Phleng phuea chiwit
Thai folk-rock protest music for working-class democracy
Phleng phuea chiwit (Thai: เพลงเพื่อชีวิต; IPA:[pʰlēːŋ pʰɯ̂a tɕʰīː.wít]; lit. 'songs for life') describes a type of Thai folk rock, strongly influenced by elements of Western contemporary folk and rock music with a protest theme mainly centred on the hardship of working-class people and in favor of a democratic political system. The term phleng phuea chiwit (songs for life) came from "art for life" or "literature for life", that is, literature on life and society, while phleng phuea chiwit era flourishing in the 1970s also known as "jewel of the literature of life".
In the 1980s, phleng phuea chiwit became less focused on political themes in its lyrics and placed greater emphasis on reflecting societal issues, poverty, and the influences of rural lifestyles. The genre morphed into a more clearly defined style that combined the sound and aesthetic of Western-style folk rock with commercially accessible songwriting, as exemplified by bands like Carabao, Hammer, and artists such as Phongthep Kradonchamnan, and Pongsit Kamphee. Thanapol Intharit became one of the most successful acts in the phleng phuea chiwit and Thai rock scenes of the 1990s.
History
The philosophical roots of phleng pheua chiwit was in the Art for Life movement led by Marxist thinker Chit Phumisak in 1957.
Phleng phuea chiwit originated from the events of 14 October 1973, when student and popular protests drove off the "three tyrants." The earliest phleng phuea chiwit band was called Caravan, which was formed after the 1973 student massacre. In 1976, police and right wing activists attacked students at Thammasat University. Caravan, along with other bands and activists, fled for the hills. There, Caravan continued playing music for local farmers.
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This entry incorporates text from “Phleng phuea chiwit” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.