COUNCIL FOR PEACE AND ORDER (NCPO)
5.5 Strategies in Creating the Patriotic Songs of the NCPO
with people during the coup plays more roles than just being an official statement broadcast in radio and TV stations like in the past.
Accordingly, the hegemony of people‟s space of thought during the coup through the songs can help create a warmer atmosphere, especially with a begging tone of voice and pop melody. It is evident that the military puts a great effort in the creation of songs to reach the taste of listeners mainly. Therefore, all required factors inducing the songs‟ popularity are adopted into the process. Such factors are the assistance from a successful Pop-song composer in melody composition and arrangement, the use of songs from leading music companies of Thailand to join with the NCPO‟s original songs to create a sense of familiarity, the use of a professional composer who composed the songs. An example of the songs is the song “Tomorrow”
by Prapas Cholsaranon or Pee Jick of Work Point Entertainment Co., Ltd. for the military‟s previous use, etc. All of these help to support the military power and their songs and lead to the people‟s acceptance and an increased image of righteousness for the government by the NCPO.
steps of the soldiers and conveys the fighting. It was not what the NCPO needed to send to the people. “Formerly, we had fought with Communists since the reign of King Rama VI, we used the song „Sayamanussati.” The song needed to be aggressive to boost the soldiers‟ defiance.” (Colonel Nattapon Ditsayabut, personal communication, July 6, 2016).
“In other words, March rhythm creates hatred against opponents, so it is necessary to use aggressive tone. However, for the NCPO‟s songs, the Prime Minister composed the songs not for fighting with anyone but begging for a collaboration. He wants to ask for cooperation by emphasizing public benefits as the national benefits.”
(Colonel Phoomrat Luesiri, personal communication, July 6, 2016).
Due to the reason that the Head of the coup wanted to communicate for collaboration from people, the songs composed by General Prayut Chan-o-cha tried to position the NCPO as neutral and focused on the cooperation from everybody for the public benefits.
5.5.1.1 The Transformation of Patriotic Songs in the Period of the NCPO to be Pop Music
From the researcher‟s observation, the NCPO perceived that March was not the right genre for the period and did not respond to the objective of their communication. Primarily, it was not suitable for listeners whose taste, needs, and preference change in each period. Music consumption culture of people in society also changed by global trends. Besides, Pop music could last long and reach every group in society. Correspondingly, the strategy of “Pop Music to Tone down Top Boots,” was used in creating the songs of the NCPO, apart from the adoption of Pop songs from private sectors to intensify the song series of “Return Happiness to Thailand.”
Dusadee Vorathumdusdee (2009) states “When Pop songs are called a short novel in three minutes, they open the door to a dream with a beautiful and familiar melody. Anyone can listen to them, without any knowledge, sex, or age restriction. The lyrics are so repeated that they can cause some boredom, especially an issue of love, imagination, and daydream, etc., but it is questionable why they are popular forever and expectedly will be popular for good.”
Accordingly, the melody that buoys up an original story of Pop songs in slow rhythm sounds pleasant and leads listeners to imagine along with the lyric of the song. It can soothe people‟s feeling during the crisis of the country.
5.5.1.2 Music Style and its Congruence with the NCPO‟s Songs
1) It is the style of music favored by most people in Thai society. The definition and background of Pop music are as following:
The word, “Popular,” was applied to call a group of music that most people in the society favor, no matter by which kind of musical instrument (i.e., Folks, Jazz, Viennese Waltz, Country, or Comic Opera (originated by Gilbert and Sullivan) nor in which period it is played. In other words, it is the kind of music that is not so strict as classical music. Anyway, the word “Pop” is used to specify certain kind of popular music in a narrower scope. Pop songs mean popular music originated in the United States of America since 1950, i.e., the songs of Elvis Presley (1935- 1977), etc. This group of songs is 4/4 time-signature, with every beat of the rhythm.
An electric guitar is a major musical instrument among other supporting ones. The lyrics of the songs relate to young people so they can draw great attention from this generation easily. This kind of songs is produced for sales mostly. The word “Pop”
thus covers the meaning of “best seller” as well, i.e., songs in the group of New wave, Punk rock, Reggae, Rock and Roll, Rock music, etc. All of them are Pop music.
(Samret Kammong, 2009).
From analyzing the meaning and background of Pop music, it is the music genre that requires no fixed rules or patterns but can adjust the melody in various designs to please listeners easily. The primary purpose is for sales or to gain popularity from listeners. Thus, the satisfaction of the listeners is the principal purpose of Pop songs.
