Thai musical instruments

Here we have a traditional Thai percussion instrument known as a Ranet ek, or a Thai xylophone. Constructed of wood, it is similar in style & design to a Cambodian xylophone, named roneat ek.

Classical music in Thailand has a long tradition of the Ranet ek featuring heavily as a lead instrument in the piphat ensemble. A kind of ensemble in the classical music of Thailand, piphat features percussion & wind instruments.

Thai people gather to listen to the musicians, whilst watching classical Thai theatre & dance, amongst the more well known are the masked dance-drama (khon ) and classical dance (lakhon) as well as shadow puppet theatre

The Ranet ek player will create melodies using 2 long wooden beaters, or mallets, hitting the 21 or 22 wooden bars, in a rhythmic fashion. Historically the wood used in the making of the bars would be rosewood. The bars are stretched across the boat shaped body of the xylophone using a heavy string.

Talented players are able to play two Ranet Ek's at the same time, standing between the instruments, which would be a 90 degrees to each other.

Buy here! Find replica ,teakwood versions of this melodic traditional instrument. Click on the pictures below

Large xylophone	Small xylophone