The txistu ˈtʃis̺tu or chistu is a kind of fipple flute

Fipple

A fipple is a constricted mouthpiece common to many end-blown woodwind instruments, such as the tin whistle and the recorder. These instruments are known variously as fipple flutes, duct flutes, or tubular-ducted flutes.-How it works:...

 that became a symbol for the Basque folk

Basque music

The strict classification of Basque music remains a controversial issue, complicated in part by the growing diversification of such music, but by and large it is made in the Basque Country, it reflects traits related to that society/tradition and it is devised by people from the Basque...

 revival. The name may stem from the general Basque word ziztu "to whistle" with palatalisation of the z (cf zalaparta > txalaparta

Txalaparta

The txalaparta is a specialized Basque music device of wood or stone, similar to Romanian toacă. In Basque, zalaparta means "racket", while in the nearby areas of Navarre "txalaparta" has been attested as meaning the trot of the horse, a sense closely related to the sound of the...

). This three-hole pipe

Three-hole pipe

The three-hole pipe, also commonly known as Tabor pipe is a wind instrument designed to be played by one hand, leaving the other hand free to play a tabor drum, bell, psalterium or tambourin à cordes, bones, triangle or other percussive instrument....

 can be played with one hand, leaving the other one free to play a percussion instrument

Percussion instrument

A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...

.

Evidence of the txistu first mentioned as such goes back to 1864. Yet it is apparent that it was used earlier, although it is not easy to establish when it started out; actually, it is impossible to do so, the txistu being the result of an evolution of the upright flutes widespread as early as the Late Middle Ages, when minstrels scattered all over the Iberian Peninsula brought in instruments that locals, noblemen first and common people later took on and developed. At the beginning, txistu players (txistularis) were named in romance written records after the tabor

Tabor

-Places:* Mount Tabor * Tábor, Czech Republic** Taborite, member of a 15th century Czech religious group considered heretical by the Roman Catholic Church* Tabor, Slovenia, town and municipality...

 (pipe and tabor were played together): tamborer, tamborino, tambolín, tamborín, tamboril, músico tamboril, tamborilero, tamboriltero. However, when named after the flute, they are called in Spanish pífano, silbato, silbo, silbo vizcaíno, chilibistero to name a few.

The three-hole flute was no doubt used by people in much of Spain not only in the Basque Country, but recordings of Basque names for the instrument turn up later: txilibitu, txirula, txirola, txürula, txulula, txilibitulari, txilibistari. While some instruments fell into decay, from the Renaissance on the three-hole flute raised its profile and increasingly took on the length as we know it today (42 cm) in the western Basque Country

Basque Country (historical territory)

The Basque Country is the name given to the home of the Basque people in the western Pyrenees that spans the border between France and Spain on the Atlantic coast....

. In contrast, the (t)xirula

Xirula

The xirula xülüla in Zuberoan Basque; Gascon: flabuta; French: galoubet) is a small three hole flute usually made of wood akin to the Basque txistu or three-hole pipe, but more high pitched and strident, tuned to C and an octave higher than the silbote. The sound that flows from the flute has often...

, the version that prevailed on the eastern Basque Country (Soule

Soule

Soule is a former viscounty and French province and part of the present day Pyrénées-Atlantiques département...

, Labourd

Labourd

Labourd is a former French province and part of the present-day Pyrénées Atlantiques département. It is historically one of the seven provinces of the traditional Basque Country....

 and Navarre

Navarre

Navarre , officially the Chartered Community of Navarre is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France...

) remained shorter in size. At that point, three-hole flutes were made of wood (despite some instances of flutes made in bone).

Up to the 18^th century, since chistu was played along the pattern of tabor and pipe, it needed no tuning; yet in the 18^th century the chistu was adopted by the Count of Peñaflorida and his Basque Enlightenment cultural revival, and became a part of Basque aspirations for the nobility, resulting in more instruments (usually other chistus) joining the pair, so they started to be tuned. The instrument was modified to give it a range of two octave

Octave

In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...

s, and a larger version called in Spanish the silbote was fashioned to accompany polyphonic

Polyphony

In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ....

 compositions. Rural txistu musicians continued their own traditions with self crafted rustic txistus, while the urban txistularis formed schools to teach the brand-new sophisticated instrument.

At different stages of the three-hole flute's history reeds and metal mouthpieces were applied for a better sound. While some claim that it is closely related to the early link of the Basques to iron and the forging industry, others suggest that the embedding of such pieces began in the industrial revolution of the 19^th century.

The oldest txistu melodies

Melody

A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...

 are characterized by a Mixolydian mode in G, which is the same as the seventh mode in Gregorian chanting. More recently-composed songs are still in G major, but in either natural or sharp F or, more rarely, C. There are exceptions, however, in major F melodies with natural B.

The Association of Txistularies in the Basque Country was formed in 1927 to promote txistularis. The organization has continued its activities to the present, except for an interruption during the Francisco Franco

Francisco Franco

Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...

dictatorship.

External links

• Association des Amateurs du Txistu Site in French
• Explanation of txistu