The transverse flute belongs to the aerophone group.
Description of the instrument
The most common transverse flutes are usually made of wood or metal (there are also some made of cane). The wooden ones are usually boxwood or ebony. The newest ones have keys to open and close the holes.
Way of playing
It is taken with both hands, and placing the lips on the mouthpiece, it is blown directing the air against its edge, producing the sound.
History
Although we do not know much about this instrument, we see that a musician of this type appears in the list of interpreters of the San Fermín festivities in Pamplona in the 18th century (Ramos, 1990): “Cristobal Echeverria - Pífano - Arbizu - 1765 - ac (fife + 2 drums) ”(105. or.).
At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, the traverse flute was part of rondalla-type musical groups from many towns, along with the string guitar, the bandurria, the lute and the violin, the clarinet and the tambourine, in urban environments and the coast and inland. Such a group appears on the Paseo Ezkiaga de Hernani in a spectacular photo from 1894 (Beltrán, 1996).
In the rural area there were also transverse flutes. For example, Franzisko Garate, from Itziar, "Patxi Agerre", played with his wife, who accompanied him to the tambourine (Aguirre, 1992, p.49).
The Amiama brothers from Antzuola also played two of these flutes in the pilgrimages of the Port of Deskarga and its surroundings. Two of his sons continued in this profession until the war of 1936. In recent years they abandoned the flutes and played dulzainas.
SOURCES
Bibliography
AGUIRRE, Rafael. (1992). Trikitixa. Gipuzkoa-Donostia Kutxa.
BELTRAN ARGIÑENA, Juan Mari. (1996). Soinutresnak euskal herri musikan. Hernani: Orain.
PEDRELL, Felipe. (1894). Diccionario Técnico de la Música. Serv. rep. de libros, Librerías Paris-Valencia. Facsimil. Valentzia, 1992.
RAMOS, Jesus. (1990). Materiales para la elaboración de un censo de músicos populares de Euskal Herria, a partir de los instrumentistas llegados a Iruñea en el Siglo XVIII. Cuadernos de Etnología y Etnografía de Navarra, 55 zk. 91-138. Iruñea: Institución Principe de Viana.
Discography
LEKEITIOKO ESTUDIANTINA. (1983). Aratuste Alai. IZ-185