xirula
The xirula (spelled chiroula in French, also pronounced txirula, (t)xülüla in Zuberoan Basque; Gascon: flabuta; French: galoubet) is a small three holed woodwind instrument or flute usually made of wood akin to the Basque txistu or three-hole pipe, but more high pitched and strident, tuned to D/G and an octave higher than the silbote. The sound that flows from the flute has often been perceived as a metaphor for the tweet cadences of bird songs. Some scholars point out that flutes found in the Caverns of Isturitz and Oxozelaia going back to a period spanning 35,000 to 10,000 years ago bear witness to the early presence of the instrument's forerunner in the region, while this view has been disputed.
Also recorded as txirula
xirula
Soinuenea · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Name
- Xirula
- Field
- open flute with internal duct with fingerholes
- Region
- Spain · Béarn
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
The xirula (spelled chiroula in French, also pronounced txirula, (t)xülüla in Zuberoan Basque; Gascon: flabuta; French: galoubet) is a small three holed woodwind instrument or flute usually made of wood akin to the Basque txistu or three-hole pipe, but more high pitched and strident, tuned to D/G and an octave higher than the silbote. The sound that flows from the flute has often been perceived as a metaphor for the tweet cadences of bird songs. Some scholars point out that flutes found in the Caverns of Isturitz and Oxozelaia going back to a period spanning 35,000 to 10,000 years ago bear witness to the early presence of the instrument's forerunner in the region, while this view has been disputed.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for xirula. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q8044776 · wikipedia · Xirula
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Xirula • Classification — *Woodwind • Wind • Aerophone • Related — * Frula • Ney • Duduk • Flute • Jedinka • Dilli Kaval • Shvi • Kaval • Flabiol • Illustration — Xirula being played
Extent
Extent
It is an instrument characteristic of the Pyrenees, and it is played on the French side of the Basque Country (the extent of its use has shrunk over the years, having long been supplanted in Labourd and Basse-Navarre by the txistu), where it provides along with the atabal (a tabor-like instrument played with drumsticks) the musical background for various traditional dances. Besides performing the music for dances, in the former viscounty of Soule (Zuberoa in Basque) it may enliven accompanied on both the ttun-ttun and the atabal the traditional carnival-time performances called maskaradak as well as the pastorals, age-old region-specific theatre plays popular in the area. Similar variants have been used to the west and east of the Basque Country up to the 1950s, with some examples occasionally jumping to the spotlight in special events, e.g. the so-called "gigantillos" (dancing characters with magnified masks and costumes) dancing to the tunes of the "chirola" in Burgos (Spain). The "silbu" and "chiflo" from Cantabria and Aragón show similar features. The instrument is still used in the vallée d'Ossau in Béarn, and has undergone a revival in parts of Les Landes.
Players
Players
Main xirula activity focuses in Soule, where xirula's musical revival is led by Jean-Mixel Bedaxagar (1953) along with Mixel Etxekopar (1963).
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Vitrifolk. Txistu.
- 2.Berria. Txori erresiñulak.
- 3.Txistulari, 178. La "basca tibia": El mito de la prehistoricidad del txistu vasco.
- 4.North American Basque Organizations. EUSKAL MUSIKA: Basque Music.
- 5.Flûtes et tambourin à cordes | Instruments de musique | Arts | Patrimoine vivant | Français.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
authority record
General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Collectables
20,755 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- XicatriceWork
- XII StagWork
- xindiTerminology
- xiqinTerminology
- XMODSTerminology
- XoticWork
- XPengOrganisation
- Xperia PlayTerminology
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own an object connected with xirula?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.