The nose

Human nose

The visible part of the human nose is the protruding part of the face that bears the nostrils. The shape of the nose is determined by the ethmoid bone and the nasal septum, which consists mostly of cartilage and which separates the nostrils...

 flute is a popular musical instrument

Musical instrument

A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...

 played in Polynesia

Polynesia

Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...

 and the Pacific Rim

Pacific Rim

The Pacific Rim refers to places around the edge of the Pacific Ocean. The term "Pacific Basin" includes the Pacific Rim and islands in the Pacific Ocean...

 countries. Other versions are found in Africa, China, and India.

Hawaii

In the North Pacific, in the Hawaiian islands the nose flute was a common courting instrument. In Hawaiian, it is variously called hano, "nose flute," (Pukui and Elbert 1986), by the more specific term ohe hano ihu, "bamboo flute [for] nose," or `ohe hanu `ihu, "bamboo [for] nose breath" (Nona Beamer lectures).

It is made from a single bamboo section. According to Arts and Crafts of Hawai`i by Te Rangi Hiroa, old flutes in the Bishop Museum collection have a hole at the node area for the breath, and two or three fingering holes. In the three-finger-hole specimen, one fingering hole is placed near the breath hole. Lengths range from around 10 inches to over 21 inches.

Oral tradition in various families states that numbers of fingering holes ranged from one to four, and location of the holes varied depending on the musical taste of the player. Though primarily a courting instrument played privately and for personal enjoyment, it also could be used in conjunction with chants, song, and hula. Kumu hula (dance masters), were said to be able to either make the flute sound as though it were chanting, or to chant as they played (Emerson, 1965). Kumu hula Leilehua Yuen is one of the few contemporary Hawaiian musicians who performs with the nose flute in this manner.

Africa

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the nose flute is played by eight different ethnic group

Ethnic group

An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...

s.

Philippines

In the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, the pitung ilong (flute nose in Tagalog), or the kalaleng

Kalaleng

A kalaleng is a nose flute made from bamboo from the Philippines.Usually around two feet in length a kalaleng has holes cut in the side, to be stopped by the fingers producing the notes. The player closes one nostril with a bit of cotton, then forces the air from the other into a small hold cut in...

 of the northern Bontok people, is played with the extreme forward edge of the right or left nostril.
Because the kalaleng is long and has a narrow internal diameter, it is easy to play different harmonics through overblowing - even with the rather weak force of the air from one nostril.
Thus, this nose flute can play notes in a range of two and a half octaves.
Finger holes in the side of the bamboo tube change the operating length, giving various scales. Some players take a filter tip from a cigarette

Cigarette

A cigarette is a small roll of finely cut tobacco leaves wrapped in a cylinder of thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder; its smoke is inhaled from the other end, which is held in or to the mouth and in some cases a cigarette holder may be used as well...

 and plug up the other (unused) nostril,
in order to increase the force of their breath through the flute.

New Zealand

Historically in New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, the Māori carved nguru from wood, the stem of a gourd and whales teeth. Nguru were often adorned with very elaborate carvings, befitting what is considered a sacred object. Although Nguru are commonly known as nose flutes, it is only the smaller instruments that can be played with the nose, more commonly Nguru are played with the mouth.

The Māori kōauau ponga ihu, a gourd

Gourd

A gourd is a plant of the family Cucurbitaceae. Gourd is occasionally used to describe crops like cucumbers, squash, luffas, and melons. The term 'gourd' however, can more specifically, refer to the plants of the two Cucurbitaceae genera Lagenaria and Cucurbita or also to their hollow dried out shell...

 nose flute, was also part of the nose flute tradition; note that a similarly constructed gourd nose flute, ipu ho kio kio was also used in Hawaii. The maker would form a nose hole in the neck (or stem) of the gourd, by cutting off the neck at a fairly small cross section. This small hole is placed under the player's nostril, in order to generate the flute-tone. The "kōauau ponga ihu" functions as an ocarina

Ocarina

The ocarina is an ancient flute-like wind instrument. Variations do exist, but a typical ocarina is an enclosed space with four to twelve finger holes and a mouthpiece that projects from the body...

 in its acoustic principles. Several notes of a scale can be obtained by drilling fingerholes into the "bowl" of the gourd.

External links

• `Ohe Hano Ihu page in Ka`ahele Hawai`i on traditional Hawaiian nose flute
• Hawaiian nose flute - 'Ohe hano ihu sound clip performed by Ranga Pae
• Samples at the whistle museum.
• http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/search.aspx?__VIEWSTATE=/wEPDwUKMTAwNTY3MzM4MGRk2VIBUl0c8JJ0OrrEMBcNzXoTvg8%3D&term=nguru&search=SearchMāori Nguru in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
  Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
  The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is the national museum and art gallery of New Zealand, located in Wellington. It is branded and commonly known as Te Papa and Our Place; "Te Papa Tongarewa" is broadly translatable as "the place of treasures of this land".The museum's principles...
  
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