The xirula (, spelled ''chiroula'' in

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

, also pronounced ''txirula'', ''(t)xülüla'' in

Zuberoan Souletin or Zuberoan () is the Basque dialect spoken in Soule, France. Souletin is marked by influences from Occitan (in particular the Béarnese dialect), especially in the lexicon. Another distinct characteristic is the use of verb forms, a ...

Basque; Gascon: ''flabuta''; French: ''galoubet'') is a small three holed woodwind instrument or flute usually made of wood akin to the Basque

txistu The txistu () is a kind of fipple flute that became a symbol for the Basque folk revival. The name may stem from the general Basque word ''ziztu'' "to whistle" with palatalisation of the ''z'' (cf ''zalaparta'' > ''txalaparta''). This three-hol ...

three-hole pipe The three-hole pipe, also commonly known as tabor pipe or galoubet, 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 ...

, but more high pitched and strident, tuned to D/G and an octave higher than the ''silbote''. The sound that flows from the flute has often been perceived as a metaphor for the tweet cadences of bird songs. Site in Basque Some scholars point out that flutes found in the Caverns of Isturitz and Oxozelaia going back to a period spanning 35,000 to 10,000 years ago bear witness to the early presence of the instrument's forerunner in the region, while this view has been disputed.

Extent

It is an instrument characteristic of the Pyrenees, and it is played on the French side of the Basque Country (the extent of its use has shrunk over the years, having long been supplanted in Labourd and Basse-Navarre by the

), where it provides along with the atabal (a

tabor Tabor may refer to: Places Czech Republic * Tábor, a town in the South Bohemian Region ** Tábor District, the surrounding district * Tábor, a village and part of Velké Heraltice in the Moravian-Silesian Region Israel * Mount Tabor, Galilee, ...

-like instrument played with drumsticks) the musical background for various traditional dances. Besides performing the music for dances, in the former viscounty of

Soule Soule (; Basque language, Basque: Zuberoa; Zuberoan/ Soule Basque: Xiberoa or Xiberua; ) is a former viscounty and France, French Provinces of France, province and part of the present-day Pyrénées-Atlantiques ''département in France, départ ...

(Zuberoa in Basque) it may enliven accompanied on both the

ttun-ttun The string drum or Tambourin de Béarn (in German) is a long rectangular box zither beaten with a mallet. It is paired with a one-handed flute (French: galoubet) with three finger holes, similar to a pipe and tabor. It has also been called tambo ...

and the atabal the traditional carnival-time performances called ''

maskarada Svetlana Ražnatović (; sr-cyr, Светлана Ражнатовић, ; ; born 14 June 1973), better known as Ceca ( sr-cyr, Цеца, links=no, ), is a Serbian singer. Dubbed the " Serbian Mother" (""), she made her recording debut in 1988 ...

k'' as well as the ''

pastoral The pastoral genre of literature, art, or music depicts an idealised form of the shepherd's lifestyle – herding livestock around open areas of land according to the seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. The target au ...

s'', age-old region-specific theatre plays popular in the area. Similar variants have been used to the west and east of the Basque Country up to the 1950s, with some examples occasionally jumping to the spotlight in special events, e.g. the so-called "gigantillos" (dancing characters with magnified masks and costumes) dancing to the tunes of the "chirola" in Burgos (Spain). The "silbu" and "chiflo" from

Cantabria Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...

and

Aragón Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to south): Huesca, Zaragoza, a ...

show similar features. The instrument is still used in the vallée d'Ossau in Béarn, and has undergone a revival in parts of Les Landes.

Players

Main xirula activity focuses in

, where xirula's musical revival is led by Jean-Mixel Bedaxagar (1953) along with Mixel Etxekopar (1963).

References

{{Flutes Basque musical instruments Internal fipple flutes