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The khene (also spelled "kaen") is a mouth-organ whose pipes are connected with a small, hollowed-out wooden reservoir into which air is blown. It is a polyphonic instrument and hence is important to the history of music. Today associated with the Lao of Laos and Northeast Thailand, it dates back to the bronze age of Southeast Asia. The Chinese adopted it at an early point in time and call it today sheng, a word which is the phonetic equivalent of the word khene.
The most interesting characteristic of the khene is its free reed, which is made of brass. The invention of the khene is attributed to the Lao, but it was after having studied a Chinese sheng, carried to St. Petersburg in the 18th century, that a technician devised the free-reed Western instruments from which the harmonium, concertina, accordion, harmonica and bandoneon were developed.
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