The khene (also spelled "khaen", "kaen" and "khen"; Thai: แคน) is a mouth organ of Lao origin whose pipes are connected with a small, hollowed-out wooden reservoir into which air is blown. Today associated with the Lao of Laos and Northeast Thailand, similar instruments date back to the Bronze Age of Southeast Asia. The Chinese adopted mouth organs at an early point, and the now-obsolete yu may have been similar in construction to the modern khaen. The Chinese today call their most widely used mouth organ sheng. The most interesting characteristic of the khene is its free reed, which is made of brass or silver. It is related to Western free-reed instruments such as the harmonium, concertina, accordion, harmonica, and bandoneon, which were developed beginning in the 18th century from the Chinese sheng, a related instrument, a specimen of which had been carried to St. Petersburg, Russia. The khene uses a pentatonic scale in one of two modes (thang sun and thang yao), each mode having three possible keys. It is played as a solo instrument, as part of an ensemble, or as an accompaniment to mor lam. In Thailand, one of the top virtuoso khaen soloists is the blind musician Sombat Simla. The instrument has also attracted a few non-Asian performers, including University of San Diego professor Christopher Adler, who also composes for the instrument; English musician Clive Bell (UK); Vancouver-based composer/performer Randy Raine-Reusch (Canada), who played khaen on Aerosmith's Pump (1989), Cranberries' To the Faithful Departed (1996), and Yes's The Ladder (1999); and Jaron Lanier (United States). Since the early 21st century, the California-born, Thai-resident musician Jonny Olsen has achieved some notoriety in Laos and Thailand for his khaen playing.[1]
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Tuning
It has seven tones per octave, with intervals similar to that of the Western diatonic scale: A-B-c-d-e-f-g
References
- Khaen Repertories: The Developments of Lao Traditional Music in Northeast Thailand Accessed 13 May 2005.
- Miller, Terry E. Traditional Music of the Lao: Kaen Playing and Mawlum Singing in Northeast Thailand (1985). Contributions in Intercultural and Comparative Studies, no. 13. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press.
- Miller, Terry E. An Introduction to Playing the Kaen (1980). Kent, Ohio: Terry E. Miller.
External links
Listening
- Audio samples
- Traditional Music and Songs in Laos: The Voice of the Lao Khen
- Art of the States: khaen Three contemporary American works featuring the instrument
dan singer plays trad irish on the khene[[2]]
