Pi Chanai

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Pi chanai ( Thai ปี่ไฉน ) is a double reed with a slightly conical timber tube and a wide bell made of metal, which today is seldom played in processions.

origin

The pi chanai belongs to the cone oboen that originated in the Persian region , which mostly spread with a variant of the Persian name surnai over India '( shehnai ) to Sumatra ( srunai or serune ) and over Central Asia to China ( suona ). Chanai could be derived from the Indian word shehnai . Similar instruments in terms of form and musical function are the hne in Myanmar and the sralai tong khek in Cambodia .

In ancient Thai scriptures, oboes called pi are mentioned in the Sukhothai Empire from the 13th century . Pi is in Thailand and Laos according pey in Cambodia, the collective name for a number of instruments, which are mostly a double-reed / quadruple reed or a sound renderer reed wind possess. The reed pi were presumably sang together with the snail horn and a horn trumpet in royal ceremonies. In later times, in funeral processions, pi-chanai players marched as musical leaders in front of the players of the double- headed cylindrical drum glawng khaek. Pi chanai are played by the Thai , the minority peoples of Thailand in the north and east have their own oboes with different names. Most Asian oboes are characteristic of their original use in the open air at processions, funeral services and weddings.

Design

The pi chanai consists of a slightly conical melody tube lao pi ( เลา ปี่ ) made of hardwood or ivory that is 19 centimeters long. A removable bell is pushed onto the end of it, the "bell" lam pho-ng (ลำโพง). It is the name of a flower whose funnel-shaped bloom is compared to the instrument. The metal funnel has a diameter of seven to eight centimeters. The mouthpiece consists of a thin metal tube to which the double reed, each consisting of two lamellas, is tied. As with the other Thai oboes, the four strips are made from the leaves of a palm tree . The pi chanai , classified as a double reed instrument despite its four reeds, has seven finger holes on the top and one finger hole opposite the first and second hole on the bottom for the thumb. The largest of the Thai cone oboes is the pi mon , whose wooden play tube measures 50 centimeters. In addition, the pi mon has a 23 centimeter long bell with a diameter of 10 centimeters.

The high-sounding pi chanai is related to the much longer (52 centimeters) and deeper-sounding pi chawa, whose origin in Indonesia is derived from the name chawa, corresponding to Java . The position of both in the orchestra is also similar.

The three cone oboes should not be confused with the most widespread pi nai , which has little to do with instruments of the surnai type, as there is no separation of the reed and bell. Like the Cambodian sralai , the one-piece pi nai has a cylindrical wooden tube that curves slightly towards the middle.

Style of play

In Thai courtly music, as in Myanmar, a distinction is made between a sonically light Mahori music and the loud-sounding music of the piphat orchestra played outdoors. Oboes are generally unsuitable for the Mahori ensemble filled with string instruments because of their sharp sound. The pi chanai occasionally provides a constant melody tone in the orchestra, which otherwise only consists of percussion instruments , instead of the pi nai or the pi chawa in the different piphat formations .

As in the past, the main areas of application of the pi chanai are solemn processions and funeral ceremonies, which are also held by the royal family in front of a large audience.

literature

  • David Morton, Terry E. Miller: Pī. In: Laurence Libin (Ed.): The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments . Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2014, pp. 68f
  • David Morton: The Traditional Music of Thailand. University of California Press, Berkeley 1976, p. 79

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Curt Sachs : The musical instruments of India and Indonesia. Georg Reimer, Berlin 1915, p. 156
  2. ↑ Royal cremation ceremony of Her Royal Highness. Funeral Music. ( Memento from July 23, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Bangkok Post, 2008