Sralai

File:Srali thom and Srali touch.jpg

Two sralai instruments. At left the srali thom (thom means big). At right the srali touch or toch (touch means small).

File:Sralai player - Siem Reap.jpg

Sralai player showing his instrument, Siem Reap, 2024

The sralai (Template:Langx) is a Cambodian wind instrument that uses a quadruple reed to produce sound.<ref name=sam>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The instrument is used in the pinpeat orchestra, where it is the only wind instrument.<ref name=sam/> The set of quadruple reeds are made of palm leaf.<ref name=sam/> The bore of the instrument is not evenly bored, but "slightly conical."<ref name=sam/><ref>Katherine Brisbane, Ravi Chaturvedi, Ramendu Majumdar, Chua Soo Pong, and Minoru Tanokura; eds. (2005). The World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre: Volume 5: Asia/Pacific, unpaginated. Routledge. Template:ISBN.</ref><ref>André de Quadros; ed. (2000). Many seeds, different flowers: the music education legacy of Carl Orff, p.43. "Four little tongues (reeds) of dried palm leaf are fastened to a brass tube with thread, and the reeds are placed completely in the mouth, with the tongue place under the reeds to control the opening." CIRCME. Template:ISBN.</ref> Its cousin, the Western oboe, has a double reed and a conical bore. The pinpeat instruments tune to the sralai's pitch, and the player must learn circular breathing to play continuously without stopping for breath.<ref name=sam/> The sralai is very similar in construction and playing technique to the Thai pi.

See also

• Shehnai quadrupal-reed instrument used throughout the Indian subcontinent

External links

• Sound sample of the Thai equivalent (the pi).
• Sralai "oboe" page from Cambodian with Dr. Sam-Ang Sam, Ethnomusicology OnLine
• Sralai audio

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