Manorah is a traditional dance of Southern Thailand. Manorah is also a kind of imaginary animal, a combination of human and bird, that appears in various Thai traditional folk tales. The dancers wear traditional costumes, with wings, tail and a crown. Manorah can be seen in festivals and celebrations in southern Thailand.

WATCH a video of manorah Thai dance and explanation in English.

Originally released in 1959. More fascinating recordings of traditions and folk songs from a different Thailand to the one we know today. Some of these sound similar in style to what you might hear today, while others are like anything. Fantastic liner notes give amazing background to music that was described in 1959 as 'rapidly dying out'. Probably some of it did, but you can hear it here.

Album of solo Khim (hammered dulcimer) one of the representative Thai traditional instruments. The Khim has 42 strings and is played with bamboo sticks. It is thought the Khim was introduced into Thailand from China.

Soundtrack to 2004 Thai film based on the fictionalised life story of a Thai palace musician Luang Pradit Phairoh. It follows his life as a classical musician from the late 19th century until the 1940s. The film won several awards and was entered into the Academy Awards as Best Foreign Language Film. The film helped to popularize Thai Classical music in Thailand. The soundtrack features mostly Thai traditional music plus some original film score.

Thai classical inspired by the film, The Overture.

Excellent overview of all kinds of Thai traditional instruments and styles on 3 CDs.

Thai classical instrumenal ceremonial music from north, south, east and west Thailand. 4 CDs, 24 tracks.

Excellent album of various types of Thai classical music, originally released in 1968. 8 tracks.

The Klong Yao is a single headed long drum made from hardwood. It has a large head and a narrow neck and comes in a variety of sizes. Cooked rice and ashes are sprinkled on the head to vary the tone, and it is played occasionally with head, elbows and feet, aside to the hand. It is believed the drum originated in current day Burma. It looks somewhat similar to a djembe and even some western versions of the instrument have been made.

When the Burmese and Thai armies fought in Ayuthaya in 15th and 16th centuries the Thai soldiers had learned to fight with their feet. Today Muay Thai or Thai Kick Boxing is a very popular sport. The atmosphere at a Thai boxing event is full of noise and enthusiasm from the crowd, who are betting on the bouts as they progress. An orchestra of Thai oboe and percussion instruments plays continuously, with the tempo rising and falling in time with the action. This is a CD of that music and the 'sword vs baton' fight. Intoxicating stuff.

The traditional music to accompany Thai kick boxing. Oboe and percussion, adding to the extraordinary atmosphere of Muay Thai the tempo rising and dropping in tune with the action.

Good recording of Thai classical music used to accompany traditional dances.

Another excellent CD of graceful classical music that accompanies traditional dances.

Classical music performed by a mahoree ensemble containing stringed, wind and percussion instruments. Mostly featuring an exquisite female vocalist plus some lively instrumental tracks. Comes with English titles of the 10 tracks.

Instrumental classical music played at weddings and other ceremonies.

A mahoree ensemble consists of melodic and rhythmic percussion instruments, flute and strings. These pieces are usually performed at wedding ceremonies. Well recorded traditional album.

Ramwong is the Thai circular dance. This is a CD of 20 standard ramwong songs, the most popular and traditional favorites.

3 CDs of the mahoree large orchestra peforming classical music. Just about all the main Thai instruments are included on this excellent and good value CD, from percussion to wind to string instruments.

Northen folk songs from Chiang Mai and surrounding areas. This is little known, yet graceful and minimal music.

Rare recordings of the music found in the central plains of Thailand.

Soundtrack to The Overture, an excellent Thai film about a player of the ranat, a traditional Thai xylophone with a boat shaped stand. Nine Thai traditional tunes and seven songs written for the film.The musicians are Thawisak Akarawang, Tossaporn Tasana and Narongrit Tosa-Nga.

The khaen, usually described as a mouth organ, is an ancient instrument, made from hollow cane. Fourteen pieces of cane or bamboo are used, put together in two rows, seven in each row. The longest pair is the front of the instrument, and the pipes decrease in length. A piece of hardwood is shaped into a slender, barrel shaped mouthpiece, hollowed through the centre. It is played in a manner similar to the Japanese sho, or the Chinese sheng. It is popular in northeast Thailand and Laos, as a solo instrument or to accompany folk songs. This incredible recording is of solo khaen playing at its finest.

Chinese and Thai traditional music played on the zither, the Gu-zheng. Much Thai traditional culture is derived from China, and this CD relates to the music of the Khmer, from whom the Thai captured the city of Sukhothai, and who ruled the city of Angkor. Exquisite music performed on gu-zheng accompanied by erhu, the violin like instrument.

First in excellent series of Thai classical music each with 2CDs. This first volume features the slightly eeirie music to accompany Thai classical dances.

Includes solo wind and reed instrument solos and lively music to accompany folk dances. The wind instruments are of two main types, bamboo flute or double reed. Bamboo flutes have a pegged mouthpiece and are played vertically. There are two types of double reeds. The pi is a unique Thai instrument, made of wood with a central bulge, the quadruple reed is made of four layers of palm leaf attached to a small metal tube. The other instrument called pi chawa is almost identical to the Chinese sona and has a conical shaped wooden body.

This double CD features the music of the jahke, a three stringed floor zither. Derived from a similar Burmese instrument, the front part was originally shaped in the head of crocodile (the meaning of jahke) but these days it has been simplified with a smooth and round head. It is played with an ivory plectrum which is moved in a flowing moiton over the strings. This CD also features a pi or wind instrument from the Chiang Mai region in northen Thailand.

2 CDs of percussive instruments ung-ga-lung, prayuk and the gong circles, khawng wong yai (high pitched) and khawng wong lek (lower pitched). The tuned gong kettles are placed horizontally in a circular frame stand and are struck with two short mallets.

Two CDs covering two types of pi-phat ensembles, pi-phat mai kang and pi-phat mon. These ensembles consist of melodic and rhythmic percussion instruments and the wind instrument, the pi.

These 2 CDs cover two of main three Thai classical ensembles. Pi phat comprises melodic and rhythmic percussion instruments together with the pi flute, while the larger mahori has the addition of a stringed instrument section of bow stringed lutes and a three stringed spiked fiddle. Fantastic stuff.

The last in this series is a 3 CD collection ofThai classical music featuring glong-yao (drums), the large mahori ensemble of melodic and rhythmic percussion, stringed instruments, flutes and drums and various other traditional instruments.