From North Korea to Catalonia: the Tenora, Suona and Jangsaenap

What do the Catalan tenora, the Chinese suona and the North Korean jangsaenap have in common? A comparison between these three double reed instruments might seem ludicrous at first, but they have intriguing similarities. I was first struck by the visual similarities between the bass keyed suona and the tenora, later discovering the shorter jangsaenap(see figure 1). Sonically, the three instruments are also remarkably similar: loud outdoor instruments with great lyrical potential. Why and how have such similar instruments developed in geographical locations as distant as Catalonia, and China and North Korea?