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.

Aug 11, 2012

Video at Anvil Camp

A cool and fresh video by AnvilCamp4, with a guitalele, a nose flute and improvised precussions. The guitar is not well tuned, but the noseflutist plays right. Look at 0'53" the discreet sign sent to the percussionist and his (as discreet) annoyed reaction, very funny.

Aug 10, 2012

Yan Yalego... aussi!

Yan Yalego, the great guitarist, ukulelist and singer... also! Thanks to him for this beautiful and surrealistic autoportrait with his new Bocarina!



Yan Yalego website
Yan Yalego YouTube channel
Yan Yalego MySpace page

Aug 9, 2012

Happy Birthday - Part 4: Stats!

Who are you? Where are you from? Here are some interesting stats running on one year.


The Noseflute.org Blog: Figures

In one year, 366 posts were published, that is exactly 1 per day (2012 is a leap year).
Many thanks to the contributors, without whose it would not have been possible, and who provided articles, info, videos, comments...

In one year (366 days), the blog welcomed 37800 visits or so (36451 until 31st of July), that is an average of 103 per day.
But it is only an average, since during the last month, you've seen 221 pages each day!
Indeed, the growth of Noseflute.org was stunning, with more and more visits each month :



The Noseflute.org Readers: You!

You come from all around the world! With 3 main areas : USA, Asia (particularly Japan) and Europe. Here are some maps, showing your origin (info collected during 6 months only) and a "classification" by country, the first providing the most visits (these are "absolute" data, meaning that the most populated countries are over-represented regarding the % of people interested in nose flutes) :





Well... Africa is a desert for us: no interest for "urban type" nose flute or more probably lack of internet connections and computers... However, I can clearly see Mr. Schuermans in Pretoria, South Africa!

Happy Birthday - Part 3: Nose Flute Goodies!

In order to celebrate its first birthday, Noseflute.org has produced a very limited edition of quality nose flute goodies! 6 collector postcards of the Nose Flute Hall of Fame and 4 collector badges. You can order them... just here :


Standard Set

The Standard Set is composed of 6 gorgeous "photocollage" postcards by UkeHeidi : the 6 first entries in the Nose Flute Hall of Fame: Ezra Pound, Elvis Presley, Lloyd Buford Threlkeld, Leonard Cohen, Esther Averill and Jean-Marie Hottetotte. The back mentions the glorious nose flute fact that lead the NFHoF to accept the elected member.
These collector postcards are published in a very limited edition.

What you will exactly get :

6 different Nose Flute Hall of Fame postcards, printed on heavy coated cardboard (300g/m2), set in a crystal pocket, closed by a NFHoF sticker (click on the pictures to enlarge):


Please note that there will be no shipping
until 20th of August (Noseflute.org holidays!:)

A surprise gift will be added to
the first 20 orders!
          


SOLD OUT!



Deluxe Set

The Deluxe Set is composed by a Standard Set added with a set of 4 collector 25mm badges : 1 noseflute.org, 1 Nose Flute Hall of Fame, 1 Bocarina and 1 "hanabue!". These collector badges are published in a very very limited edition.

What you will exactly get :

6 different Nose Flute Hall of Fame postcards, printed on heavy coated cardboard (300g/m2), set in a crystal pocket, closed by a NFHoF sticker, plus 4 different badges (25mm) set in a crystal pocket (click on the pictures to enlarge):


Please note that there will be no shipping
until 20th of August (Noseflute.org holidays!:)

A surprise gift will be added to
the first 20 orders!
          


SOLD OUT!



Happy Birthday - Part 2: The Gov'nor Potato!

For Noseflute.org brithday, Maikel Mei painted a portrait of me as "Nose Flute Governor"! Hahaha! Quite resembling, particularly the double chin:), with my historic potato nose flute... Thank you very much Maikel!




I really look like a leader, even a dictator. It would fit very well on Tian An Men piazza :)




Well, my cat Patafix is a bit pissed off : now she has to stand 2 governors at home... « One was enough! », she said.



Happy Birthday - Part 1: Thanks and Videos

Today is the Noseflute.org Birthday!! Yes, on August 9, last year, I was posting this first "inaugural post" with my first stupid nose flute video.

When I begin the blog, I was not sure it would last more than a couple of month, by lack of info and mostly by absence of readers. So, thanks to you all who read the blog, thanks to those who are used posting videos, and thanks to all of you who helped me by a mean or another, notably, my sweet Nosy Diva and Mr. Maikel Mei! I wish also to thank the nose flute makers, and particularly Mr. Chris Schuermans, Mr. Kunio Katada and Ms. Kanae Miyazaki who were very generous with me, sending their jewels to me. Thank you to all my many friends in nosefluting, including Brian, Chiou, Jun, Luis, Nicolas, Ralf, Sho, Will, and so many other...

Have you ever wonder why the "Happy Birthday" theme is the music the most played on the nose flute? I suppose it's because lots of people received a nose flute for their birthday, and when they begin to play it, they hum the first thing that pops up in their head. Here is my prefered version, by Jkobster :



But there are so so many Happy Birthday cover with nose flutes, for the better and the worst! Have a look :

Aug 7, 2012

Japanese Nose Day ??

According to this article published on Wednesday 5th of August, 1964, in the Pacific Stars & Stripes, the Japanese Nose Day stood on the Friday 7th of the same month. Is the Nose Day still celebrated in Japan nowadays ? Jump on your nose flutes and blast your neighbors ears! Then, invite a nose to lunch!


[Edit : Mrs Emi Sato sent us the explanation :

Yes! 8/7.
8 sounds "hachi" and 7 sound "nana" in Japanese.
and the nose is "hana".
So, "ha"chi + "na"na gives "hana"!!

That is the reason we say that 8/7 = Japanese nose day."

Thank you Emi!]



Aug 5, 2012

Contempt for nose flute

Contempt and scorn towards the nose flute as an instrument is not new. In this article published in the Portsmouth Times on October 12, 1948, and announcing that the AFM (American federation of Musicians) had finally accepted the harmonica as an instrument, the nose flute clearly is used as an ironic example (remember that at this time, even the ukulele was considered as a toy and was rejected by the AFM).
It had been a long time since the 1925s though, when Lloyd Bufford Threlkeld and other had proved the nose whistle was a real instrument...



I retyped the text, because it is difficult to read, and also on purpose for automatic translators :

Harmonica Makes The Grade - The harmonica has been a mongrel in the family of musical instruments. Favored by the rustics, comedians, eccentrics and idlers, it originally was called Aeolina by Sir Charles Wheatstone who invented it in 1829.
Now the harmonica comes into its own. It is recognized as a full-fledged musical instrument by James Caesar Petrillo of the American Federation of Musicians. Harmonica players will be taken into the union, although Mr. Petrillo concedes he isn't out to organize fence-corner improvisers and players who give train imitations at neighborhood parties.
The reason for the ruling is that, with the ban on new orchestral recordings, harmonica players are cleaning up as recording artists.
If the Harmonicats and kindred contributors to the national culture are succeeded as recording stars by nose-flute artists and virtuosos of the comb and tissue paper, we may look for further additions to the ranks of union musicians.


Earlier or later, the nose flute was regarded as a "joke item" (check this post) or as a "very approximative" instrument (check this post).

1960 :


1971 :