TheAfterLife,
I will try to help you understand in your walk for finding what you are trying to search for. In some of my writings, I have specifically said time and time again that I feel that the Hmongs have very close ties to some of the practices and customs of the Middle East. You are certainly correct in the sense that the Jaw Harp was a very common instrument for us Hmong and from the Middle East.
But my writing here will try to establish some validity on the cultural and origin of the Hmong people. Here is my story and it's going to be a rather lengthy one, I will try to make it short as I possibly can.
The Hmongs are known for their clothing, the clothing identify them as to what people they belong to. Here, in our case there are the Green Hmongs and the White Hmongs. The White Hmongs have limited clothing design and it can be seen from the dresses of the female White Hmongs. Taken from the questions I have ask from many older Hmong people, I found one answer that seems to echo with a repeating answer. Many of the older Green Hmong believe that the design of their clothing is their language, their history and their origin. Sadly no one has come up with an answer that can be told other then folklore and folktales. What we need is hard evidence and hard facts linking the folklores and folktales to what has been orally passed down.
In my walk, I have used many materials trying to link evidence as to the origin of the Hmong, such as what you have taken note on the Jaw Harp. In this case, I dealt directly with the Hmong clothing, their design, their tales and customs. This immediately brought me to ask how the Hmongs made their clothing, surely there must be clues in the weaving of the material used to make the cloth and how it was obtain from the 1st step in processing the raw material to the beautiful ornate costume it came into being. My parents used to tell us how they were taught making their own clothing from raw materials, how they dyed the colors and how the threads were loomed together to form the sheet of cloth later to be made into being.
This came about a particular study into the Persian and Oriental Rugs. Oddly, I didn't want to carpet my living room and was more incline to make better use of an area rug and that was when I became fascinated with the details and processes of these Persian and Oriental Rugs. I did a small research and found that the Persian Rugs and the Oriental Rugs have many of the same quality and features. The way they were loomed, the looming tools, methods and processes were very similar. Perhaps the only difference between the two rugs were the design from its creator. Nevertheless, the similarities were so strikingly similar…so much so that in both rugs the ones made out of silk were the most decorated and most expensive. Silk worms that produced this raw material rarely exist in the middle east but there were plentiful in the far east. We do know from archeological sources that the Silk Road was the main highway from the middle east to the far east. The Silk Road was where herbs and spices used as medicinal ailments for curing the body was traded for silk fabrics from the Far East. Many plants and spices were used as a dye agent to put color into the raw material for a specific color, in turn, for the various designs and symbols for various religious beliefs.
As I pursue the step by step process of how these rugs were made I realized that we Hmong had to have been in the middle of it somewhere along the line. What I found was startling. Here are a few YouTube videos that I hope will help you in establishing your thoughts and ideas. I also want you to note that the gentleman explaining the details of the symbols within the rug is well versed in signs and symbols. These signs and symbols were later adopted by the Europeans….up even until now. They can be understood by anyone who was deep into the study of symbols and numerology, the esoteric of things all around. He mentioned about "Flower of Life", Death and Resurrection, The Bunny Rabbit as a sign of fertilization etc.