Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

This instrument is a Provence variation on the tabor pipe--possibly the original tuning, since it's essentially the same as the xirula, which is a Basque pipe, and the first pipes around those parts are tens of thousands of years old.  It's a three holed pipe played with one hand while the other hand is used to beat a drum, known as a tabor in both English or French, or a psalterium, known as a tambourine a cordes, string drum, or ttun-ttun in French, English, and Basque. 

and here's Benjamin Melia playing the crap out of these instruments:

Galoubet and Tabor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOE3a7b_E1g

Galoubet and Tambourine a Cordes (note that he is not playing the string drum in the typical fashion)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ__0ZKqadg

Enjoy.



I find this sound really haunting and want to get a galoubet.  It's just amazing how many notes he can get out of a three-holed instrument.  It speaks to the Basque part o' my ancestry too.