Karen End-blown Flute and Stand

The Karen end-blown flute, puloei, is crafted from a segment of bamboo, cane, or local reed that has first been soaked in water to ensure that all holes have been sealed. Measuring from forty to fifty centimeters, a U-shaped notch is often cut below the mouth hole on the upper side of the bamboo body, and a round wooden block is set inside so it aligns with the notch. This creates a duct, a windway that directs the player’s breath above and below the sharp edge of the lateral hole, thus producing a vibrating airstream that moves through the bamboo body.

Timbre and pitch are established by several factors: the width of the bamboo bore, the length of the flute, and length of the airstream as determined by alternately covering the flute’s six or seven finger holes. (The Karen puloei has no thumb hole. The last hole was pierced only to attach a cord to the flute to hang for easy access.)

Played by men and women alike, a puloei musician can extend its pentatonic range to a two-octave chromatic scale based on how he fingers the flute: by covering the finger holes fully, by covering them partially, or by using ‘forked’ fingerings, where one hole remains open while the next lower one, two, or three holes are covered. Musicians can further increase the range of the fundamental tones by ‘overblowing,’ that is, by increasing the pressure of the breath and the tension of the lips to produce a harmonic register above them.

Note: Aa-khum (born 1939), the owner of this flute and flute stand, worked as a mahout in the jungles of Myanmar before moving to Thailand. He was fond of playing music on the puloei he made at age fifteen while riding on his elephant’s back. Aa-khum loved his instrument so much that he designed this unique stand to keep it safe. Carved in wood in the shape of his elephant, its trunk and tusks made from three boars’ tusks, he remarked that it reminded him of his former life in the Burmese wilds

With its bright yet intimate timbre, melodious refrains, and musical lines that never seem to break due to a musician’s skill in circular breathing—inhaling air through his nose while simultaneously expelling stored air from his mouth—the puloei is an ideal instrument to play for pleasure, reflection, entertainment, and courtship.

Ethnic Group: Karen

Local Name: Puloei

Type: End-blown Duct Flute

Class: Aerophone

Tuning: Pentatonic scale, with an extended range to two octaves

Age:
End-blown Flute: Late 20th c.
Stand: Late 20th c.

Materials:
End-blown Flute: Bamboo
Stand: Wood, Wild Boar Tusks

Dimensions:
End-blown Flute: 41 x 2 dia. cm / 16″ x 0.8″ dia.
Stand: 25.5 x 15 x 20.5 cm / 10” x 6” x 8”

Location:
End-blown Flute: Myanmar
Stand: Myanmar

Owner / Instrument Maker: Aa-khum, Karen mahout from Myanmar (born 1939)

Catalog Number: 6273