Reviewing the Telescope Clarinet of Northern Laos

The telescope clarinet that can be found in some places of Northern Laos is a very rare musical instrument and nearly not played anymore. But the musical instrument was still available at the beginning of this century. This short paper will describe the construction and the former use of it in the communities of that area. In result, some difficulties in musical understanding of the area’s musical heritage can be explained and discussed. Another point is the embedding of the musical instrument into the entire communal context. Research questions are mainly whether the hierarchies found through observation are pretended or real.