This blog is dedicated to the sublime instruments called nose flutes and which produce the most divine sound ever. We have chosen to discard all the native models from S. Pacific and Asia, for they need fingering to be played. We'll concentrate on "buccal cavity driven" nose flutes : the well patented and trademarked metal or plastic ones, plus, by a condemnable indulgence, some wooden craft or home-made productions.
Kiyoshi Suzuki (スズキ キヨシ) is a Japanese musician, specialized in African percussions, an instrument maker, a music teacher and lecturer, and a performance organizer. His wife Sachie Tomioka (トミオカ サチエ) is a designer and an aromatherapy instructor. Both are very involved in environmental and human causes, and form the Kiyoshism studio, or On-lak Ichiba ("music market").
On their website (and here translated by Goggle), you can read all about their activities, and discover the instruments Suzuki makes and sells : percussions, Kalimbas, "shala-shalas" and... nose flutes.
The particularity of Kiyoshi's instruments is that they all use a funny, colored and recycled supplementary percussion system : flattened beer caps used as little cymbals! Even the On-lak nose flutes (おんらく) wear their little beer cap, coming from a Japanese, Indonesian, Hawaiian, Indonesian... beer bottle.
Mr. Kiyoshi very gently answered my questions :
- When did you begin to make nose flutes, and why ?
I began to make them about 5 years ago.
I think ... the nose flutes is "a barrier-free musical instrument". It is a communication tool, so funny and so amazing !
- How did you get the idea of adding beer caps, and why ?
The cause of that is the sound object "Okan Shala-shala." ”Okan Shala-shala” is a Kiyoshi's original item. The Japanese meaning of "Okan" is beer caps. It's a like a tambourine, and makes a sound of good noise.
- What is the meaning of the name "On-Lak" ?
We are a husband and wife unit. Kiyoshi is a musician (Percussion & Kalimba player). Tommy is a designer.
Our unit name is "On-Lak Ichiba".
The Japanese' meaning of "On-Lak" is "music".
"On" meaning is sound.
"Lak"means "enjoy, comfortable, etc."
The Japanese meaning of "Ichiba" is "market (PARCO)".
We enjoy music !!!
The On-lak nose flute
I tried to find to get one by the past, but did not succeed because the one I looked for was on Amazon.co.jp, and without a Japanese postal address, it is not possible to order from this seller. But recently, I had the luck to become friend with ShowNoseFlute, this young, fine and gentle hanabue player, and we decided to make a exchange of nose flute, since he was interested by some western ones.
So, thanks to Show, I received my first On-lak. And as a greedy collector, looking for info about it, I finally discovered the original On-lak website, and was able to... order more! (very easily, sending a english email with my colour choices at info[at]kiyoshism.com, and paying with Paypal).
The On-lak is a vietnamese type nose flute, as we know them, made in quite good grade rosewood (some show the very recognizable light-dark patterns), and, as we already know, are very playable with a nice sound (some difficulties, though, for noses with hard cartilage coming low under the base of the nose, because of the position of the air entrance on the flute).
But the On-lak is a very funny instrument with its "Okan" soft percussion cymbal. How to play it ? Well, there is a user-manual that is provided with the flute, which says (thanks to Show for the translation) :
« Sandwich the nose flute between thumb and middle finger, and put the index finger on the crown cymbals. Fit nose on dent of the top (see photo). »
So, the right use is to shake and tap cymbal, according to your skill and imagination, with the index, while you blow the flute. Or you can use it as a flute only, and then use it as a shaker. Let's say the percussive sound is not very loud, as you can expect from a single beer cap smashing a small piece of wood, but for a solitary playing or before a microphone, the okan will do the thing!
You can hear the okan effect in this recording by ShowNoseFlute, in which he uses different nose flutes : the percussion sounds come from his On-lak flute.
And I made a little stupid and quick video for you (and you already know that I'm not a good player...) :
So, if you look for a funny and original nose flute, just choose the colour you like for the cymbal and for the cord, and ask Mr. Kiyoshi!
Here is a recent video showing the Helgoländer Schule Lehrer Band (at the Schulzentrum Helgolander Straße, in Bremen, DE) with a quite nicely played nose flute bluesy solo. The song is Ain't No Sunshine, by Bill Withers (1971), and the nose flute appears at 1'46".
Secret Archives of the Vatican is a British « transglobal breakbeat dub science music » band. Many of their pieces use sound collages, and the titles often are a joke or word game related to references.
In their album Reformation, there is a piece played with a bağlama (turkish lute) and a nose flute. It is a very short and light piece (21s) called « Careful with that noseflute, Louis », which obviously references the famous and psychedelic « Careful with that axe, Eugene », by the Pink Floyd (Ummagumma album).
