Hmong Mouth Harp 2

While mouth harps are widespread throughout Southeast Asia, the Hmong ncas (nja) is distinctive because it is made from brass rather than bamboo. The ncas is forged as a small single blade, measuring roughly nine centimeters (3.5 inches) in length, which increases in width and decreases in depth from its handle to its triangular tip. A slender tongue, attached at one end and free at the other, is deftly cut into the center length of the mouth harp, creating its vibrating ‘reed.’

Both men and women are keen musicians of the mouth harp. To produce sound, a player places the ncas against parted lips and plucks its tip with a thumb or first finger to activate the reed as he breathes in and out. The cavity of a musician’s mouth then acts as a resonator, allowing the ncas to generate multiple pitches that sound simultaneously—the fundamental tone and a series of ringing overtones. These flute-like harmonics create an ethereal whistling polyphony, an otherworldly soundscape that heightens the alluring power of the ncas as a medium of deep passions.

Using his lips, cheeks, tongue, and throat, a musician is able to shape speech patterns that mimic age-old lyrical poetry or parables.  Volume, timbre, and inflection are further shaped and altered when a musician cups and opens his plucking hand around the ncas.

Because of its slight size, the ncas might easily be misplaced if not for a string tied to its end that leads through a decorative bamboo or wood case lub raj ncas (lou traa nja).

The Hmong ncas remains one of the world’s most remarkable musical instruments as its tones are able to replicate all vowels, most consonants, and all eight tonal inflections of the Hmong language. A musician has the ability to group these into tonal clusters and shape them with speech-like contours and cadence to create full verses. In this way, the ncas is seemingly able to ‘sing’ Hmong poems and narratives, encoded in a secret, surrogate language.

Like Hmong ballads, kwv txhiaj, the ncas repertoire is composed of varied genres that collectively address the full spectrum of human emotions and circumstances, thus allowing men and women to give voice to their joys, sorrows, and intimate yearnings. The majority of ncas lyrics are based on age-old tales of love, ncas sib hlub (nja shi hlou), making this the most common of all Hmong courting instruments, as young couples serenade one another in a call-and-response exchange over many hours, over many days.

Recording
Ncas Sib Hlub, courting song, played on a ncas mouth harp (Hmoob Dawb)

Tuam Yaj, Ban Ka Lae, Chiang Rai Province, Laos, December 2008

Ethnic Group: Hmoob Ntsuab (Hmong Njoua) – Blue Hmong

Local Name: Ncas (nja)

Type: Mouth Harp and Decorative Case

Class: Plucked Idiophone (Lamellophone)

Tuning: One octave, tuned to C, G. or A / Harmonic overtones extend the range to several octaves

Age: Early 20th c.

Materials:
Harp: Brass, cotton
Case: Bamboo

Dimensions:
Mouth Harp:
Case:

Location:
Ban Hin Fon
Mae Chaem, Thailand

Owner: Ayii (aged 68)

Catalog Number: 5645