Hmong khaen sounds and musical styles

Abstract

This documentation is about the khaen, a mouth organ played across East and Southeast Asia. In particular, a field study in Northern Laos in 2019 brought about the differences between the khaen of the Hmong and the khaen of the Khmu or the khaen played by people in the Isan region. *** The free-reed mouth organ is a widely used musical instrument across East and Southeast Asia. Examples are the Chinese hulusi or hulusheng, or the Japanese sheng or sho, or the khaen in Northern Laos and Northeast Thailand. The instruments have in common, that a symmetric free-reed is driving the jet in a bamboo pipe, and the pitch is determined by the length of the pipe. While the frequency of the reed is in close proximity to the frequency of the pipe, the pipe length will dominate the oscillation cycles. This fundamental principle of operation has been discussed in numerous ASA meetings. The symmetry of the reed brings about the same tone on both vacuum and pressure, or, inhaling and exhaling. The Asian moth organs also have in common that the reeds are made of metal. Either coins or bullet casings are hammered down to thin lamellas in a skillful manual process.

Mouth organs are as diverse as are the ethnical groups. The khaen is likewise diverse. The Hmong khaen (Northern Laos) differs quite well from the Khmu khaen (Northern Laos) or the khaen in the Isan region (Northeast Thailand). There is a publication to cover aspects of the tuning of the instrument, the mutual synchronization of pipes, and the related outcome for sound. This data set intends to complement mentioned publication with sounds and video-documentation of played styles. The data will have little meaning without mentioned publication.

A: Hmong khaen sound examples of single pipes and the drone pipe Blowing into the khaen: HmongKhaen_p1_blow.wav HmongKhaen_p2_blow.wav HmongKhaen_p3_blow.wav HmongKhaen_p4_blow.wav HmongKhaen_p5_blow.wav HmongKhaen_d1_blow.wav HmongKhaen_d0_blow.wav

Reversed air jet (sucking): HmongKhaen_p1_suc.wav HmongKhaen_p2_suc.wav HmongKhaen_p3_suc.wav HmongKhaen_p4_suc.wav HmongKhaen_d1_suc.wav HmongKhaen_d0_suc.wav

B: Hmong khaen sound examples of individual pipes played together with the drone pipe drone_low_tone_together-with_pipe_1.wav drone_low_tone_together-with_pipe_3.wav drone_low_tone_together-with_pipe_5.wav drone_high_tone_together-with_pipe_2.wav drone_high_tone_together-with_pipe_4.wav drone_high_tone_together-with_pipe_5.wav

C: Examples of musical styles on the Hmong khaen

Hmong_Khaen_in_Nong_Khiaw_1: 15.2.2019 Nong Khiaw in Northern Laos, Hmong khaen recordings at the View Point Resort, khaen player Xe Yi Thaw from Pha Thok village playing the style “new years song” on the instrument investigated in this paper.

Hmong_Khaen_in_Nong_Khiaw_2: same time and location, same player on the same instrument playing “entertaining funplay”.

Hmong_Khaen_in_Nong_Khiaw_3: same time and location, same player on the same instrument playing “family play”.

Note for these three samples that the modes are changed very frequently, whereas on the Khmu khaen the mode is usually fixed over the entire play, using dough to close the hole of the respective pipe to represent the drone tone.

Hmong_Khaen_in_Nong_Khiaw_4: interview, Xe Yi Thaw reports that the Hmong khaen is played on ceremonis “when somebody died” and during “sacrificial rites”.

Hmong_Khaen_in_Luang_Namtha_1: 18.2.2019 a Hmong village 25 km away from Luang Namtha, in the evening. Brother of Bee Vang playing on the instrument investigated in this paper, no style mentioned.

Hmong_Khaen_in_Luang_Namtha_2: same time and place, “grandfather” (~90 yrs.) playing his khaen, which is larger and is thus tuned lower.

Note that again that both players change the modes quite frequently. And note that all three players were likely to dance in half circles. Without the attached microphones, they would obviously prefer to dance in circles, see LN1 at 8:00.

The “grandfather” reported, that he would usually not play his khaen in the village, as he did on that day, he would usually play in the forest and in other places for celebrating rites. The impression during the field study was that the Hmong khaen is usually played without other accompanying instruments.

On the contrary, the Khmu khaen seems to be played for celebration, in the middle of the people, together with singing and dancing (Yaowapan 2014). The styles on the Khmu khaen contain more elements of melody and are rather played without mode changes.

D: Examples of musical styles on the Khmu khaen (for comparison)

Khmu_Khaen_in_Luang_Prabang_1: 13.2.2019 in Luang Prabang, the player of the Gawarek Traditional Storytelling plays on his Khmu khaen (2 x 8 pipes) several styles without using a drone tone.

Khmu_Khaen_in_Luang_Prabang_2: same place and time, the same player on his khaen with a style using a drone tone

Khmu_Khaen_in_Luang_Prabang_3: same place and time, the same player on his khaen with a style using a drone tone

Yaowapan, P. (2014). Khaen: The Musical Forms in Ceremony. Asian Social Science, 10(4), 255-263.