K'ni
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The k'ni, also known as mim or memm in Cambodia, popularly known as a mouth violin is a mouth resonator fiddle, i.e. a fiddle-like instrument used by the Jarai people in Vietnam and Tampuan people in Cambodia.
K'ni is the common word for fiddle in the Jarai language.
In Khmer, the mouth violin is referred to as the mim, which derives from the Khmer word meaning baby suckling or breastfeeding. In fact, the musician playing mouth violin makes movement resembles a child receiving breast milk.[1]
While it is sometimes referred to as a mouth violin, it should more properly be called a mouth resonator fiddle not to be confused with the European Jew's harp[2] known in north-east England as the “Gewgaw,” a word possibly derived from the Swedish word “munngiga,” and German Maulgeige meaning “mouth fiddle.”[3]
History
The earliest depictions of the mouth resonator fiddle have been identified on the bas-relief of the Bayon in Cambodia.[4][5] The instrument was also likened to a 2,000-year old chordophone recovered in Vietnam. [6] Since Angkorian times, the instrument was thought to have vanished from Khmer culture at an uncertain time. However, in 2001 a research team from the Ministry of Culture discovered the instrument being played by Phorn Dav in Ou Chum District, Ratanakiri Province. In 2004, Phorn Dav became a master on the Cambodian Master Performers Program (CMPP), teaching a new generation of players and reviving the instrument in Cambodia.[7]
Today, it is in use among the Jarai people in Vietnam and Tampuong people in Cambodia. Similar instruments are used among other tribal peoples of the Central Highlands, such as the Bahnar people. The instrument does not have a direct equivalent among traditional Vietnamese musical instruments.
The k'ni or mim is among the Angkorian instruments that were thought to have disappeared, but which were recently recovered though anthropological research.[1] Thus, just as the Khmer were surprised to see Austronesian people like the Jarai in Vietnam and the Tampuan in Ratanakiri playing the mim, the Khmer were also able to recover the Angkorian harp through ethnological research and comparison with the traditional harps in Khmer-Mon cultures of Myanmar where the harp was still in use.[1]
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