Mahori Ensemble
In early times, it is likely that rules existed for the combining of instruments into ensembles, but they were not definitely specified. One of the first known Thai ensembles was called Khap mai . This ensemble was composed of three performers: a singer, a Saw sam sai, and a drum called bandoh that was derived from the same type of drum found in China, Tibet, and India and is obsolete in Thailand today. The body of the drum has two bowl-shaped halves whose bottoms are placed together. The heads are held against the open part of the bowls by thongs laced back and forth between the two heads; the thongs are held in the middle portion of the drum by another thong that encircles them. A stick, usually decorated by concentric rings, is fastened to one side of the center area where the two parts of the body are joined. A string is anchored at the end of the stick, and a small ball is attached to the string.