Bulan Loi Luean

Bulan Loi Luean
English: The Floating Moon on the Sky
บุหลันลอยเลื่อน
King Rama II played the song "Bulan Loi Luean" with his "Saw sam sai". Illustration by Hem Vejakorn.

Former national and royal anthem of Siam
LyricsRama II
MusicRama II (Original)
Christopher Hewetson (Western arrangement)
Adopted1871
Relinquished1888
Preceded by"Chom Rat Chong Charoen"
Succeeded by"Sansoen Phra Barami"
Audio sample

"Bulan Loi Luean" (Thai: บุหลันลอยเลื่อน, pronounced [bū.lǎn lɔ̄ːj lɯ̂a̯n]) or "Bulan Luean Loi Fa" (บุหลันเลื่อนลอยฟ้า, [bū.lǎn lɯ̂a̯n lɔ̄ːj fáː]; lit.'The Floating Moon on the Sky') is a composition of Thai classical music traditionally credited to King Rama II. According to the traditional story, the King had a dream in which he saw the moon floating toward him and then heard beautiful music. Upon waking up, he played the music he heard in the dream and had court musicians arrange and remember the piece. The music has since been used in the classical play (lakhon nai) of Inao.[1]

In 1871, King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) had a Western arrangement of the song adopted as the royal anthem, and it became known as "Sansoen Phra Barami". The composition was used as the royal anthem until 1888, when the current royal anthem (also known as "Sansoen Phra Barami"; the new anthem was distinguished as "Sansoen Phra Barami (Farang)" as opposed to "Sansoen Phra Barami (Thai)" for the previous one) was adopted. King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) later had another arrangement, with new lyrics, adopted as the march of the Wild Tiger Corps in 1911, and it became known as "Sansoen Suea Pa".[2]

  1. ^ "ดนตรีไทย". มูลนิธิ ร.๒ (in Thai). King Rama II Phraboromrachanusorn Foundation. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  2. ^ Charoensuk, Sukree (7 November 2016). "128 ปี เพลงสรรเสริญพระบารมี : สรรเสริญพระบารมีพระมหากษัตริย์ทุกพระองค์". Matichon Online (in Thai). Retrieved 30 April 2020.