A khloy ( km, ខ្លុយ,

Burmese Burmese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Myanmar, a country in Southeast Asia * Burmese people * Burmese language * Burmese alphabet * Burmese cuisine * Burmese culture Animals * Burmese cat * Burmese chicken * Burmese (hor ...

: ပုလွေ, ) is an ancient traditional bamboo flute from Cambodia and more specifically the Khmer people. The khloy and other similar bamboo flutes can be found throughout Asia, due to bamboo’s abundance in the region. The khloy is a duct flute and has two sizes: smaller, higher-pitched (''khloy ek'') and larger, lower-pitched (''khloy thomm''). It has six finger holes and a thumb hole, or seven finger holes and no thumb hole. A hole above the highest finger hole may be covered with a membrane made of rice paper or bamboo inner skin, similar to '' di mo''. The Cambodian khloy is often mistaken for its close relative of Thailand, the klui flute, however Khmer ''khloy'' is aged older. Unlike the klui flute, the khloy is generally played solo in an informal setting. The khloy is mostly played using the

pentatonic A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave, in contrast to the heptatonic scale, which has seven notes per octave (such as the major scale and minor scale). Pentatonic scales were developed independently by many anci ...

scale.

Etymology

''Khloy'' or ''khluy'' is a Khmer word for flute. The word ''kluy'' appears on a pedestal at Kuk Prasat temple dated to 994 AD. The term ''kluy'' later transmitted into modern Khmer word ''khluy'' or ''khloy''. Whereas, the term venu (

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...

: flute) was inscribed on a 9th century foundation stele at Preah Ko temple.

History

The earliest depiction of flute in Cambodia were seen on two lintels from

Sambor Prey Kuk Sambor Prei Kuk ( km, សំបូរព្រៃគុហ៍, ) is an archaeological site in Cambodia located in Kampong Thom Province, north of Kampong Thom, the provincial capital, east of Angkor and north of Phnom Penh. The now ruine ...

temple, dated to 7th century. This musical instrument was also carved on a bas relief of

Phnom Bakheng Phnom Bakheng ( km, ភ្នំបាខែង ) is a Hindu and Buddhist temple in the form of a temple mountain in Siem Reap Province, Cambodia. Dedicated to Shiva, it was built at the end of the 9th century, during the reign of King Yasova ...

from late 9th to 10th century.

References

External links

Photo of Khloy
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The Flute Player
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YouTube
Bamboo flutes Cambodian musical instruments Internal fipple flutes {{Recorder-stub

Etymology

History

See also

References

External links