• Thai festival song arranged by Alex Abisheganaden for Niibori orchestra under the title Loy Kratong and expanded by R Casteels for voices, percussion and Niibori orchestra under the title Loi Krathong

• Duration: 6'
• In 1 movement
• Composed in 2009
• First performance: 07.03.10 GENUS (National University of Singapore) National University of Singapore Arts Festival 2010
• ISMN: 979-0-9016508-2-4
• Parts: To rent the parts, please email rc@robertcasteels.com, or send a request to Orchard Post Office P.O. Box 714 Singapore 912324
• Downloadable scores for inspection:
  loy_kratong13.pdf

Loi Krathong is a festival that is celebrated nationwide in Thailand, particularly in the in areas around the canals and rivers (or klong). Loi Krathong is traditionally performed on the full moon night of the twelfth lunar month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar, which usually falls in November.  Loi means to float. Krathong refers to small raft or a banana-leaf cup decorated with flowers, incense sticks and candles. On that night, Thais will loi their krathong on the river to send away ill fortune as well as to express gratitude and apologies to Khongkha or Ganga, the River Goddess.  Some Buddhists worship Lord Buddha's footprint on the bank of the Narmada River. Other devotees worship Phra Uppakhut, a great disciple of Lord Buddha.

The song Loi Krathong was originally composed in the 1930s by Euah Suntornsanan (1910 – 1981). A prolific composer, educator, conductor, violinist and singer, Suntorsanan founded the Suntaraporn big band in the 1940s. He is credited with bringing Western classical, jazz and Latin music into Thai pop culture. In July 2008 for a special concert entitled Asean Serenade in Singapore’s Esplanade Concert Hall, I had the privilege to collaborate with Ms Paphutsorn Wongratanapitak, who then was at that time the leader of the National University of Singapore Thai Ensemble. We performed Loy Kratong together with music improvised on the pi (double reed oboe), kong (or gong), ranad (xylophone), ching and chab (different small cymbals) as well as various types of glong (or drums).

In my expanded arrangement Loi Krathong, I endeavoured to approach the Thai sonorities with an enlarged group of western percussion instruments. At the start, the delicate sonority of the vibraphone with scintillating harmonics of the guitars conveys the feeling of wonder of flickering light on the water as night falls. The song gradually comes into being. A dialogue ensues between the guitars and the malletophones. After a short and raucous cadenza in the percussion section, voices intone the song, first in Thai, and finally in English. A growing crowd is clearly enjoying the festival. The music finishes with a literal picture of sound vanishing in thin air and krathongs bobbing away in the night.