KOREA FOUNDATION

The government of Lao PDR officially recognizes 50 ethnic minorities. Over centuries, they have kept their distinctive cultures alive, and therefore, the country’s music scene and the types of traditional musical instruments are as diverse as its ethnic groups. There is a wide range of different instruments, including the “Taphon,” a barrel-shaped drum with two heads of different sizes that can produce both high and low sounds; the “Kachapi,” a instrument of the lute family, and the “So i,” a bowed two- instrument. Traditional Lao music played with the “Khaen,” a piped wind instrument, is so popular that it was designated as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. 

   There is an old Lao saying that goes, “Anyone living in a stilted house, eating sticky rice and playing the Khaen is likely to be a Lao person.” This saying illustrates both the Khaen’s prominent role among Lao instruments and its significance for Lao culture. The Khaen is made of long bamboo tubes of variable lengths, similar to pan flutes. Each pipe contains a piece of flat metal with a tongue cut into it. This is the free-reed that vibrates whenever the p blows into or draws air out of the instrument, through an air chamber called “marqunamdtow” while holding the Khaen’s center with both hands, thus producing a continuous sound. Each pipe has a small finger hole near its reed that acts as a valve and prevents the pipe from sounding unless covered by the p. Therefore, the instrument can sound as many pipes as the p can cover, making it a polyphonic instrument able to play songs that require rich melodies and harmonies. Due to its seemingly simple appearance, people who encounter the Khaen for the first time are often surprised by its unexpected tonal range. 

   The sounds of the Khaen thus accompanies Lao people throughout their life, through all of their joys and sorrows, and rather than passively listening, they often dance and sing along once Khaen music is played. One could say that Khaen music reflects Lao people’s positive attitude to life.