In a Thai stadium the band sits ringside and plays for the whole fight: a Javanese oboe (pi chawa), drums (klong khaek) and cymbals (ching). The sarama begins slow and ceremonial for the wai khru ram muay, settles into a steady rhythm in the early rounds, and turns insistent and fast when the fighters start exchanging in rounds three and four.
The musicians follow the fight, and the fight follows the music. Fighters say the sarama drives the pace, and it is one of the reasons a Muay Thai round feels different from a kickboxing round even when the techniques look the same.
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