มนต์

[farangnahrak]

What does มนต์ mean in the phrase มนต์รักลูกทุ่ง ?

I've asked two Thai's already and neither knew . . .

[p_brownstone]

มนต์ means a spell or prayer so the sentence does not make much sense unless " มนต์ " is someones' name (perhaps mis-spelt?) in which case the sentence means "Mon loves Country music"

Patrick

[farangnahrak]

Nope definitely not a name, and the spelling is correct.

[anchan42]

มนต์ can mean charm ie special magic powers so it could be loosely translate as love charm of the country folk.

[meadish_sweetball]

Could it be related to the movie มนต์รักทรานซิสเตอร์ "Monrak Transistor" from 2001? It's a story about a Luuk Thung singer.

[katana]

มนต์ can mean charm ie special magic powers so it could be loosely translate as love charm of the country folk.

That would seem to fit in with the English name of the film, Magical Love in the Countryside.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monrak_luk_thung

[Peppy]

As Katana notes, มนต์รักลูกทุ่ง was a hit movie in the 70's. It's been remade quite a few times, most recently as a Channel 3 soap opera in 2010.

The word มนต์ is actually cognate with the English word "mantra"--I think the meaning is perhaps best described as "a magical incantation". Together with รัก, it's something like "love spell".

(Oh, and the name of the 2001 black comedy that Meadish mentions, "Monrak Transistor", is a reference to the 70's hit.)

[farangnahrak]

Yea, I saw มนต์รักทรานซิสเตอร์ about 5 years ago. It's a great film and I really enjoyed watching it. But . . . it doesn't have much to do with ลูกทุ่งอ่ะ . . .

=P

[Rikker]

This answer might be overkill, but I've really enjoyed reading up on some of these topics, so I'll go ahead and pass this along.

Historically มนต์รัก /mon-rak/ is a "love incantation," a spell that would cause someone to fall in love with you. But it's long been used in the titles of Thai songs, which then led to its use in the titles of movie musicals, and from there to movies in general.

So if we don't worry too much about the literal translation, I think in songs we can translate it roughly as "love song," and in movie titles as "love story." That's one way of making it more readily translatable, at least.

For example, the song มนต์รักดอกคำใต้ /mon-rak dok-mai kham-tai/ was a hit starting in the late 50s/early 60s, I believe. We might loosely that title as "Love Song of the Sweet Acacia Flower."

When the musical "The Sound of Music" came out in 1965, its Thai title was มนต์รักเพลงสวรรค์ /mon-rak phleeng sawan/, or loosely "Divine Music Love Story."

If you read about the history of "เพลงลูกทุ่ง" /phleeng luuk-thung/ as a genre of music, it turns out that though the roots of ลูกทุ่ง /luuk-thung/ music certainly date decades earlier, the name was first used in 1964 as a play on words of "เพลงลูกกรุง" /phleeng luuk-krung/, which was a genre of popular music dating back to the 1930s, and the first genre of popular Thai music that used western instruments. It became associated with Bangkok and the emerging urban culture of the post-World War II period (hence the name เพลงลูกกรุง /phleng luuk-krung/). So when the name เพลงลูกทุ่ง /phleng luuk-thung/ was coined, not only was it a play on words, but it was an attempt to differentiate and define ลูกทุ่ง /luuk-thung/ as its own musical style, separate from the ลูกกรุง /luuk-krung/ movement.

When the film มนต์รักลูกทุ่ง /mon-rak luuk-thung/ was released in May 1970 (starring the biggest names in Thai cinema at the time--Mitr Chaibancha and Petchara Chaowarat), the ลูกทุ่ง /luuk-thung/ genre was in its heyday, and at the forefront of Thai popular music. The godfather of ลูกทุ่ง /luuk-thung/ music was Suraphon Sombatcharoen, who propelled the style to national success, and whose murder in 1968 at the age of 37, only fueled the popularity of his music.

No doubt the death of Mitr Chaibancha in October 1970, the star of มนต์รักลูกทุ่ง /mon-rak luuk-thung/, also helped fuel that film's success, as it was still in its original theatrical run when he was killed filming a stunt for the final film in his "Red Eagle" series (which also recently received a reboot, this time starring Ananda Everingham). In any case, มนต์รักลูกทุ่ง /mon-rak luuk-thung/ has become a cultural icon, and has led to not only numerous film and TV remakes, but many songs and film whose titles allude to it, including 2001's มนต์รักทรานซิสเตอร์ /mon-rak transistor/ "Transistor Love Story," as others have mentioned.

Just a few years later, with the political strife of the 1970s, เพลงลูกทุ่ง /phleeng luuk-thung/ ceded the the national limelight somewhat to the politically conscious เพลงเพื่อชีวิต /phleeng phuea chiiwit/ movement, which saw the birth of immortal Thai folk bands like Caravan and Carabao, though of course both genres remain wildly popular to this day, and pop music has continued to branch off in umpteen other directions. Nowadays there's a huge cultural divide between urban and rural Thai tastes, perhaps mirroring the obvious socioeconomic divide, so it's interesting to think back on a time when ลูกทุ่ง /luuk-thung/ was essentially synonymous with Thai popular music, and the film มนต์รักลูกทุ่ง /mon-rak luuk-thung/ and its soundtrack as an embodiment of that.

[FireInTheSky]

Wow

just wow

[aanon]

Rikker, great post offering lots of insights. When can we expect a column from you in an English-language daily?

[farangnahrak]

Guess what I see in the news today . . . Reya is that controversial lakorn girl . . .

[kriswillems]

I am very impressed by your knowledge of Thai language and culture and I really enjoyed reading your post. Thank you for writing your post using such beautiful well structured English (it's a huge help for non native English speakers).

[Mole]

มนต์ is from the Sanskrit word "mantra" with the same meaning in Thai.

But the meaning may be magic, spell, prayer, incantation, or similar depending on words it's used together with.

It is often difficult to translate directly words which is written together such as in movie titles like this because they often have a "metaphoric" meaning.