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Bulan Loi Luean

National and royal anthem of Siam from 1871 to 1888

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Bulan Loi Luean

English: The Floating Moon on the Sky
บุหลันลอยเลื่อน
King Rama II played the song "Bulan Loi Luean" with his "Saw sam sai". Illustration by Hem Vejakorn.
Former national and royal anthem of Siam
Lyrics	Rama II
Music	Rama II (Original) Christopher Hewetson (Western arrangement)
Adopted	1871
Relinquished	1888
Preceded by	"Chom Rat Chong Charoen"
Succeeded by	"Sansoen Phra Barami"

"Bulan Loi Luean" (Thai: บุหลันลอยเลื่อน, pronounced [bū.lǎn lɔ̄ːj lɯ̂a̯n]) or "Bulan Luean Loi Fa" (บุหลันเลื่อนลอยฟ้า, [bū.lǎn lɯ̂a̯n lɔ̄ːj fáː]; lit. 'The Floating Moon on the Sky') is a composition of Thai classical music traditionally credited to King Rama II. According to the traditional story, the King had a dream in which he saw the moon floating toward him and then heard beautiful music. Upon waking up, he played the music he heard in the dream and had court musicians arrange and remember the piece. The music has since been used in the classical play (lakhon nai) of Inao.^[1]

In 1871, King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) had a Western arrangement of the song adopted as the royal anthem, and it became known as "Sansoen Phra Barami". The composition was used as the royal anthem until 1888, when the current royal anthem (also known as "Sansoen Phra Barami"; the new anthem was distinguished as "Sansoen Phra Barami (Farang)" as opposed to "Sansoen Phra Barami (Thai)" for the previous one) was adopted. King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) later had another arrangement, with new lyrics, adopted as the march of the Wild Tiger Corps in 1911, and it became known as "Sansoen Suea Pa".^[2]

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