Washint (Amharic: ዋሽንት) is an end-blown wooden flute originally used in Ethiopia. Traditionally, Amharic musicians would pass on their oral history through song accompanied by the washint as well as the krar, which is a six stringed lyre, and the masenqo, a one string fiddle.^[1]

Occurrence

Along with the Krar and the Masenqo, the Washint flute is one of the three most widespread traditional musical instruments in Ethiopia.

The washint is a favorite among the shepherds and cowherders.^[2]

Construction and design

The washint can be constructed using bamboo, wood or other cane, and increasingly flutes of metal and plastic tubes can be seen.^[3] Varieties exists in different lengths and relative fingerhole placement, and a performer might use several different flutes over the course of a performance to accommodate different song types.^[4] It generally has four finger-holes, which allows the player to create a pentatonic scale.^[5]

See also

• Ney, a flute of similar construction found in Middle Eastern Music
• Ney (Turkish), a Turkish flute of similar construction
• Kaval, a similar wind instrument found in Azerbaijan, Turkey, Macedonia and Bulgaria
• Music of Ethiopia - historical overview of music tradition of Ethiopia
• Krar, five or six-stranded bowl-shaped lyre used in Ethiopia and Eritrea
• Masenqo, single-stranded bowed lute in Ethiopian-Eritrean tradition.

References

External links

Audio examples and pictures

• Washint tune played before entranced crowd (on EthioTube site part of YouTube)
• Boy mimicking Washint sound (on YouTube)
• Washint played by non Ethiopian (on YouTube)
• Ethiopian instruments images on the sidebar

This Ethiopia-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

This article relating to flutes is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e