The Moldavian fluier (, also: , literally "fluier without a stopper") is a traditional shepherd's wind instrument used in Romanian traditional music, a type of semi-transverse open flute. It is widespread in the north of the historical region of Moldavia, as well as partially in the north of Transylvania.
The instrument is a cylindrical tube with open ends, lacking a fipple (whistle mouthpiece), with a semi-transverse embouchure. It is predominantly made of wood, sometimes metal, and has six finger holes. A distinction is made between small (25–35 cm), medium (35–45 cm), and large (over 50 cm, usually 80–90 cm) fluiers; the small and large models are the most popular. In contrast to the more common fipple flutes, the Moldavian fluier requires the performer to form the air stream with their lips, directing it onto the edge of the hole – which allows for a rich timbral spectrum, fine dynamics, and expressiveness. The sound of the Moldavian fluier is typically softer, warmer, and richer in overtones, whereas fipple fluiers produce a bright, stable, but less flexible sound. Traditional performance is often accompanied by a guttural background sound () – an archaic sound production method that creates a characteristic deep, resonant effect.
The fluier played an important role in traditional shepherd society – not only as a musical instrument but also as a means of ritual and interpersonal communication. Its sound accompanied rites related to protecting the flock, initiation, courtship, and was also used as a signaling device and accompaniment for dances, festivals, and funerals. The melodies performed on the fluier covered the entire spectrum of functions – from magico-ritual to entertainment – and reflected the main spheres of life in the rural community.
Research, transcriptions, and recordings The first transcriptions of traditional Bukovinian fluier melodies, collected in the distribution area of the Moldavian fluier, were made by the folklorist between 1907 and 1909.
In 1913, in Maramureș (northern Transylvania), Hungarian composer and folklorist Béla Bartók described open fluiers with a notch and six finger holes. He distinguished two types of these instruments: the (a short fluier, 30–40 cm long ) and the (two or more times longer, literally "long fluier"). Among the melodies he recorded were the song of the "lost sheep," the (here is a regional name for the lyric song, the doina), as well as dance melodies. Bartók made recordings and musical transcriptions of the melodies.
The ethnomusicologist Constantin Brăiloiu documented the use of fipple-less fluiers during his fieldwork in Bukovina in the 1930s.
The leading Romanian organologist of traditional instruments, , devoted a section to the Moldavian fluier in his classic monograph Musical Instruments of the Romanian People (1956).
The monograph by Moldovan researcher Vasile Chiselița, Instrumental Music of Northern Bukovina. Repertoire for the Fluier (2002), is based on materials from ethnographic expeditions from 1982–1990. It examines in detail the organological, genre, melodic, and other aspects of the fluier tradition of the Romanian population of northern Bukovina (now Chernivtsi Oblast, Ukraine). The publication contains a large number of musical transcriptions.
In 2010, musicologist Constanța Cristescu published a catalog of traditional musical recordings made in the second half of the 20th century in Romanian Bukovina, which include performance samples on large and small open fluiers.
The monograph The Archaic Musical Style of the Rădăuți County (2013), prepared by researchers Florin Bucescu and Viorel Bîrleanu from Iași, contains descriptions and transcriptions of the archaic layer of Bukovina's musical tradition. The authors denote this style with the term (from Romanian – "old-style"). The publication is accompanied by an audio disc with the authors' field recordings from the 1960s–1970s, including melodies performed on the Moldavian fluier.
In 2018, ethnomusicologist Ovidiu Papană published the study "Semi-Transverse Fluiers from Moldova," dedicated to the organological features of the tilinca and the Moldavian fluier.
Typology and construction of fluiers
The fluier is an autochthonous Romanian wind instrument, represented in 17 varieties, differing in construction: single and double, end-blown (longitudinal), transverse, and semi-transverse, open or with a fipple, with a varying number of finger holes or none at all. The name presumably derives from the verb ( "to blow").
Like folk songs, traditional musical instruments vary from one region of the country to another, their development occurring under specific historical and cultural conditions. For instance, the fipple flute with six finger holes is more common in the south of Romania–in Oltenia, Muntenia, Dobruja, and southern Moldavia. Its elongated version with five holes in Oltenia is called a caval (Oltenian or Romanian caval). Folk transverse flutes are also found in a small part of Oltenia.
In Dobruja, an open fluier with six finger holes on the front and an additional hole on the back is common. The larger Bulgarian caval is also used – an open, semi-transverse flute consisting of three sections, with seven finger holes on the front, one additional hole on the back, and four resonator holes in the lower part of the instrument.
In the northern regions of Romania – especially in the north of the historical Moldavia region, in Bukovina (including its Ukrainian part) – open fluiers without a fipple are common. These include the tilincă – a simple semi-transverse flute without finger holes, about 80 cm long – as well as semi-transverse fluiers with six finger holes. Tiberiu Alexandru classified such fluiers as "Moldavian".
