Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-07-12
4 .SI1.UESE B1ND.
II Gives an Interesting Concert In London
odd Instruments and MonOtonOus Music.
II ,u1op NaWs

II Gives an Interesting Concert In London
odd Instruments and Monotonous Music.
London News.l
The round Of organ and piano-iortc
recitals which has continued without
cessation during the past month in the
MUSHROOM vas broken yesterday by
the court band Of the King of Siam,
who, by that monarch's special permits
sion, have visited the western world to
fulfil an engagement at the Inventions
Exhibition. This was their first APP
pearance. On the opening of the doors
there was tremendous rush of peO-
pie, speedily filling the room to
OVERLOOKING. The Siamese muSi-
clans. like most Of their fellow
countrymen abroad, wear ordinary
European costume. For the special
occasion Of yesterday their uniform was
a blue cap with patent-leather peak, a
blue forage jacket with brass buttons,
a sash of gold, baggy breeches of free
and-easy cut. white stockings, and
shoes. The hose is a courtly token,
but it is nevertheless for concert pur-
poses a superfluous article, seeing
that the wearers squat upon the floor
during their performances, with their
legs tucked comfortably and completely
under them. The Instruments accord
ingly lie low. being, in point Of fact
what, without offence, might be termed
" fOOrers." The audience gazed
stolidly at their instruments upon
the platform for quarter OF an hour be-
fore business began. Frequenters Of
the exhibition would recognize them as
counterparts of the artisticall Unfinished
exhibits in the Siam section outside,
under its awning of white and red
stripes, with the white elephant stamped
around the border. At each end stood
a tun-belled drum, richly inlaid with
mother-of-pearl, but these we're for or
nament rather than use. IL was not
until the concert began that clear idea
could be formed Of the objects handled
by the seventeen performers from the
court of Siam. Then what had appeared
at a distance to be straight white rulers
turned out to be Siamese flutes. The
long wooden affairs, rudely fashioned
like guitar. standing on short legs
and studded along the backbone with a
dozen bridges, became a three-stringed
instrument, twanged with bit Of wood
held in the musician ; right hand. The
boat-shaped thing proved to be a
yielder of melodious sounds when the
transverse strips of wood were struck
by the hammers of the performer.
Even the vessels, that were not un-
like spittoons, unsteady responded
to a knock. Although the mother
of-pearl drums were not used, lib
eral substitutes were provided.
There were two or three varieties Of
modest and imperfect stringed in .ru-
ments, and the three pipes are bio r. at
the end. though in other respect icy
are of the flute family. The stocl u
sic of the court band is, however. 1ro-
duced on the musical-glasses pri pie,
the mediums being either hard wIO or
metal. The principal instruments are
exquisitely ornamented and inlaid. The
Siamese ambassador and lady arrived
in time to hear the opening piece, de-
scribed upon the programme as " The
Malays Of Lobhabury." We have no
intimate knowledge of Lobhabury, but
the music would suggest that the
good people who take their name
therefrom were or are a not
unpleasant combination of amiability
and caprice, energy, and calmness. A
few minutes will elapse before the UNI
accustomed listener gets fairly into the
swing Of the Siamese style, but very
soon il is apparent that the performers
must be ranked mountains higher than
the Chinese sound-tOrturers Of last
year. Spite Of faint squeaks and
wheezes at odd moments, spite Of walls
and whines, twiddles and twirls, and
combinations that would puzzle Sc
lect committee on the musical pitch,
the Siamese music is on the whole
pleasing as we'll as interesting. Some
times it is sweet. 1t is always quaint,
and cleverly rendered. The intelligent,
imperturbable little people squattingon