Tarka (flute)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Tarka.
The tarka (quechua, aymara: tharqa) is an indigenous flute of the Andes. Usually made of wood, it has 6 finger holes, fipple on mouth end and free hole on distant end.
The tarka is a blockflute, like a recorder, but is comparatively shorter and quite angular in shape, requires greater breath, and has a darker, more penetrating sound.
The tarka has three variants: big, medium (tuned by fifth above) and small (tuned by octave above). Usually all three kinds of tarka are being used together, in a big ensemble, playing the same melody on three voices with fixed interval and are accompanied with percussion instruments (tiña, huancar). This traditional genre is called tarqueada.
