Karen Pan Flute

One exceptional flute, otherwise unknown in the highlands of Southeast Asia, is found in the pan flutes of the Kayan Lahwi (Padaung), Karenni, and Pwo Karen. These edge-blown flutes, also known as panpipes or syrinx, are constructed from bamboo, giant cane, or local reeds in a ‘raft’ form: a series of multiple pipes assembled in gradually increasing lengths that are bound in a single row by strips of rattan.

Between the different Karen subgroups, panpipes appear in two forms, in varying sizes, and with different purposes—the large man juae and the small man puae. Because these flutes have no finger holes, their pitch is determined by the length of each pipe, And as their bamboo pipes are closed at the bottom by a natural node, they sound an octave lower than if the end hole were open. Beeswax may be added to fine-tune a pipe’s intonation.

Man juae, the impressive black-lacquered pan flutes of the Kayan Lahwi range from fourteen to twenty pipes and extend in length from thirty to one hundred and twenty centimeters. The central graduated pipes are bookended with three or four long pipes of the same size at the bass end, and three or four short pipes at the treble end, serving as pedal points.

A male musician plays fixed melodies on the man juae by exhaling across the upper open end of each pipe individually, either swiveling his head from pipe to pipe or moving the instrument with his hands. Blow holes are notched or cut at an angle, so a player can create all chromatic tones in a pentatonic scale, allowing him to bend notes for ornamentation. This range may be extended several octaves by overblowing.

Note: This fine black-lacquered man juae with sixteen pipes and a black cover was made by Daw My Htan, a Kayan Lahwi woman from Panpet Salonkana, Kayah State, Myanmar, expressly to mourn the loss of her husband at his funeral.

Kayan Lahwi men play the large black-lacquered panpipes, man juae, specifically during funeral rites to match the soulful lamentations of a chorus of men and women who circle the deceased at his bier during all-night sacraments.

Ethnic Group: Kayan Lahwi (Padaung),

Local Name: Man juae

Type: Panflutes (Panpipes, Syrinx)

Class: Set of End-blown Flutes

Tuning: All chromatic tones in a pentatonic scale, extended several octaves by overblowing

Age: 1980

Materials: Bamboo, lacquer, rattan, cotton

Dimensions: 55 x 20 x 1.5 c. / 21.5” x 7.8” x 0.05”

Location:
Panpet Salonkana
Near Loikaw, Kayah State, Myanmar

Owner / Instrument Maker: Daw My Htan (60 years in 2019)

Catalog Number: 6287