Description:
The naw or as its called in China (Hulusheng) is an aerophone
classified as a “free read instrument". The naw belongs to a family of
free reed instruments in which the Japanese sho, the Chinese sheng and
the Hmong gaeng belong too. All these reed instruments have the same
function in which the reed is situated either in a body or in
particular a “gourd” in which the read does not touch the lips during
performance. The naw is found amongst the Indigenous peoples of the
Golden Triangle, both in Yunnan China under the name (Hulusheng) and in
Northern Thailand, Myanmar (North Eastern Burma). The Indigenous
peoples who play the naw are the Yi, Lisu and the Lahu peoples. The naw
was traditionally used as an instrument during courtship between young
men and women. In which the music was form of expressing ones love to
the female partner involved.
Playing Technique: When
playing the naw the musician holds the naw with his left and right
hands. Then blows into the top end of the gourd to which serves as the
mouth piece. During performance the air flows the gourd although a
finger does have to be placed on any one or a few of the five finger
holes to produce a sound.
Anatomy of the Naw:
Most of the naw usually have five pipes and
a finger hole per pipe and single read carved for each of the bamboo
pipes. The pipes are grouped and then inserted into a gourd, in the
finishing of the assembly process ksoot (being a pitch based substance
with bamboo soot) is inserted around the edges where the pipe meets the
gourd and also the center of the gourd. This helps to keep the pipes
affixed to the gourd and to keep them stable. Each of the reeds are
hand carved individually and then they assembled together in each pipe.
As the photo shows the reeds are very delicate the reeds are carved of
the same type of bamboo to which the pips are constructed of.