Piphat

Piphat is the principal classical ensemble of Thailand, a loud outdoor and ceremonial formation built entirely from wind and percussion instruments. Its core pairs the piercing double-reed pi with tuned percussion: the ranat ek and ranat thum xylophones, the khong wong gong circles, barrel drums and the small ching cymbals that mark the rhythmic cycle. Piphat ensembles, graded from the five-piece khrueang ha to the full khrueang yai, perform the most prestigious repertoire of Thai classical music, the sacred sathukan invocation and the phleng rueang suites, and accompany khon masked dance-drama and shadow puppet theatre.