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Abstract

"Mor Lam" is an entertainment of Isaan people in Thailand. This kind of music also correlated with southern Lao lam singing. With its long-lasting development for over than a thousand years, Mor Lam was finally blossomed in the land viewed from the outsiders as the most arid, poor and barren land of the country. Even though there was not any clear evidence when it was exactly born, however, it is believed that Mor Lam is related to sacrificial rituals to Phi Thaen (Gods), protector, a fundamental belief of people in this region for a long time. Deriving from short sentences singing to a long lam singing that can narrate and beg sacred items or even folktales, Mor Lam was also developed from Lam Phuen to Lam Rueang and Lam Cing in such our era. Therefore, Mor Lam is a social phenomenon of Isaan which can reflect its identity completely in philosophical ideas, attitudes, preferences, economics, politics and culture. There is even a hint saying that if you want to study Isaan society, you can get through Mor Lam and you will understand Isaan in all dimensions because Mor Lam is a media reflecting entire biological vision of Isaan. This then refers that Mor Lam has accumulated full Isaan wisdom. Significantly, Mor Lam has become the identity in performing arts that closely associated with Northeastern peopleûs lifestyle, with its continuously development, more than any other folk art fields.

In this article, I would like to present the Development of Mor Lam from the past to present including how its current existence status is, and how to conserve and apply this art as a cultural capital for its existence and power.