The fipple-less fluier is considered a more archaic form compared to the fipple fluier. Some researchers view the Moldavian fluier as a transitional form between the tilincă and the more common fipple fluiers. Alexandru quotes a folk master and performer from Bukovina, Mihai Lăcătuș: "The true grandfather is the tilincă, the father is the fluier [without a fipple], and the child is the trișcă [here – a double pipe fipple fluier]" ().
The Moldavian fluier: area and local names
The fipple-less fluier with six finger holes is characteristic of the northern part of historical Moldavia. It is found in Suceava, Bacău, and Iași counties, among the Romanian population of Ukrainian Bukovina, and in the Transylvanian territories adjacent to Romanian Bukovina – in the Năsăud, Bistrița, and Toplița areas, where it spread from the Vatra Dornei region.
The Bukovina area is considered by researchers to be a zone of early formation of the Romanian folkloric tradition. The region's specific geographical and historical conditions contributed to the preservation of archaic forms of folk culture, which is also reflected in its musical tradition. Pastoralism – one of the main economic activities of the Vlachs in the foothill regions – played an important role in this. Therefore, it is in the Bukovinian area that rudiments and even entire strata of the most ancient forms of musical creativity are recorded.
In the north and northwest of Romanian Bukovina, the small fluier is called , and the large instrument is called . The word "fluieraș" is also used to mean a fluier player.
In central Moldavia, the small instrument may be called , and the large one , by analogy with the Oltenian caval.
In the distribution area of the Moldavian fluier, the fipple fluier is also known, which in the northern regions is also called . Alexandru noted that the existence of two or more names for the same instrument, as well as the same term designating different instruments, is a common phenomenon in the world of Romanian folk instruments.
Vasile Chiselița, studying fluiers in northern Bukovina (Ukraine), also pointed to the heterogeneity of folk terminology. Although the general term "fluier" is most often used, special names reflecting the instrument's structural features also exist. Moldavian fluiers of increased length (50–80 cm and more) are called long fluiers or large fluiers (). For instruments 25–35 cm long without a fipple, the term "small fluier" () is used, and for instruments with a fipple – . The term "caval" is not found in the Northern Bukovinian tradition. The double fluier is called More usual name for it is . in some places and consists of two wooden tubular bodies: one with six finger holes, the other without.
Similar open folk flutes with six finger holes are found in the Carpathian region among the Hutsuls: the frilka (30–40 cm long) and the floyara (about 60 cm). These parallels reflect the common structure of Carpathian shepherd culture, formed during inter-ethnic contacts, including in connection with the migration of the Romanian (Vlach) population in the XIII–XIV centuries. Medieval chronicles note the spread of shepherd settlements organized under "Vlach law" () among the Slavic peoples of Central Europe – in Galicia, Slovakia, the Polish Podhale, and Moravian Wallachia. The name of the shepherd's flute – fluier – became widespread in various forms among other peoples of the Carpathians: , fujara (Slovak), and (Podhale region, Poland).
Construction
Moldavian fluiers are semi-transverse flutes without a fipple – tubes open at both ends. They have bevelled rim (), which facilitates sound production. Wooden fluiers have a slightly conical shape; metal ones are cylindrical.
In size, they are distinguished as small (25–35 cm), medium (35–45 cm),Tiberiu Alexandru notes that the medium size is found less often (.) and large fluiers (50–80 cm and more). An instance 105 cm long is known, which belonged to a tall shepherd.
The instrument has six finger holes on the front, cut in a straight line. On large fluiers, they are grouped in threes; on small ones, they are evenly spaced. The holes are more often elliptical (oriented along the axis), less often round. The distance from the lower end of the tube to the first hole is noticeably greater than the intervals between the others, and the sixth hole is located approximately in the middle of the tube.
Sizes and proportions vary from one instrument to another, which is related to differences in the measurement methods used by folk masters.
For the manufacture of wooden fluiers, local hardwoods are used: for long ones – maple, hazel, less often ash; and for small and medium ones – plum, cherry, elder. Since the 20th century, metal fluiers – made of brass, copper, or aluminum – have also been produced. Wooden fluiers sound softer, warmer, and hold their tuning better in temperature changes, but are more fragile. Metal ones are louder, with a sharper timbre.
Traditional manufacturing technology All types of Moldavian fluiers are made either by the performers themselves or by village craftsmen. Many musicians prefer to make their instruments themselves, fitting them to the length of their arm and achieving the desired sound. The instrument's construction is relatively simple, and the measurement methods are empirical (using fingers, string, wood chips, etc.). Therefore, the tuning of the fluiers is generally non-tempered and varies from one instrument to another. Only a few masters achieve standardization in accordance with a tuning fork.