In the bağlama part, I can recognize the very hypnotic « Ötme Bülbül » ("Don't sing, Nightingale"), a classic Açik song.
On his official webpage, he is presented like this : « Charly “the city mouse” Fasano is a poet and story-teller from Denver, Colorado. He has performed and opened up for bands like Lucero, Drag the River, The Queers, Crime in Stereo, Mark Mallman, Tim Barry, Cory Branan and more. He is the co-founder of cassette tape and book label – Fast Geek Press/Analog Empire, Pretend You Can Reab audio zine, and Dumb Guy’s Brother Presents. He has released a vinyl ep, a CD, two cassette tapes and two books of poems. ... »
But Charles Fasano is also a photographer, a film-maker, an engraver (beautiful linocuts on his site...) and a painter. Well... let's say that Charly is a complete artist. I don't know how to qualify his art, some kind of underground travel with reminiscences of the Beat Generation, very urban, rather black. [many songs/poem readings to listen to, download for free or buy here, and I encourage you to, because there are many jewels laying there. Try "Three Bachelors" or "Bus One" ...]
But as a painter, Charly has just issued a series dedicated to nose flutes, and is about to show his work in an exhibition in Denver (CO), during the month of March :
Nose Flutes
Paintings by Charly "the city mouse" Fasano
March 2012
3 Kings Tavern Phoenix Gallery
Denver, Colorado.
As far as I know, this is a world premiere ! Charles Fasano is probably the first painter showing a series dedicated to our noble instrument... How did it happen ?
« I have always been fascinated by unique items, people and situations and use them as inspiration for my poetry, short films, and paintings. The nose flute, to me, is one of the most interesting items I have discovered. When we moved back to Denver, I started playing along to Cheap Trick songs while I read your website and discovered a small world of folks that have a passion for it. I started going to parties, bars and concerts around Denver asking my friends what they thought the Humanatone was on first impression. I received so many funny responses from part of an asthma inhaler to baby pacifier. Other answers were generally inappropriate.
The idea for the painting series came from a kind of spontaneous and dream like sequence of images involving the nose flute in unique situations. Kind of like a comic book I guess. »
Portraicts with a nose flute stuck on the face or scenes with Humanatones flying in the air like butterflies, dancing with fans or telephones, very colorful on black backgrounds. For those who are not lucky enough to live in Denver, Charly has generously made an e-book with his 21 paintings. Here it is :
We already knew some different ways to get a vibrato with the nose flute; By moving the tongue, the mouth, the flute itself or by a breath control.
But in this video, Mr. Mark Sepic used another radical technique : shaking the glottis!
Felice Pantone is a north-Italian « poly-musician » who plays the nose flute. He is « Ugo » in the duet Ugo e Casimiro, formed with his friend Alberto Bertolino (« Casimiro »), barrel organ and percussion player. But Felice is also an ingenious inventor, and have dedicated some of his creations to our noble instrument, notably the ReggiFlauto we reviewed previously.
Felice Pantone has gently accepted to answer our questions.
For Italian readers, the original version is downloadable here.
Please excuse my bad Italian-to-English translation...
- Noseflute.org : Ugo & Casimiro, you are musicians. Who are you ? Where are you from ? Have you always been playing as a duet ? How long have you been playing together ?
- Felice Pantone, aka. Ugo : I am Piedmontese with southern roots, and live in Tuscany. I like to call myself a Cantastorie (Storysinger). I am 54 and have been a street musician for 28 years. I live from what I write and I have a lot of fun. By need and vocation, I've always been frequenting the music world. What at first was a hobby became a job, that I have shared for many years with my partner and wife Celina, dedicating mainly to children theater, staging events where live music has always been the star of our stories dedicated to the world of children. If you visit the site ilgrilloweb.it, you will better understand what we do.
And since it is nice to have other experiences, knowing Alberto Bertolino, a barrel organ player with a repertoire that I liked, I was able to realize a project that I wanted to try : Barrel Organ with musical saw; from then on have been a succession of stimuli that were traveling with our experience and capabilities, and thus giving birth to Ugo & Casimiro, street musicians.
Today, our repertoire is very varied and ranges from songs written by me and performed with instruments that I preferentially build by myself, the Ranophone, the tuba, the washboard, the ukulele and the unavoidable nose flute, pride and joy of my nostrils! Or well-known songs of more serious music, Classical, French Musette, Pop, and songs by Italian songwriters played with the barrel organ, accompanied or solo, with the vocals and various instruments and the musical saw.
The union has not been easy, but since 2004, Ugo & Casimiro have had the opportunity to perform in many festivals of street theater in Italy and abroad.
