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.

Jun 2, 2012

White Ghost Shivers

White Ghost Shivers is a Jazz-cabaret hectic and joyful band based in Austin, Texas. They formed in 1999 and evoke their music like this :

« Imagine a smorgasbord of Cab Calloway, circus sideshow, KISS, cabaret, Hee Haw and Robert Johnson served up at Andy Kaufman's bat-mitzvah. A joyous mixture of the absurd and sublime, the six-piece ensemble gracefully blends a musical amalgam of Hokum Blues, Hillbilly Swing, Country and Hot Jazz. »

The seven members of the band wear nicknames : Cella Blue, Saturn, Shorty Stump, Hot Thomas, Smokebreak Slemenda, Poppiticus and Baby-faced Finster.
Westen Borghesi, aka Shorty Stump — a 6 and 1/2 feet tall guy — sings and plays banjo, ukulele, baritone horn and... nose flute.

In their album Hokum If You Got 'Em, not less than 3 songs include some nose flute : White Ghost Shivers Ball, Eliza May and One Eyed Sam. The nose whistling style of Shorty Stump is singular since, provoking a deep vibrato by shaking his Humanatone with his hand, Westen gets a sound very near a musical saw.



Here is a short excerpt of Eliza May (the entire song and the others can be purchased on iTunes or Amazon)



And here is a video of White Ghost Shivers Ball. The nose flute part begins at 1'24" :



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Links :

- White Ghost Shivers website, with many videos and pictures.

- White Ghost Shivers' Youtube page

- White Ghost SHivers BandCamp page

- White Ghost Shivers MySpace page

- Read an interview of White Ghost Shivers

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