By Itsarin Tisantia
Photos courtesy of Bangkok Post and Post Today
Teacher’s Day comes once again on January 16, when students will have an opportunity to thank their teachers for all of their hard work and guidance.
For this week’s Exercises, SW looks at the life and career of late music and drama teacher Chansom Saithara from northern Thailand.
Celebrated singer, lecturer and National Artist Chansom Saithara passed away on June 15, 2013. She died at the age of 82 at Nakhonping Hospital in Chiang Mai after having a stroke.
NORTHERN ARTIST
Born on April 1, 1932 in Don Kaew sub-district, Mae Rim district, Chiang Mai, Chansom Saithara finished Prathom 4 at Baan Cha Yuang School. She started performing khab sor, or traditional Lanna singing, at the age of 16. After studying how to sing in the Lanna style for one year, she went out to perform khab sor in eight different provinces in northernThailand.
As a traditional Lanna performer, Chansom released a number of cassette albums, including Sor Poi Khao Sang, Sor Pee Mai Muang, and Phrawat Phrathat Doi Suthep. She also performed songs from those albums live on Thailand Broadcasting Radio Station under the Public Relations Department
PRECIOUS PRIZES
During her more than five decades of performing music in the Kingdom, Chansom was widely celebrated as a model teacher and artist, giving lectures and singing in different provinces while also nurturing Lanna music and its traditions.
Chansom was named a Best Cultural Figure by Chiang Mai Cultural Centre in 1989. She also received an Honourable Artist Award for her music from the Department of Cultural Promotion in 1993. Three years later, she was named a National Artist in the field of traditional khab sor (singing in the Lanna style).
Exercises
Read the story and then answer the following reading comprehension questions.
1. When was Chansom born?
………………………………………………..
2. What caused her to die?
………………………………………………..
3. In what year was she named a National Artist?
………………………………………………..
4. Who awarded her the Best Cultural Figure prize?
………………………………………………..
Vocabulary
- celebrated (adj): famous for having good qualities
stroke (n): a sudden serious illness in which a blood vessel (=tube) in the brain bursts or is blocked
cassette (n): a small flat plastic case containing tape for playing or recording music or sounds
model (adj): a person or thing that is considered an excellent example of something
