lowering of the flag; formal and solemn in mood.

The words

The words of this song are still in copyright, so they are not printed here. “What it says” above gives their theme in our own words, and the performance below lets you hear them.