as Held  by Mae Down Panno at Phra Yuen District

The Article Written by

Samret Commong

Professor (asssoc) of Music

Professor of Ethno – musicology

Northeastern University

Abstract

             The purpose  of  the  study  on  the  Mawlum  Soeng  Ritual Music Therapy concentrated on its process that influenced its success.  The  purpose  of  the  ritual was  to  cure  the  sickness.   There  were  five elements  in  the  Mawlum  Soeng  Ritual : 1) the mawlum lead singer who  conducted  the  ritual process, 2) the sick  person who wanted to be cured, 3)  the  tray of offerings containing things for paying homage to the sacred supernatural who presided the ritual, 4) the  kaen  player  who used the kaen sound as the conveyance of the spirits and 5)  participating  persons who had ever been cured by the ritual before and the leader’s companions.

            In  the studying, it  had been  found  out  that  the  kaen  music  and  the mawlum  singing  played  the  very  important  role  and   had  the  very  high influences  to  the  ritual . the words and melody sung were so sweet and gentle that could calm the sick person’s souls. The  sound  of  the  kaen  was  considered  as  the  conveyance  that  brought  the powerful  spirit  to  preside the  ritual and  it  was called “ the  horse.” The  kaen  player , therefore,  was  considered  as  the holy  man  who  rode the  horse. In  addition, the sound  of  the  kaen  could  make  the  mawlum  singer  being  able  to  sing  the words and melodies automatically  and  beautifully  without  any  rehearsal  at  all. The contents of  the  lyrics  being  sung  were so meaningful  and  mysteriously  sacred that could arouse the belief in the ritual. The exciting rhythm of both  the  kaen  music  and the lum singing could urge all audiences rise up to dance that meant they had taken exercises. The  activities in the Mawlum  Soeng  Ritual as said  were, therefore,  able to  calm  the souls  and to strengthen the body of  the  sick persons  that  would  cause  the   recovering  gradually.

            This  study  concluded  that  the  sick persons  could  be  recovered  through  the Mawlum  Soeng  Ritual because: 1) They  believed  in  the  sacred  of mawlum soeng ritual, 2)  the  kaen music and the words in the lum lyrics calmed their  souls, 3)  They took exercises through  dancing  and  singing  along  with  the  music  sound  for enough time. That meant they had  sound minds in sound bodies.