Hello, i have been listening to the album flatfish by Flook. on the Song Flutopia, about 4-5 minutes into the song, there is a break and then what appears to be some type of Arabic flute music begins to play. I originally thought it might be an irish flute, maybe with a lot of keys or something because it sounded a little.. well, like it was very half-toney, like it was some type of harmonic minor type scales being used in the instrument. I then searched and came up with this video
as far as i know he plays pat olwell bamboo flutes. they are no longer made, so they fetch a premium on the market (still nothing compared to wooden fltues). doc jones gets them every once and a while. check out his site: http://irishflutestore.com . get on his email list, because the olwells usually dont get onto the website.
When it comes to the music of the Middle East, which encompasses a rather large area, and numerous influences, there is a tradition of quarter tone music, which may be what you heard.
Of the 18 second youtube piece, and I am guessing here, the little flute taking the lead looks to be a flute in G, and of Western scale.
A G flute like a bamboo Olwell fits the tune nicely, with half-holed d# and c-nat. Here’s a rough transcription from the CD, transposed for G:
X:1
T:Flutopia, Part 3
N:transposed for G flute
N:key is B Ahava Raba / Maqam Hijaz
D:Flook - Flatfish, Track 9
Z:MTGuru for Chiff & Fipple
M:7/8
K:^d ^f
eff fz fg|ag2 fe ef|T~^d2c cz cc|B2F Bz Bz:|
ABA cz cz|cBA ^de ef|T~^d2c cz cc|B2F Bz Bz:|
T~f3- ~f4-|~f3- ~f4|T~e3- e4-|e3- ez fg|
azg fe ef|T~^d2c cz ^de|T~^d2c cz cc|B2F Bz Bz:|
T~^d2c cz cc|T~^d2c cz ^de|T~^d2c cz cc|B2F Bz Bz|
T~^d2c cz cc|T~^d2c cz ^de|T~^d2c cz cc|B2F Bz Bz:|
The transposed scale/key is B Ahava Raba (Maqam Hijaz), based on the 5th mode of E harmonic minor. The tune sounds more Balkan to me than Middle Eastern, but I’m no expert in either. Brian did spend a year in Hungary.
Sarah’s slap tonguing on flute is amazing. It sounds just like a plucked string.
Brian picked up the tune on a tour he did years ago that was called Flutopia - really good flutes players from various traditons. That tune was from a Macedonian player - I believe the type of tune is an Oro. And they are all right, Brian plays bamboo flutes quite a bit - almost exclusively for a while. He most often used a really nice Olwell G (John on the money once again).
Those Balkan half-hole trills are fun. Using the B1 finger works for both the d# and f# trills. I’ve read they’re typically done with the middle joint of the finger on kaval, frula, etc., so piper’s grip helps.
ah, thanks for the information, more to look up and research now. I’ve been piddling around with this tune on the d whistle, half-holing holes i’ve never half-holed before and can kinda work out the slow part. Your transcription, MT, was eye-opening, thanks again
I’m using an Indian reed whistle thats about an F. Its close enough to play around with it. Its late pretty though… I think my neighbors will be having Balkin or Mid East dreams.
