EconPapers    
Economics at your fingertips  
 

DNA of Music: Identifying Relationships among Different Versions of the Composition Sadhukarn from Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia Using Multivariate Statistics

Sumetus Eambangyung (sumetus.eambangyung@student.uni-halle.de), Gretel Schwörer-Kohl and Witoon Purahong
Additional contact information
Sumetus Eambangyung: Institut für Musik, Medien- und Sprechwissenschaften (IMMS) Abteilung Musikwissenschaft, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, 06099 Halle (Saale), Germany
Gretel Schwörer-Kohl: Institut für Musik, Medien- und Sprechwissenschaften (IMMS) Abteilung Musikwissenschaft, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, 06099 Halle (Saale), Germany
Witoon Purahong: Department of Soil Ecology, UFZ-Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany

Data, 2024, vol. 9, issue 4, 1-14

Abstract: Sadhukarn, a sacred music composition performed ritually to salute and invite divine powers to open a ceremony or feast, is played in Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos. Different countries have unique versions, arranged based on musicians’ skills and en vogue styles. This study presents the results of multivariate statistical analyses of 26 different versions of Sadhukarn main melodies using non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and cluster analysis. The objective was to identify the optimal number of parameters for identifying the origin and relationships among Sadhukarn versions, including rhyme structures, pillar tone, rhythmic and melodic patterns, intervals, pitches, and combinations of these parameters. The data were analyzed using both full and normalized datasets (32 phrases) to avoid biases due to differences in phrases among versions. Overall, the combination of six parameters is the best approach for data analysis in both full and normalized datasets. The analysis of the ‘full version’ shows the separation of Sadhukarn versions from different countries of origin, while the analysis of the ‘normalized version’ reveals the rhyme structure, rhythmic structure, and pitch as crucial parameters for identifying Sadhukarn versions. We conclude that multivariate statistics are powerful tools for identifying relationships among different versions of Sadhukarn compositions from Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia and within the same countries of origin.

Keywords: Sadhukarn; non-metric multidimensional scaling; cluster analysis; multivariate statistics; Na Phat music; Mekong-Chao Phraya River basin (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C8 C80 C81 C82 C83 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2306-5729/9/4/50/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2306-5729/9/4/50/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jdataj:v:9:y:2024:i:4:p:50-:d:1367605

Access Statistics for this article

Data is currently edited by Ms. Cecilia Yang

More articles in Data from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager (indexing@mdpi.com).

 
Page updated 2025-02-01
Handle: RePEc:gam:jdataj:v:9:y:2024:i:4:p:50-:d:1367605