Cultural Identity through the Wind Ensemble Composition “The Metropolis of Dvaravati Champasri”

Despite the historical significance of the Dvaravati civilization and the ancient city of Champasri in northeastern Thailand, existing heritage preservation approaches provide limited opportunities for creative artistic reinterpretation that engages contemporary audiences. This study adopts the wind ensemble as its creative medium because its diverse timbral resources, flexible orchestration, and programmatic capabilities make it particularly suitable for representing historical narratives, archaeological heritage, and local cultural identity. This article examines the interpretation and representation of cultural identity associated with the Dvaravati civilization and the archaeological site of Champasri City through a contemporary wind ensemble composition entitled The Metropolis of Dvaravati Champasri. Framed as creative (practice-based) research, the study integrates documentary research in archaeology and cultural history, score-based musical analysis, and ethnomusicological data collection. Primary data were gathered through field observations at the annual Phra That Nadun Festival and semi-structured interviews with five experts in ethnomusicology, Isan folk music, and wind ensemble composition. The interviews explored the musical characteristics and cultural meanings of Isan folk melodies, strategies for preserving Isan musical identity through wind ensemble composition, principles of program music and formal organization, and orchestration techniques for representing historical narratives and cultural memory. These insights informed the development of melodic materials, formal design, and orchestration throughout the composition. Guided by the principles of program music, the composition was developed within a three-movement framework ("Dvaravati," "Phutthamonthon Isan," and "Champasri Nakhara"), synthesizing traditional musical materials with Western orchestral timbres. The findings indicate that cultural identity is articulated through the integrated use of form, melody, rhythm, harmony, timbre, and orchestration across the three movements. The composition demonstrates that wind ensemble composition functions as a symbolic space in which listeners actively engage in meaning-making through culturally situated listening practices while sustaining local musical identity through the adaptation of the Isan Phatcha/Khancha melodic tradition, the transformation of its rhythmic structures through changing time signatures (e.g., 3/8, 5/4, 6/4, and 7/8), and the development of recurring rhythmic motives, ostinato patterns, and triplet figures within contemporary wind ensemble orchestration. Ultimately, this research positions contemporary wind ensemble composition not merely as an aesthetic product, but as a symbolic space for creative knowledge production and living heritage sustainability. Beyond the Thai context, the findings offer a transferable methodological model for composers, ethnomusicologists, and practice-based researchers seeking to recontextualize local and indigenous cultural traditions within contemporary wind ensemble and orchestral contexts.