I've been hooked on traditional music from the Andes Mountain region for years and have recently decided that I want to buy my own musical instruments and start making my own music. I have had almost no practice with musical instruments, but will have more than enough time to get good at flutes in general. (Another hobby of mine is farming - in particular gardening - and I'm hoping to move off-grid here soon, which means no or limited electricty.) I would like to start out with either a Quena or a Tarka but would prefer to find one for cheap that still sounds good (I know that it;s not going to sound that good at first anyway because I'm new at all of this, I'm just looking for a good quality flute). Also how does the material that the flute is constructed out of effect the sound (bamboo, snakewood, Jacaranda, etc)?
I have found a few nice-looking quenas and tarkas on both the Bolivian Mall and Novica websites, but those seem more like they're mass-produced for tourists (possibly not of good quality).
Thanks!
Suggestions for Quena/Tarka Flute
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- paddler
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Re: Suggestions for Quena/Tarka Flute
Of the mass produced quenas, I think the ones by Juan Acha are good. Geoffrey Ellis (ellisflutes.com) also makes a very nice quena that sounds great and is easy to play. I have both. An earlier thread here discussed the relative merits of these quite recently.
Jon
Jon
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Re: Suggestions for Quena/Tarka Flute
Your username implies you are in the Midwest, where abouts? I'm over in Madison, WI and play, teach, and build quena. If you ever get over this way I can help you out. I also know of a few players in Chicago and an excellent player in northern Indiana. For a basic no frills but good playing quena the Juan Acha ones are really good, bamboo ones that is. Andres Mamani used to make a good beginner quena too but his stuff has been hit or miss these days.