Here be my Dan moi collection thus far.
Oft written as Đàn môi.
Dan moi is a mouth harp of the Hmong people of Vietnam made from the one strip of brass.
The size of the reed, the length and width of the strip will determine the sound created by the jawharp. Unlike most other jawharps the Dan moi is not played between the teeth -- but aside from that, the sounds are all created through the breath while using the mouth as a sound chamber.
If you search jawharp or Dan moi on YouTube you'll get a range of music played with these instruments. There are even albums available from Spotify and many aficionado groups around the world who dig the 'twang' big time. It is often associated with throat singing.
What I love about this jawharp is --aside from its price (if you can find a seller) -- its easy subjectivity. The jawharp is so feral that it is an instrument ruled by improvisation-- even more so than the blues harmonica.
YOU make the sound. It's like learning to speak a different language than your mother tongue -- but a language whose cadence is so easily lyrical and accessible.
I may plan to use my mouth sounds as background music -- like some aged Beatboxer -- but just sitting down playing the thing is just so pleasant and distracting. With the methodical cyclical breathing it can be detaching from the every day in the meditative sense. Akin, I guess, to the feeling you'd get playing the didgeridoo.
Of course, with that cute little bamboo tube for storage it's more portable than a didge.
Since you are sure to play the thing to amuse yourself -- primarily or only -- it can be a secret indulgence-like passionate 'me' time. And since jawharps don't make a fetish of tuning or the chromatic scale, any note played is sure to work because a mere few vibrations separates one note from the next.
You 'could' learn to play 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' or 'Chopsticks' -- but why would you? It's more fun to speak-breath your way through the vowels --like a practising ventriloquist -- to see what they can sound like vibed.
Since I am handicapped by pronunciation issues -- which is surely genetic on my mum's side -- I appreciate the drill.
I guess I have a lazy mouth. (I know it's not a dirty one.)
Playing this instrument takes me back to my Thespian past -- trying to nail a speech or two from Shakespeare so that the bleachers could hear me without yelling at them.
Except this time around I'm talking to myself.
For a great example of the sounds I love this track:
