Laos · Musical Instrument Making
ແຄນຂະມຸ (Khaen Khmu)
The Khmu bamboo musical instrument tradition encompasses the making of the khaen (mouth organ), bamboo panpipes (khui), and the bamboo jaw harp (ko) — a cluster of instruments made from the same material but requiring entirely different physical properties. The Khmu khaen (distinct from the Lao Loum khaen which uses longer pipes) is a compact mouth organ with 6–8 bamboo pipes bound together and fitted with metal free reeds — each pipe tuned to a specific pitch by making or enlarging a small hole in the pipe wall, then sealing it with beeswax until the pitch is correct. The tuning process is identical in principle to gong tuning (CRAFT-0406) — by ear alone, with the target pitch held in auditory memory — but at the opposite scale: the khaen's pitch changes are made in fractions of a millimeter of beeswax adjustment.
Risk level: Critically Endangered · Not separately inscribed
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