Central Thai royalty has had special funerary music practices since at
least the Ayutthaya period involving special instruments and special pieces.
Several musicians interested in historical matters told me that they thought
Queen Sirin’s funeral was the origin of the Thai interest in the piiphaat Mon
ensemble; musicians have kept alive the memory of this event, whose music
made such a big impression that other members of the aristocracy (cao naai)
began to use it as well.