What the public finds rejoicing about our figures, even today we do not know it ourselves. A tall one and a short one, an old and a young, a thin and a fat, a crafty and a stupid, boh? The thing is that the public has fun with us, and we too. We do what we like... following imaginary rules which change here and then. It is life, and we like it so !
- How do you share your roles? What instruments do you play?
- "Roles are shared according to the technical abilities" is a law of the show, but oftenly, we try to turn around it, and more unpredicable things and fun happen then; We try not to take ourselves too seriously and not just when we do it our way.
- You play in the streets: how the public react to the nose flute? Is the nose flute an instrument famous in Italy? How and when did you discover this little instrument ?
- As I learned to play the musical saw by myself, I came across a book found in a specialized shop and between the various instruments described in the book, I came across the description of this instrument that, since I do not speak English, puzzled me by the drawing describing it, but something told me it could be interesting. I looked for one with the help of a German friend and I finally got hold of a copy : it was love at first breath, it seemed that we were old friends. Since then for me, it was like a mission, the goal was and remains, to make known an instrument for adults and children, professional musicians and beginners. Curious fact is that, in Italy, nobody knew him, including music shops that prefer to sell the kazoo and not this wonder of wonders.
I could go on listing the many qualities of the instrument, but the thing that surprised me most is that it is actually an instinctive instrument and just needs to be approached as lightly as for a game. Elite professionals, academic musicians have found themselves in difficulty, and children amazed me with the ease with which they have learned and performed the first sequences of notes
During our shows we offer this tool and I must say that the public remains fascinated; beautiful are the reactions of joy that occur during the test of the instrument after the purchase, getting people curious because this instrument is not known in Italy. The public tries and realizes its potential, then get excited about it.
In italy, what did not allow the diffusion of this instrument is the word « nose ». I happened to participate in television programs several times, where I proposed this instrument for my performance and I am sure that I was the first one, because the surprise and embarrassment were so huge to have to pronounce the words « nose flute », as if someone's nose would procure embarassment.
I do not understand the reason, they defined it in dozens of ways to find the right way to define the instrument I wanted to present.
- Ugo, you're also a creator and you made some inventions for the nose flute! Please can you tell us what the Reggi-Flauto is? How and where to buy one?
- I learned the dynamics to play the nose flute in a mix with the ukulele, the guitar and the other percussion instruments that we use in our songs, but having only two hands I found it difficult to do everything at once alone, and with the Reggi-Flauto I found the solution to the problem. The Reggi-Flauto allows you to use another instrument and to sing because it holds the flute before the mouth, but at the same time it allows you to sing. Before I use to play the flute by holding it to the mouth with a rubber band, but it certainly was not possible to sing or speak.
For those who have the need for a convenient flute-clip that is easily adaptable to any large or small person, has passed all the tests in terms of safety, the Reggi-Flauto may be purchased by writing to felipan(at)tiscali.it or info(at)musicaistintiva.it . It costs a few euros and provides you the solution to your musical problems.
- You also invented a cardboard nose flute. The design is top secret for now, but could you tell us some about it? When will it be available?
- Every now and then, one discovers that the world is round, and with this latest work, I seem to be back at the beginning of my adventures : for me, all started with a model shown in paper that drove me curious about, and then...
Having been very fond of this instrument for many applications that it can have both in music and educational fields, and medical and health care (post surgery rehabilitation of the nasal septum, or speech therapy), and being in relation with the school world,I designed a template ready for building a paper nose flute in a few cuts, which works perfectly and produces a pleasant sound, maybe even softer than the plastic models. For the graphic design, I have been helped by those who know much better than me how to do this work.
The result is a object that can be offered as an educational tool or as a low-cost advertising support, with the ability to customize the printed card in many imaginative possible ways. If you think it could be useful for your musical activities, contact me !
- Ugo & Casimiro, what are your coming projects and plans?
- This past spring with a few friends in the area near my house, we have started testing and produced some performances of the first "little nose flute orchestra". I was so great that Casimir and I, during our shows, we were used to say to the public that « with the nose flute it is possible to make duos, trios or orchestras, successfully with young boys and girls ». At the end, I managed to involve some friends, and as you will see on the video made at home, the testing continued, between a good glass of wine and a salami to slice.
"Ugo & Casimiro", in this February 2012 period, are trying to stay warm near the fireplace, to collect their thoughts and complete the recording of the CD « Canzoni da Passeggio », with many songs that can now be heard piece by piece on the various sites where casual youtubers have wanted to immotalize them.
Meanwhile, we are preparing and harvesting dates for the summer tour, we will be committed when temperatures will allow us to trample on the most beautiful squares of Italy and Europe, and on the most beautiful events dedicated to street theater.