2) Pop music uses the principle of Minimal Music or focuses on repeated singing many rounds (Lieutenant Colonel Prateep Suphanrojn, personal communication, May 19, 2016)
Narongrit Dhamabutra (2009) explains about Minimal Music,
“From the word, we can know that this style of music is a form of art music that employs limited or minimal musical materials or is composed by a few notes. The composer will release his thought at the beginning by repetition or will gradually
change to other musical content without an acknowledgment of listeners. Repetition is key to this music genre.”
From the communication strategies of the NCPO through Pop music, this accords with the concept of a marketing campaign. Songs help to communicate the NCPO‟s ideologies to people for an acknowledgment and to enhance their memory of the songs leading to the acceptance of the NCPO in a similar way as marketing campaigns where product acknowledgment is created. Besides, the followings were noticed:
1) The songs contain serial content by the style of slow melody (song series)
2) The word used in the previous song is used again in the following song to connect both songs for helping listeners to remember and connect the story
3) Short and precise words are used to make it easy for listeners to remember and sing along.
4) Repeated dissemination with high frequency was emphasized to remind listeners of the content of the songs
5) A composer favored by listeners, primarily a professional composer with fundamental music background and experiences in the creation of songs responding to the majority of people for sales in the market through listeners‟ favorite lyrics and melody, was used.
6) Artists, stars, and singers joined in singing the NCPO‟s songs or used them to sing in their version, i.e., a song of the NCPO in the style of Asanee Chotikul, etc.
7) The dissemination of the NCPO‟s songs was based on a promotion, a part of Marketing Principles, which require marketing plans, i.e., through which channel and by which frequency, etc.
8) Dissemination of songs was operated through online or social media as another channel as well, i.e., YouTube, which is popular among listeners in the period.
From the above observation, a connection with marketing communication whose purpose aims for sales should be noted despite the fact that the NCPO‟s goal was not for sales in terms of monetary income, but in terms of acceptance of the songs
and The NCPO, including bettered image of the NCPO according to its ideologies as communicated in the songs.
5.5.2 The Use of Private-Sector Power to Support the NCPO’s Songs to People
Private sectors collaborated with the NCPO in various forms, i.e., to jointly produce the songs, to use their songs to combine with the NCPO‟s songs, etc.
Therefore, the power of private sectors could support the military power and help to disseminate the communication to people more widely.
The Summary of Private Sectors‟ Support for the NCPO‟s Songs
1) A joint creation of the NCPO‟s songs that helped to enlarge the knowledge in creating patriotic songs of the NCPO in the Pop genre that could reach popularity. The invitation of professional composers from private sectors to join in the creation brought about a body of knowledge in producing popular songs that satisfied the market or people significantly. These people created songs to listeners due to their sales experiences to know what was the selling point of Pop songs or which kind of genre listeners responded the best.
2) Networks of private sectors were seen in the adoption of available private songs to be used in the NCPO‟s activities and be publicized jointly with those four songs composed by General Prayut Chan-o-cha, whose content accorded with the ideologies the NCPO desired to inform people at a certain period. Furthermore, the permission of letting private sectors or well-known artists to use the NCPO‟s songs in various forms or by their version helped to expand the popularity and fame of the songs more rapidly.
Such collaboration increased a more positive image of the NCPO in terms of collaborating with people. To have well-known organizations and individuals participate in the NCPO‟s activities led to people‟s acceptance of the NCPO‟ songs more quickly than the operation by the army solely. It dissolved an image of military dictatorship and enhanced a vision of collaboration leading to democracy.
All of these collaborations should have some meanings relating to the hegemony of media space and people‟s space of thought quite considerably.
Watcharabon Buddharaksa (2014, p. 213) specifies, “A sustainable revolution possibly needs a long time to struggle against people‟s ideas and ideologies to change their worldview. It requires „a collaboration‟ among parties to yield an actual outcome.”
As a consequence, a willingness of private sectors to collaborate with songs creation and to give their songs to the NCPO to use in the NCPO‟s activities reflects a unified focus and standpoint of doing something for the nation. The drawing of prevailing ideologies towards a collaboration possibly affected the creation of ideologies in changing people‟s worldview. It was also a power to support the NCPO in creating righteousness to govern the country during their time of being the government.
5.6 The Summary of the Process and Strategies in Creating Patriotic