Laos

Fieldwork in the Luang Prabang region in 2019, with Robert Mores and Michael Blaß.

The khaen

We recorded players and ensembles in villages around Nong Khiaw and measured the instruments acoustically. The Hmong khaen turned out to work differently from other khaens: two kinds of tone holes, two drones a whole tone apart as its highest notes, and pipes tuned in nearly pure intervals below them.

A Hmong khaen with five pipes and a drone pipe.
A Hmong khaen with five pipes and a drone pipe.
Khaen, Nong Khiaw, February 2019.
A khaen, Luang Prabang, Laos, 2019.
A khaen, Luang Prabang, Laos, 2019.
A village gathering in the Luang Prabang region, 2019.
A village gathering in the Luang Prabang region, 2019.
A large temple drum, Northern Laos.
A large temple drum, Northern Laos.

Literature

Mores, R., Bader, R. & Linke, S.: The khaen of the Hmong people in Northern Laos. Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 58, 035008, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0002077