Ma Mia: Kham Mueang from a Jaran Manopetch Song

The song Ma Mia is a Kham Mueang (Northern Thai) folk song for which Jaran Manopetch wrote the words and the tune, and that Soontaree Vechanont sang until the whole country knew it. It tells of a Burmese young woman and a prince from Chiang Mai. The lyrics are full of everyday Kham Mueang, such as hak (รักฯ, Kham Mueang reading hak), phai (ไผ, read phai) and po chai (พํอฯชายฯ, read po chai). This article reads the song as a language lesson, and keeps two things apart: what the lyrics say, and what different sources say about what really happened.

This article is part of the series Kham Mueang through songs and literature. The song is still under copyright, so we quote only short lines as needed to explain them, and invite you to listen to the full song on the official channel. The story of Chao Noi Sukkasem is told with respect for the Northern royal family and the Na Chiang Mai family, and we name the source of every point.

Listen first

Ma Mia is on the album Folk Song Kham Mueang Luk Khao Nueng (1981), track 10 in the list of Jaran's works on Wikipedia, which matches the album table in the study by Ueamporn Thipdet and Siriwan Nanthachanthun (2023). LANNER (Thanyachanok Inthrangsi, 2024) says it was recorded in 1981, with Jaran writing the words and the tune. The Wikipedia page on Ma Mia gives 1977, which does not match the other sources, so we follow the album list and use 1981.

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This video is from the Nititad AOA Official channel, which publishes the work of Jaran and Soontaree. Listen once first, then read the explanations below.

The story in the song, in brief

The song opens with a spoken narration saying that the story happened many decades ago: Chao Noi Sukkasem, aged fifteen, was sent by his father to study in the town of Mawlamyine (Moulmein; in Thai, Mala-maeng). Then the tune begins. Ma Mia is a Burmese market woman, so beautiful that young men fall for her, but she gives her heart to the young prince, the son of a ruler of Chiang Mai. When the prince finishes his studies he must leave her. She disguises herself as a man and follows him, but a love that crosses class and nationality goes against the custom of the time, so the two must part. At the end the prince dies of a broken heart, and Ma Mia becomes a nun.

This is our own summary. Please listen to the full song in the video above.

Words in the song: a quick table

We checked the lyrics we quote against the description of the video by Nititad AOA Official and the lyrics published by MUSIC DEE DEE Official, which agree (see the note near the end). The Moradok Lanna dictionary is the authority for spelling and meaning.

Hak, phai, hue: small words that make the song Kham Mueang

The song says that Ma Mia "bo yom hak phai" (will not love anyone), and then gives her heart to one young man. The dictionary defines hak as to care for and feel bound to, and to be fond of someone with affection, for example young lovers. Phai is the question word "who", which the song uses in a negative sentence: she will not love anyone.

The word hue, which the song writes ฮื้อ, means to give or hand over. In the song, chai (ไจ, read chai, heart, feelings) is what she hands over. Those few words say that she chose with a sincere heart.

The dictionary also has hak tae (รักฯแท้, read hak tae), meaning true love or real love. To describe the kind of love the song tells of, you can add tae to hak.

Po chai: disguised as a man

In the part where Ma Mia follows the prince there is the line

ปลอมเป๋นป้อจายหนีตามมา — Ma Mia, words and music: Jaran Manopetch

("disguised as a man, she ran after him"). Po chai literally means "father-man". The dictionary explains that it means a male human being of any age: a baby, a child, a young man or an old man are all called po chai. The dictionary defines sao (สาวฯ, read sao) as an unmarried woman past childhood, from age 15 up, the counterpart of the man called bao, a pair of words you also hear in Sao Chiang Mai.

Ngam lam: beauty and the images of the song

The song praises Ma Mia: "ngam lam muean duean song saeng" (beautiful beyond measure, like the moon shining). The dictionary defines lam (ลํา, read lam) as to cross beyond a set boundary and, as a modifier, "very, overflowing". It gives exactly this example, "ngam lam", meaning very beautiful, which matches the song.

At the saddest moment the song compares the pain to "mit sap dap fan hua chai" (a knife chopping, a sword striking the heart). It uses the picture of a knife and a sword instead of saying outright that she is hurt, and the listener feels the pain at once. This is a technique of the narrative folk song: an image carries the feeling.

Sound changes from central Thai

The lyrics show several ways Kham Mueang sounds differ from central Thai. Every pair in the table was checked in the dictionary.

Near the end there is the line "khwam hak mak pen chen ni" (love is often like this), before the song closes on the filler word "lae hoei". The dictionary records hoei as a filler word at the end of verse, like a sigh from the narrator.

What is told, and what each source says

The story of Chao Noi Sukkasem and Ma Mia is widely known through the song, TV dramas and films, but sources disagree on many points, so we set them out one by one.

The widely told version. The story was first published in the book Phet Lanna by Pranee Siriton na Phatthalung (1964), as summarised in the article by the Pridi Banomyong Institute (Kawinporn Charoensri, 2025) and by LANNER (2024). It says that in 1898 Chao Kaeo Nawarat sent Chao Noi Sukkasem to study in Mawlamyine. He met Ma Mia around 1902 and they lived together. In 1903 he was called back to Chiang Mai and she followed in disguise as a man, but was sent back. He married Chao Nang Bua Chum, and Ma Mia became a nun. As for the Northern figure named in the story, the Moradok Lanna dictionary records, under chao luang (เจั้าหลฯวฯง, read chao luang), that Major General Chao Kaeo Nawarat was the last chao luang of Chiang Mai (the ninth). Read about the first chao luang at King Kawila.

