Some cool folk instruments

[Peterku]

I went to a christmas fair in Budapest today. There was an old man who made different folk wind instruments common in Hungary, Transylvania and Moldova. These instruments are made of common fruit trees. For instance, when the shepherd spent the whole day out in the fields, he needed something to kill the time with, so he carved something to make music with. That's how these instruments were slowly developed. I'll introduce some of them you might find interesting.

(Some of the clips might not be recognized by Windows Media Player, but Winamp will play them all.)


"Pear Music"

It's a folk version of the ocarina. It's called so because it's traditionally made of pear tree. Actually mine's made of walnut, but I chose that simply because it looked better. It's tuned to C and can produce nearly any semitone within an octave, and their harmonics one octave up. Here's a pic of the pear tree version:



Here's a chort clip I found on the internet: http://www.aural.hu/hangok/okarina.mp3

The guy sounds a bit off-tune but at least you'll hear the timbre of the sound... Mine is well-tuned, I checked that before buying it. ;)


Moldovan Tilinkó

There's a very old Hungarian-speaking population called "Csángó" in Moldova, which is to the east from Romania, so quite far from Hungary. They have some really interesting instruments, one of them is called "tilinkó". It's basically a flute without the holes. It's a primitive instrument, that's why it's very challenging to play it. The tilinkó can only produce a base note and its harmonics (mine's tuned to E), or some lower notes, if you put your finger somewhere around its end hole (the distance is also important). The harmonics vary according to the dynamics and angle of the blow. While the old man played complete songs, I still can't produce one clear note with it, LOL. It's really a fun instrument. Mine is made of plum tree. The others at the fair were made of pear tree, mine had just been finished. The grain was more interesting on it, so I chose that. Here's a picture:



Here are some clips:

http://www.aural.hu/hangok/tilinko.mp3

http://www.aural.hu/hangok/tilinko%20berkenye.mp3

http://www.aural.hu/hangok/moldvai%20konyv.mp3


Moldovan Kaval

The "kaval" is very similar to the tilinkó and similarly common in csángó music. The only difference is that the kaval has a few holes, so that notes are easier to produce.



http://www.aural.hu/hangok/kaval.mp3

http://www.aural.hu/hangok/moldvai%20kaval%20berkenye.mp3


Sheperd's Flute



http://www.aural.hu/hangok/nepi%20furulya.mp3

http://www.aural.hu/hangok/pasztor%20furulya.mp3


Double Flute

It's two flutes in one instrument. One of them only produces the base note and its harmonics.



http://www.aural.hu/hangok/dupla%20furulya.mp3


These are definitely fun to play. Very simple but challenging instruments. I bought an ocarina and a tilinkó but the more I play them the more I'm gassing for a kaval and a double flute, too. :D

[Davey]

they are realy chalenging instruments to play.. the reason the old people were so good with them is that they literaly had time from dawn till dusk to play around with em

and cool stuff there :D

[Peterku]

I've made a short clip with my tilinko. Some interesting sounds, I don't know how I made them, though... :lol:  

http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=3215219&q=hi

[Peterku]

Here's another one:

http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=3215599&q=hi

 :)

[TwilightOdyssey]

Very cool.

I think you need to get some Pan flutes. Zamphir -- watch out!!

[Peterku]

Very cool.

I think you need to get some Pan flutes. Zamphir -- watch out!!

Lol, thanks.

[Peterku]

Woohoo... I've bought a Moldovan Kaval. The pics are quite blurry, sorry.







It's simply a tilinko with five holes. Mine is made of walnut (beautiful!) and the instrument consists of two pieces so that I can finetune it by altering the overall length when needed. There is a bone ring around the end -- another nice feature.

Sound: it's very similar to the tilinko (see my clips for reference), maybe the high end isn't as raw due to the different construction and material (it's walnut while my tilinko is made of plum tree). Harmonics aren't as complex but in return the kaval can play a D dorian 4# scale in a two-octave range (there's a third octave when you make harmonics scream). It sounds like a very interesting minor scale.

By altering the dynamics of your breath you can add an octave and/or fifth to the base notes. The base notes sound very warm, deep and woody -- you need to breath gently into the hole to produce them. A stronger breath will open up the sound into harmonics. I'm controling air flow by altering the shape of my mouth.

It's my favourite instrument out of the three (tilinko, ocarina, kaval). It's more versatile than a tilinko but still has lots of raw harmonics a sheperd's flute doesn't have.