When they play another instrument, or even just to get their hands free, most of the nose flutists use a rubber band or an elastic cord to hold the flute firmly onto their nose. And this, whether the instrument is originally drilled on that purpose or not. Some do it with a large rubber, others have their own techniques, by doubling the cord for instance, and with more or less glamour or efficiency...
While some nose flute players use an harmonica holder, Master Mosurin has built a specifically designed cradle for his Hiroaki Sasaki's clay flutes, mounted on a tripod making the instrument totally stable and fixed.
But is there an easy and light system, accessible to any nose flutist ? Yes, the Reggi-Flauto !
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The Reggi-Flauto
Felice Pantone, aka Ugo when on stage, italian musician and member of the duet Ugo e Casimiro, has designed and commercialized a device called Reggi-Flauto (the "Flute-Clip"), specifically on the purpose of holding a nose flute without the hands.
Here is the original presentation video :
I have ordered some Reggi-Flauti from Felice Pantone and received them quite quickly. The flute-clip is quite simple, but efficient : it is made of a very strong plastified wire, ended by a metal clamp which holds a wire, strong too, but thin enough not to mask the flute, nor making the playing uneasy. This wire is the axis of a little foam-rubber pad which has a sticking surface on one side. This pad is to be stuck on the front of nose flute, yet allowing it to rotate on the axis for an easy positioning under your nose.
The principle is very simple : just round the strong wire around you neck, and make an angle to fit the nose flute near your nose. Two screws allows to turn the metallic support of the flute in order to adjust it perfectly.
The Reggi-Flauto adapts very well to any nose flute, according it has a rather flat place on the front to received the sticking pad. The pad sticks very well, but for sure, if you change the flute many times, you'll have to renew the double-sided adhesive band of the pad.
Enjoy my beautiful mugface with the Reggi-Flauto holding different nose flutes :
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Now, where to get a Reggi-Flauto ???
It costs just a few euros, and the best is to write to Felice Pantone to find the best shipping and payment solution for you :
felipan[at]tiscali.itor info[at]musicaistintiva.itwith replacing [at] by @, for sure.
Here is a recent video made by Kuruminoki28gou and called "Spring is coming". Notice the original and ingenious way of attaching the nose flute, with a pair of rubber bands (crossing on the cheeks) and a coin for preserving the gap between them (maybe for luck too ?).
The best integration possible : a nose flute in place of the nose.
The first picture shows a small stone character I photographed in Antwerpen (Belgium), in the Cogels-Osylei street. I stole the second one from Maruebe photos on Flickr. It was shot in Freiburg-im-Breisgau (Germany), in the Cathedral. If you know other of those stone nose flutists, please let me know!
Click to magnify :
For sure, everybody knows SpongeBob Squarepants!
-- Addition --
Here is a Wackylander! In the (gorgeous!) 1938 cartoon by Robert Clampett Porky in Wackyland - The Last Dodo, at 2'10", a noseflutist rises from a flower and plays... his nose.
A new masterpiece by maestro Mosurin, which could become a reference! In this Turkish March by Mozart, the great japanese nose flutist offers the whole dimension of his talent : pure sound, accuracy, speed and his incredible breath.
A real jewel, enjoy it !
Some images coming from mangas. It seems that only Humanatones are present in japanese comics. The character with a kind of hedgehog hair style is Pyu to Fuku! Jaguar.
This is a rarity : one of the first Humanatone user manual. It was folded in the cardboard box with the tin-plate instrument. What is interesting (and quite funny) is that the creator of the nose flute didn´t know yet what would be the use of this new instrument : played for concert ? At church ? For fun ? Please read the texts and you´ll be amused !
And here are some details. The texts are simply delicious and describe "with difficulty" such a new concept offering an "unlimited capacity of expression".
I do not know anything about Lady Hanako. I just got aware of her existence and her production on the Dragonfly website. But what I discovered astounded me!
Mrs. Hanako crafts clay, glazes and paints and is amazingly innovative in the shapes she gives to her hanabue. Animals, characters, funny objects, and even "nose flute forgery" !
Real « nose » flutes! :
Forgery!! Here is a copy of Hiroaki Sasaki nose flute, and... a clay Humanatone! :
More and more funny, characters. Characters who play the nose flute themselves, in a focal reduplication. I had a picture in my stock for a long time of a man with a nose flute shaped to his own face. Now, I can make the link : it was a hanabue made by Mrs. Hanako. Stunning, no? Even the 3 cap badges are reproduced!
If someone knows a way to reach Mrs. Hanako (an e-mail address for instance), we would be very glad to know it. We would love to ask her for an interview.
