Traditional Cambodian musical instruments

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Close-up of the keys of a roneat (Khmer xylophone)
Close-up of the keys of a roneat (Khmer xylophone)

Traditional Cambodian musical instruments are the musical instruments used in the traditional and classical musics of Cambodia. They comprise a wide range of wind, string, and percussion instruments, used by both the Khmer majority as well as the nation's ethnic minorities.

Contents

[edit] Wind

[edit] Flutes

  • Khloy - vertical duct flute made of bamboo, hardwood, or plastic, with buzzing membrane
    • Khloy ek - smaller in size
    • Khloy thom - larger in size

[edit] Free-reed

  • Sneng - water buffalo or ox horn with a single free reedphoto
  • Pey pok - free-reed pipephoto
  • Ploy (also called m'baut) - mouth organ with gourd body and five to seven bamboo pipes; used by Mon-Khmer-speaking upland ethnic minorities
  • Ken - free-reed mouth organ used in northwestern Cambodia
  • Angkuoch (also called kangkuoch) - Jew's harp made of bamboo or metal

[edit] Oboes

  • Sralai - quadruple-reed oboe
    • Sralai toch - small quadruple-reed oboe
    • Sralai thom - large quadruple-reed oboe
  • Pey ar (also spelled beyaw, and also called bey prabauh) - oboe with cylindrical bore

[edit] Horns

  • Saing - conch shell horn

[edit] Other

  • Slek - tree leaf used as a wind instrument

[edit] String

[edit] Bowed

A pair of tro
A pair of tro
  • Tro - fiddle
    • Tro Khmer - three-string vertical spike fiddle with coconut shell body; used in classical music
    • Tro che - high-pitched two-string vertical fiddle, with face covered with snakeskin
    • Tro sau toch - two-string vertical fiddle with hardwood body; used in classical music
    • Tro sau thom - two-string vertical fiddle with hardwood body; used in classical music
    • Tro u (also spelled tro ou) - lower two-string vertical fiddle with a coconut shell body, with face covered with calfskin or snakeskin; used in classical musicphoto

[edit] Plucked

A krapeu (takhe)
A krapeu (takhe)
  • Chapey dang veng - plucked fretted lutephoto 1photo 2photo 3
  • Krapeu (also called takhe) - crocodile-shaped fretted floor zither with three strings
  • Kse diev (also spelled se diev, and also called khse muoy) - chest-resonated stick zither)photo

[edit] Struck

[edit] Percussion

[edit] Drums

A thon
A thon
  • Sampho - barrel drum, played with the hands
  • Skor (also spelled sko)
    • Skor thom - pair of large barrel drums, played with sticks
  • Thon - goblet-shaped drum, played with the handsphoto
  • Rumana - frame drum, played with the hands

[edit] Gong chimes

[edit] Keyboard

  • Roneat - trough-resonated keyboard percussion instrument; generally played with two mallets and used in Khmer classical and theater music

[edit] Gongs

  • Kong mong - single suspended gong

[edit] Clappers

  • Krap - pair of flat bamboo or hardwood sticks

[edit] Cymbals

  • Ching - pair of small cymbals used to mark time
  • Chap - pair of flat cymbals

[edit] Woodblocks

  • Pan - woodblock

[edit] See also

Languages