Ploy (musical instrument)

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Ploy (Khmer: ព្លយខ្មែរ) is a Cambodian wind instrument. It has a gourd-shaped body with five to seven bamboo tubes sticking out and a bamboo pipe set at a right angle to the gourd. Players blow into the bamboo tube, filling the gourd “wind chest,” and the air exits through the other bamboo tubes. Each bamboo tube contains a metal rod that vibrates to make sound. Musicians can also suck air in to produce a different tone. Notes are created by covering and uncovering holes in the bamboo tubes. The ploy is mainly a rural instrument, found in Mondulkiri Province among the Phnoung and Tampuan peoples. It may be related to the Laotian khaen. In the history of Asian mouth organs, gourds or calabashes have served as wind chests in other instruments, such as the Chinese sheng and the Bengal shêng.