Molam

Molam (mor lam, 'master singer') is the folk music of the Lao-speaking peoples of Laos and Thailand's northeastern Isan region. A virtuoso singer, the mo lam, delivers improvised, tongue-twisting verse, narrative poetry, courtship dialogue and social commentary over the khaen, a bamboo free-reed mouth organ whose continuous flurries of sixteenth notes define the sound, joined by the phin lute, sor fiddle and percussion. Styles range from the slow, stately lam klon to the fast, percussive lam sing performed by costumed troupes with dancers. Electrified from the 1970s with organ, guitar, bass and drum kit, molam became Thailand's great regional popular music.