The PHIN PIA (from Sanskrit veena, bin) is a plucked string instrument (like a harp) that is resonated by a gourd which is placed over the heart. Between the 8-12th centuries it was known in Eastern India, Indonesia (Java), Da Nang (Cham in Vietnam), Angkor and Sukothai. Today it is only known in Northern Thailand (Lanna), and rarely found in Cambodia (but called the sa dev). The last known Indian performer of a similar instrument died in the 1980s. In Lanna, it has historically been used to serenade women. It is probably one of the quietest instruments in the world.

Andrew McGraw, PhD, is a composer, performer and ethnomusicologist specializing in Southeast Asian music. Before completing his dissertation on Indonesian avant-garde music at Wesleyan University in 2005, he studied and performed Indonesian music in Java and Bali as a Dharmasiswa, Fulbright-Hays and Arts International award recipient. He has worked with leading Indonesian composers, including I Wayan Yudane, I Wayan Sadra, Pande Made Sukerta, I Made Subandi, A.L. Suwardi and members of the renowned Cudamani ensemble, and can frequently be heard live in New York playing with the traditional gamelan ensembles in residence at the Indonesian Consulate in Manhattan. He has taught music at Holy Cross, Bard, Simon's Rock, UMKC, University of Chiang Mai in Thailand, and Emerson College.

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http://www.culture.go.th/research/musical/html/en_musical_north.php?musical=phin_pia