The bamboo flute, especially the bone flute, is one of the oldest musical instruments known.[ While the oldest flutes currently known were found in Europe, Asia too has a long history with the instrument that has continued into the present day. In China, a playable bone flute was discovered, about 9000 years old.]
Historians have found the bamboo flute has a long history as well, especially China and India. Flutes made history in records and artworks starting in the Zhou dynasty. The oldest written sources reveal the Chinese were using the kuan (a reed instrument) and hsio (or xiao, an end-blown flute, often of bamboo) in the 12th-11th centuries b.c., followed by the chi (or ch'ih) in the 9th century b.c. and the yüeh in the 8th century b.c.[
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The cross flute (Sanscrit: vāṃśī) was "the outstanding wind instrument of ancient India," according to Curt Sachs.[ The Indian bamboo cross flute, Bansuri, was sacred to Krishna, and he is depicted in Hindu art with the instrument.][ In India, the transverse flute appeared in reliefs from the 1st century a.d. at Sanchi and Amaravati from the 2nd-4th centuries a.d.]
In the modern age, bamboo flutes are common in places with ready access to bamboo, including Asia, South and Southeast Asia, South America, and Africa.
See: Chinese flutes
End blown flute mouthpieces
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| Xiao blowing hole | (the hole faces away from the player, against the lower lip, making sure the top lip is not concealing the hole, when the instrument is played. Works on the same basics as blowing air over an empty bottle to create noise.) | |
| Shakuhachi | Kinko school utaguchi (歌口, blowing edge) and inlay. The shakuhachi player blows as one would blow across the top of an empty bottle (though the shakuhachi has a sharp edge to blow against called utaguchi) and therefore has substantial pitch control. | |
| Hotchiku | Same technique as shakuhachi. The angle of the utaguchi (歌口, lit. "singing mouth"), or blowing edge, of a hotchiku is closer to perpendicular to the bore axis than that of a modern shakuhachi. | |
| Quena | To produce sound, the player closes the top end of the pipe with the flesh between the chin and lower lip, and blows a stream of air downward, along the axis of the pipe, over an elliptical notch cut into the end. | |
| Khlui | Thailand. A block has been put into the end of the flute, an internal fipple that creates a hole to blow through, channeling air through a duct to create sound. | |
List of bamboo flutes, cane flutes, reed flutes
This list is intended to show flutes made of bamboo. It excludes pan flutes or panpipes, and flutes and whistles that don't have finger positions to change notes. It also excludes pipes that use Quadruple reed to produce the sound. Bamboo is a grass, and some "cane" or "reed" flutes may get listed here, as long as the plant is being used for a tube that is blown into or across to create noise. Types of flutes include (also called cross flutes), (ring flutes are included with these) and . Fipple flutes, also called duct flutes, may be added to the list as well, as long as they are bamboo-based instruments. The bamboo variant may be added for instruments that include wood and bamboo versions.
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| Atenteben | | Ghana | |
| Bansuri | | Bangladesh | | | |
| Bansuri | | India | | | |
| Bansuri | (Nepali: बाँसुरी) | Nepal | .]] | | |
| Bata Nalawa | | Sri Lanka | | | |
| Chi instrument | | China | | | |
| Dizi |
) | China | | | |
| Daegeum | | Korea | | | |
| Dangjeok or Jeok | | Korea | | Notched flute | |
| Danso | | Korea | | | |
| Donali | دونَلی | Iran | | | |
| Dongdi | | China | | | |
| Fijian nose flute | | Viti Levu | | Nose flute | This nasal flute is made from a section of bamboo, pierced with nine holes. The entire surface is decorated with geometric patterns of different shapes, forming several registers in the vertical direction. To play the flute, a hole must be applied against one nostril while the other is blocked by the fingers. |
| Floghera | | Greece | (clarinet) | rim-blown | End-blown bamboo flute without a fipple, used in Greek folk music. Played by directing a narrow air stream against its sharp, open upper end. It typically has seven finger holes. |
Friscolettu[Scola, Allison. "Friscalettu: Sicily's Reed Flute" , Experiencesicily.com website, July 29, 2016. Retrieved May 23, 2021.] | | Sicily | | fipple | Seven holes on the front, two in the back |
| Hotchiku | | Japan | | | |
Gasbah | الڨصبة (Egyptian Arabic), Taghanimt (Berber language) | Maghreb | | oblique (bevel is cut on the end of the tube) | Oblique flutes are played with the musician be holding the flute at an angle to the mouth, blowing across a bevel cut in the end. Similar to Ney. |
| Garau-nai | | Uzbekistan, Tajikistan | | | |
| India nose-flute bansuri | | West Bengal | | Fipple | In 1799, artist Frans Balthazar Solvyns depicted an end-blown flute, called Bansuri (like the side-blown flute), being played nasally. |
| Ji | | Korea | | | |
| Junggeum | | Korea | , in the middle a junggeum, to the right a piri.]] | | |
| Kagurabue | (Japanese: 神楽笛)) | Japan | | | |
| Khloy |
Burmese language: ပုလွ | Cambodia
Myanmar (Burma) | | internal
fipple | End-blown flute duct flute flute. Mouthhole on bottom of pipe's end, soundhole on flute's bottom (opposite side of the pipe from the fingerholes). |
| Khlui | ( | Thailand | | internal
fipple | End-blown flute duct flute flute. Mouthhole on top of pipe's end, soundhole on flute's top. |
| Komabue | Japanese: 高麗笛 | Japan[Shigeo Kishibe, et al. "Japan." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/43335pg5 ] | | | |
| Koudi | Chinese: 口笛
pinyin: kǒudí | China | | | |
| Lalove | | Indonesia | |
| Malaysian nose flute | | Sarawak | | Nose flute | |
| Minteki or shinteki | minteki: (kanji: 明笛
shinteki: (kanji: 清笛)) | Japan | | | |
| Moseño | | Andes mountains | | | |
| Bansuri | | Nepal | | | |
| Native American flute | | United States (Native American) | | | |
| Nohkan | 能管 | Japan | .]] | | |
| Ney | | Iran | | | |
| Ohe Hano Ihu | | Hawaii | | | |
| Paiwan nose flute | | Taiwan | | Nose flute | Instrument of the Paiwan people of Taiwan. |
| Palendag | | Philippines | | | |
| Palwei (German Wikipedia) | Burmese: ပလွေ | Myanmar | | | |
| Pinkillu | | Peru, Andes mountains | flute and tinya drum. The musician plays the flute one handed while playing the drum.]] | | |
| Quena | | Andes | or Rhipidocladum.[]]] | | |
| Ryūteki | | Japan | | | |
| Sáo | Sáo trúc | Vietnam | | | |
| Shakuhachi | | Japan[ 新都山流 心安らぐあたたかな音色 尺八 .][ 公益財団法人 都山流尺八学会 .] | | | |
| Shinobue or takebue | Shinobue:
Takebue:
| Japan | .]] | | |
| Sogeum | | Korea | | | |
| Suling | | Indonesia | | | |
| Suling | | Papua, New Guinea | .]] | | |
| Tahitian nose flute | | Tahiti | | Nose flute | Bamboo nose flute bound with bands of colored coconut fiber. Collected from Tahiti, the Society Islands during Cook's voyages to the Pacific 1768–1780. |
| Tongso | | Korea | | | |
| Venu | Sanskrit: वेणु]] | India | | | |
| Wa | | Myanmar | | | |
| Xiao flute | | China | | | |
| Xindi | | China | | | |
| Yak | | Korea | | | |
| Yokobue | | Japan | | | |
| Yue | | China | | | |
