Pál Pista (or Pista Pal) kind of Transdanubian folk fulte

A few days ago I wrote about the open-ended six hole folk flutes. In hungarian folk music, these flutes are called Transdanubian folk flutes. But who is „Pál Pista”?

Today, people usually learn folk music in school. The Liszt Academy of Music has a Folk Music Department and there are excellent „free-lance” teachers. There are many places you can learn at very high levels of folk music but this is not the same as liveing folk music. It is another thing to learn about Béla Bartók or talk to him. This is a silly example, but perhaps a sense of the difference.

So there are still a handful of musicians who have learned to play folk music from their parents, never went to music school and do not know what a pentatonic scale is. They played the music that scientists are exploring. These guys are iconic figures of the Hungarian folk music - because these people play the real folk music.

Pál Pista is one of them. He was born in 1919 and his occupation was shepherd. But he is one of the most famous bagpiper and folk flute player. And of course, he also make musical instruments. His instruments are used as a model for today's instrument makers. The sound and the sizing of his flutes are a kind of standard. A piece our past.

This is one of his flutes. Completely undamaged with nice voice. The keynote is E flat. Basically ideal for solo play. But the most important: this is his own handmade ornament. It's just like a signature. This of course does not affect the sound - but so beautiful…

Slovakian folk flute

Three main types are of six-hole flutes in the Carpathian Basin. The open-ended, the narrowed -ended and the back hole flute.  Now I will show you one kind of the open-ended flute.

The open-ended flutes traditionally used in Western Hungary and Slovakia. The figering is very simple, in practice the sounds are coming one after the other and the instrument plays a major. If you have to play minor, you simply start to play on the second note.

This is probably the easiest flute. Very similar to the Irish Whistle only the sound less bright, rather matte.

Which makes this particular flute to Slovakian flute is the ornament. The brown patterns in the instrument that is not the color of the wood and it is not painted. The ornament etched with formic acid into the wood. This type of decoration is very popular in the Slovak instruments. The decoration of fujara is the same.

In the photos you can see two flutes – a „G” and a „C”. This means that if you close all the holes and blow the flute you will hear a „G” or a „C”. The „G” flute is a little bit longer.