This Romanian 17th-century panpipe is a mainstay of traditional folk and classical music, wide in range and resonant, it is made up of at least 20 pipes made of bamboo or reed in the diatonic scale of C or G, and emits a clean, almost distinctively whistle-like sound. Pitches are created by length of pipes, sometimes also by breadth, and adjusted with beeswax. Players are acclaimed in Romania, the best known being Gheorghe Zamfir and Damian Draghici, and the instrument has been used in many other genres, including pop.
How now brown nai
Here are some examples of their performance styles. First, here’s Gheorghe Zamfir playing that famous tune, The Lonely Shepherd, along with Dutch violinist André Rieu, followed by other examples. The Lonely Shepherd has been used in many films, including the closing credits of Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill: Volume 1.
And with a slower, meditative beginning on this example, Damian Draghici displays extraordinary speed of staccato and legato notes with a lip technique:
Another popular player, Sweden’s Dana Dragomir, plays a range of hits in this compilation:
So then, anything to share in relation to the nai, in music or wider culture? Feel free to suggest examples, or even from film, art, or other contexts in comments below.
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