Believed to date from around 1980, this txistu is built from hard black plastic with chrome rings, a metal mouthpiece and fipple, and a finger ring at the lower end that supports the hand during one-handed play. It comes with its own custom-made protective case.
The txistu is the three-hole fipple flute of the Basque Country and one of the enduring symbols of Basque musical tradition. It is played with a single hand, two finger holes in front and a thumb hole behind, which frees the other hand to beat a small tabor drum, the danbolin. Modernized examples like this one carry a range of about two octaves, enough to handle both traditional dance tunes and the ensemble txistu music that grew up around the instrument’s twentieth-century revival.
