VAREKAI. . .Cirque du Soleil
Whistle or recorder?
Prop? 
LOL!
I posed the question to Cirque du Soleil, and after some emails here and there, I got a response from Wayne Harkin, who is the musician! He plays alto recorder, renaissance flute (in A), and a pennywhistle during the performance.
I never imagined my simple question would be answered by the actual artist. . .I LOVE CIRQUE!
I was flipping channels last night and there was some classical concert orchestra/choir type thing (not my bag, can you tell?) on PBS - smack in the middle of the front row of a regular orchestra was a fella having a great ole’ time on a tinwhistle – looked like a Feadog. I didn’t stay on it long as I didn’t want to miss any of CSI