The Isaan region - Thailand

The Isaan region : where culture and joie de vivre converge in Thailand Isaan country, as is named the Northeastern part of Thailand, has been the point of convergence of a dual influence : from Laos, from where hundreds of thousands war prisoners were brought during the Lao-Siamese wars of the 19th century, and from Cambodia, the Khmers having been the original inhabitants of the area during Angkor times. The result is a colorful and lively culture, a blended folk culture in the real sense of the term. Isaan people have their own literature, heroes and heroines (i.e. Khun Ying Mo, a fiery local aristocrat who pushed back the Lao armies and is revered everyday on the main plaza of Nakhon Ratchasima), their music and their dances, but also their cuisine, handicrafts, beliefs and legends. Contrary to the culture of other regions of Thailand, which have often been sanitized and standardized in order to fit the tourism industry, the Isaan region present what can be qualify as the most genuine, if sometimes disorderly, culture of the country. The range of music and dances of Isaan is vast : from the mor lam, which figures an improvised sung courtship between a man and a woman to the protest music of Caravan, a “Bob Dylan” kind of group which used traditional Isaan instruments as the khene and the one-cord harp.
In the villages and rice fields of Isaan, we can also find a joie de vivre, an absence of worries, which paradoxically seems to come from the very harsh conditions of the environment. When one has to break his back with work all day long, one tends to let go, without any restraint, during the festivals, as the rocket festival (Bun Bang Fai) of Yasothorn and the Thai New Year (Songkhran), when people throws water at each other.
© Texte de Arnaud Dubus