Myanmar Music

Hne or Oboe

Hne (or) Oboe is one of our traditional wind instruments in Myanmar. It has been used in Myanmar since ancient time and is created by using a metal horn, a wooden flute and a palm reed. The oboe is a double-reed woodwind instrument having a high pitch, penetrating tone among other musical instruments that is not played by hand or by small striker but played by blowing through a reed inserted at its top to get strong and soft voices by opening and closing of respective holes on it. There are two kinds of Myanma oboe namely big oboe and small oboe. Big oboe has more bass than the small.

Big oboe has been used in Myanmar for many years and it is said to have come into use in 211 Myanmar era. It is used to play Myanmar tunes namely for producing Byawsi, Yegin, Nayi, Thapyay and Yadu music. The small oboe has been commonly used since 1290 and 1300 Myanmar era up to now. It is played not only for the tunes of Ozi, Dhobat, Si and Byaw music but also essentially for Myanmar Orchestra at Myanmar opera.So, Myanma oboe is a vital wind instrument among Myanmar musical instruments.