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The pi cha nai is made in two parts which can be detached from one another. The upper part, called lao pi, is long, slender and slightly conical. The other part, the 'bell', is called lam phong –the name of a flower whose blossom has a shape very much like the old gramaphone. When the two parts of the instrument are joined, the shape of the instrument resembles this lam phong blossom: slender and conical with a small flaring bell. The instrument is made of wood or ivory. The reed for the pi chanai is in the pi nai, four small pieces of palm leaf in double pairs tied to a small metal tube. The end of the tube, which is inserted into the body of the instrument, is wrapped with thread to make the connection tight and snug. At this end of the metal tube, where it fits into the body, there is also a small, round, convex piece of metal or coconut shell against which the lips of the player rests when playing to give them some support.
It is thought that the shape of the pi chanai modelled after an India instrument, the name of which is variously written in Roman letters as: shanai, surnai, sanai or senai. This instrument is made of a wood which they call si wa wi. It is not known exactly what type of wood this is.
It appears that later the pi chanai was also used in royal processions—the chief pi player leading the glawng chana drummers who followed. In processions such as the funeral corteges of the king and royal family, it was also used with the pi chawa, which instrument is used alone in army processions.
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