What the records show. The Royal Gazette recorded the title "Chao Uttarakan Kosol" and his death notice, as summarised by Wikipedia and Khom Chat Luek (2018). He died aged 33 in March 2456 BE under the old reckoning, in which the year began on 1 April, so that is March 1914 in modern terms. The day is 20 or 21 March depending on the source. The song says the prince "died of a broken heart", which is how the legend tells it, not a cause given in the official record.

The Pridi Institute article concludes that the story stands between fact and fiction. So we read the song Ma Mia as a song that tells a love legend, not as a historical record, and we do not take sides. What the lyrics themselves confirm is what Jaran chose to tell: love across nationalities, pain, and a custom that had to be kept.

For the Northern royal houses of the same period and their ties with the Siamese court, read on at Princess Dara Rasmi.

Where the song came from, and tears in the studio

The study by Ueamporn and Siriwan (2023) argues that Ma Mia reflects how the Khon Mueang keep their customs, through contrast words like "tae" (but) that set the two people's status side by side. It cites the lines "tae sut ti hak pen phama" (but the one he loved was Burmese) and "phit prapheni suep ma tong rang la yaek thang" (against the custom handed down, they must part), and points out that the word "tong" (must) shows a belief that parting was right according to tradition.

As for the recording, LANNER and Thai PBS's programme Song of Fame tell a similar story: Soontaree cried so hard that she could not record the first time. Thai PBS says she had to bring flowers, incense and candles to ask forgiveness at Wat Suan Dok before she could record the song. LANNER also notes that Jaran rarely sang it on stage because some people say it is a jinxed song, which is what the tellers believe, not a fact.

The town of Mawlamyine that the song mentions is a real town in Myanmar. The picture at the top of this article is Kyaikthanlan Pagoda in that town, where, according to the legend as summarised by Khom Chat Luek (2018), the couple swore their love in the courtyard. The picture below shows a colonial-era building and gives a feel of the port town where people from the North travelled to study and trade more than a hundred years ago.

What the song means as a whole

Ma Mia is a narrative song with a spoken opening, a sad melody and plain Kham Mueang. It lets the listener feel that a couple's love could not beat the limits of its time, and it closes on a short line that sounds like a summary of life: love is often like this. For language learners, the song gives many basic Kham Mueang words, hak, phai, hue and po chai, and the image of a knife and sword striking the heart.

Summary

• Ma Mia has words and music by Jaran Manopetch and is sung by Soontaree Vechanont. It is on the album Folk Song Kham Mueang Luk Khao Nueng (1981).
• Words from the song: hak (love), phai (who), hue (give), po chai (man), lam (very) and hoei (a filler word).
• The clearest sound change is r becoming h (rak becomes hak), and the rising tone in words like pen and pi.
• The story of Chao Noi Sukkasem and Ma Mia is told differently in many places, so the song is best heard as a love legend that an artist chose to tell.
• Behind the recording, it is said that Soontaree cried so hard that she had to ask forgiveness at Wat Suan Dok before she could record it.

Look up more words from the song in the Moradok Lanna dictionary (in Thai), and read more about narrative singing in Sao Chiang Mai, also sung by Soontaree.

More in the same series: the song Noi Chaiya · Long Mae Ping, or see the whole series at Kham Mueang through songs and literature (in Thai).

Sources

• Moradok Lanna dictionary (dict2), entries po chai, chao luang, chao, ka, mae kat, hak, hak tae, phai, lam, pen, ti, mit, dap, fan, hua chai, chai, la, chak, hue, hoei, sao. In Thai.
• Nititad AOA Official. (2015). มะเมียะ - สุนทรี เวชานนท์ (ภาพคอนเสิร์ต) [Ma Mia – Soontaree Vechanont (concert recording)]. YouTube (lyrics in the video description).
• MUSIC DEE DEE Official. (2024). มะเมี๊ยะ (จรัล มโนเพ็ชร) - หลิว อาจารียา [Ma Mia (Jaran Manopetch) – Liw Acharaya]. YouTube (lyrics in the video description, used for cross-checking).
• เอื้อมพร ทิพย์เดช และสิริวรรณ นันทจันทูล [Ueamporn Thipdet and Siriwan Nanthachanthun]. (2023). ภาพแทนคนเมืองในบทเพลงของจรัล มโนเพ็ชร [The Representation of Lanna people in Charun Manopetch's songs]. Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Uttaradit Rajabhat University, 10(1), 167–184. In Thai.
• กวินพร เจริญศรี [Kawinporn Charoensri]. (20 April 2025). ๑๒๒ ปี จาก "มะเมียะ-ศุขเกษม" สู่ "กมล" [122 years from "Ma Mia–Sukkasem" to "Kamol"]. Pridi Banomyong Institute. In Thai.
• ธันยชนก อินทะรังษี [Thanyachanok Inthrangsi]. (14 February 2024). มะเมียะ: เรื่องราวรักร้าวของเจ้าชายล้านนา [Ma Mia: the heartbreaking story of a Lanna prince]. LANNER. In Thai.
• ไทยพีบีเอส [Thai PBS]. (2024). Song of Fame เพลงคู่สยาม: มะเมียะ [Song of Fame: Ma Mia]. In Thai.
• คมชัดลึก [Khom Chat Luek]. (20 March 2018). 20 มี.ค.2456 สิ้นเจ้าอุตรการโกศล กับคำสาบานรักสุดสะพรึง! [20 March 2456: the death of Chao Uttarakan Kosol and an oath of love]. On This Day. In Thai.
• วิกิพีเดีย [Wikipedia]. จรัล มโนเพ็ชร [Jaran Manopetch] (album list, a first check) and เจ้าอุตรการโกศล (ศุขเกษม ณ เชียงใหม่) [Chao Uttarakan Kosol (Sukkasem na Chiang Mai)] (a lead, checked against the sources above). In Thai.