A Guideline on Conservation and Inheritance of Roiphansa Tradition: Tambon Nongbua Amphoe Mueang Kanchanaburi Changwat Kanchanaburi Tambon Nongbua, Amphoe Muang, Kanchanaburi.

Abstract

               This research aimed to investigate the history of Roiphansa song festival, the objectives of  Roiphansa, occasion of playing, clothing, equipment, steps and how to play, relics and melody, as well as a guideline on systematic conservation and inheritance of Roiphansa songs in order to perpetuate this tradition to be with Nongbua people. The population of this research consisted of 2 groups: Roiphansa song masters, and Nongbua community leaders with Nongbua villagers.

            The research results revealed that this tradition has been with Nongbua villagers from 150-200 years in the form of oral tradition, aiming to ask for donation from villagers in order to Tod Krathin for Wat Sri-uppararam. The temple would then use this donation money to foster Buddhism, including buying necessary things for the temple. The occasion for playing this song was about 10 days after the end of the Lent period. The song masters would sing this song in a group of 6-10 people, dressing up like ordinary villagers, with equipment for this song performance, including hats, canes, bags, and trays. Before playing this song, they would have a meeting to specify the area of playing and the person who would take notes on  donation money and add up the amount of  money each day. After 10 days, the donation money would be counted before the public. Some of the money would be given to the temple, while others would be used to buy necessary things for the monks.

            The relics of Roiphansa songs comprised 5-10 verses of poem with Nongbua villagers’ idiom, namely, a song while walking, a song to admire houses, a song for asking for donation, a song of wishing the donators luck, and a good-bye song. The melody of each song had no exact rhythm, employing 4 notes like la, do, re, and fa, starting the song with la and ending with do. Each song melody would come in the form of refrain.

            The Roiphansa tradition of Nongbua villagers was at risk of disappearing as there were no successors, no budget, no interest from the youth, and a lack of systematic conservation and inheritance. Consequently, villagers,community leaders, and government sectors in the community should find a way of systematic conservation and inheritance of this tradition. Nongbua Municipality should specify this in the plan to allocate the budget for continuous conservation and inheritance of Roiphansa tradition by asking cooperation from various organizations to join the activities. In addition, Kanchanaburi Rajabhat University should assign the Art and Cultural Center to cooperate with the locality for conservation and inheritance of this tradition.