Mouth organ
Date1940-1960 ca.
Place MadeThailand, Asia
Place MadeLaos, Asia
Serial No.none
SignednoneMarkingsnone
DescriptionA free-reed instrument with eight pairs of bamboo tubes, set into a hardwood windchest and sealed with a wax secreted by an indigenous, wasp-like insect. Each tube contains a brass reed that is activated when a finger hole above the windchest is stopped. The khaen is played both monophonically and polyphonically; it can be used as a solo instrument or to accompany singing.
DimensionsHeight: 885 mm
Width: 158 mm
Depth: 60 mm
ProvenanceArne B. Larson Collection, Vermillion, South Dakota, 1979.
Published ReferencesThomas E. Cross, Instruments of Burma, India, Nepal, Thailand, and Tibet, Shrine to Music Catalog Vol. II (1982), p. 24.
Thomas E. Cross, Instruments of Burma, India, Nepal, Thailand, and Tibet in the Collections of the Shrine to Music Museum, MM Thesis, University of South Dakota, 1983, p. 51, plate XX.
André P. Larson, The National Music Museum: A Pictorial Souvenir (Vermillion: National Music Museum, 1988), p. 29.
Credit LineArne B. Larson Collection, 1979
Object number01260
On View
Not on view
