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The Aburrido Flute · Stories from Väruld

• 0:02
  Presenter: You are listening to stories from Väruld.
• 0:05
  Presenter: In this episode, the Aburrido Flute.
• 0:23
  Narrator: The journal writer points at the two ciervo horns lying beside the fire.
• 0:28
  Narrator: "Which horn?" she asks in slow Avarin, "becomes flute".
• 0:36
  Narrator: The flute maker looks from one horn to the other.
• 0:41
  Narrator: "Both." The answer appears not to satisfy her.
• 0:48
  Narrator: She points first to the left horn, then to the right, as though one of them must surely have some other purpose.
• 0:57
  Narrator: "Both", the flute maker repeats.
• 1:01
  Narrator: Siervo horns do not become cups or knife handles.
• 1:06
  Narrator: They become flutes.
• 1:09
  Narrator: There is enough bone in the rest of the animal for anything else a person might need.
• 1:15
  Narrator: The journal writer opens her book and writes something down.
• 1:20
  Narrator: The flute maker wonders what?
• 1:23
  Narrator: The two horns are each is longer than a man is tall, thick at the base, and curled along most of its length.
• 1:34
  Narrator: One may produce a slightly better instrument than the other, but that cannot be known yet.
• 1:41
  Narrator: The differences that matter are inside.
• 1:46
  Narrator: The writer points towards the tools.
• 1:50
  Narrator: "You make hole inside?" The flute maker considers this.
• 1:57
  Narrator: The horn is already hollow.
• 2:00
  Narrator: Everyone knows that.
• 2:02
  Narrator: But perhaps they do not know it in Kennis.
• 2:06
  Narrator: "Clean", she says.
• 2:10
  Narrator: "Smooth." She shows with her hand as if she stroke a flat surface.
• 2:17
  Narrator: She points into the cut end, runs a tool along the inner passage, then shows how the remaining material is removed a little at a time.
• 2:29
  Narrator: The journal writer watches closely.
• 2:32
  Narrator: "Thin wall for bright sound?" She asks.
• 2:38
  Narrator: The flute maker recognizes most of the words, though not what they are doing together.
• 2:45
  Narrator: "No thin. Thin breaks." This is written down as well.
• 2:53
  Narrator: The maker returns to her work.
• 2:57
  Narrator: The ciervo was killed three days ago.
• 3:01
  Narrator: Its meat has been divided, its hide stretched, its tendons cleaned, and its bones set aside.
• 3:10
  Narrator: The horns are now hers.
• 3:13
  Narrator: Once finished, one or both will probably be sold in Shamal Alrimal.
• 3:20
  Narrator: The journey to the market is long, but traders do not come to the plateau looking for the nomad laminas.
• 3:29
  Narrator: If the laminas want to sell, they go down.
• 3:34
  Narrator: A full-sized Aburido flute can command a good price.
• 3:40
  Narrator: It can also remain unsold through several visits.
• 3:45
  Narrator: Many people admire the sound until they see the instrument that produces it.
• 3:52
  Narrator: A flute longer than its owner is not easily carried through a town, stored in a house, or taken aboard a ship.
• 4:02
  Narrator: Smaller horns are easier to sell.
• 4:06
  Narrator: They make smaller flutes without the true depth of an aborrido.
• 4:11
  Narrator: But outsiders are often willing to accept that.
• 4:16
  Narrator: The price is lower, and the flute fits through a doorway without negotiation.
• 4:23
  Narrator: These horns, however, are both large.
• 4:28
  Narrator: The journal writer touches one of the ridges.
• 4:31
  Narrator: "Same music?" The flute maker understands the question, or thinks she does.
• 4:41
  Narrator: "No." She picks up a finished aburrido resting nearby and taps two of its finger holes.
• 4:50
  Narrator: Then she points to the unfinished horns.
• 4:54
  Narrator: "Hole here, maybe." She moves her fingers slightly.
• 5:01
  Narrator: "Other here.
• 5:04
  Narrator: Maybe." The writer frowns.
• 5:09
  Narrator: "You do not know?" The flute maker suppresses her irritation.
• 5:15
  Narrator: She has made flutes for longer time of her life than this woman has probably been writing in books.
• 5:23
  Narrator: "I know when make." The writer asks something longer.
• 5:30
  Narrator: The flute maker catches the words measure, note, and rule.
• 5:37
  Narrator: There are rules, certainly.
• 5:40
  Narrator: The holes cannot simply be placed wherever the maker pleases, but the length, curve, and inner passage differ from horn to horn.
• 5:52
  Narrator: A flute maker begins with measurements and then adjusts.
• 5:58
  Narrator: She tests the sound, enlarges a whole, tests it again, and sometimes discovers that a decision made two days earlier was wrong.
• 6:11
  Narrator: The knowledge is learned from another maker, usually a parent.
• 6:17
  Narrator: The maker learned from her mother, who had learned from an uncle.
• 6:23
  Narrator: The first horn she worked on alone was small and had produced a sound so poor that her brothers imitated it for half a lifetime.
• 6:35
  Narrator: She tries to explain this.
• 6:38
  Narrator: "My mother show I make bad.
• 6:45
  Narrator: Make again." The writer smiles.
• 6:50
  Narrator: The flute maker had not intended it as a joke.
• 6:56
  Narrator: "Why called aborido?" This question has been asked before at the market.
• 7:03
  Narrator: The flute maker knows how to answer it in Avarine.
• 7:07
  Narrator: "Restless." The writer repeats the word, then points to the enormous instrument beside them.
• 7:17
  Narrator: "This restless?
• 7:20
  Narrator: Player restless?" "No.
• 7:24
  Narrator: Sound restless." At a camp, an aburrido is normally played alone, sometimes with a drum.
• 7:36
  Narrator: Two of the flutes seldom sound right together.
• 7:40
  Narrator: Each horn produces its own set of notes, and two instruments made by different hands from different animals will not necessarily agree on what a melody should be.
• 7:54
  Narrator: When an old melody is played, those around the fire recognize it.
• 8:01
  Narrator: Most aburrido music has words, and someone will usually begin to sing.
• 8:07
  Narrator: The songs are serious and often sorrowful.
• 8:13
  Narrator: This does not make the gathering sorrowful.
• 8:17
  Narrator: The same songs have been sung by parents, grandparents, and people whose names survive only in the verses.
• 8:26
  Narrator: The writer points to the finished flute.
• 8:31
  Narrator: "Play?" The flute maker shakes her head.
• 8:36
  Narrator: "Night." The journal writer looks towards the sun, still well above the plateau.
• 8:44
  Narrator: "Why night?" The maker searches through her limited Avarine.
• 8:52
  Narrator: She cannot explain that the day is for work, that a song needs listeners, or that no sensible person fills their lungs to play an aburrido merely because a stranger has pointed at it.
• 9:08
  Narrator: "Night better".
• 9:11
  Narrator: The writer accepts this and closes her book.
• 9:16
  Narrator: That evening, the flute maker sits beside the fire with the finished instrument resting on the ground.
• 9:24
  Narrator: The journal writer is there, her book open on her knees.
• 9:29
  Narrator: The first tone is low enough to be felt through the earth.
• 9:35
  Narrator: A drum joins it.
• 9:37
  Narrator: Then the maker begins a melody known throughout the camps of the Laminas.
• 9:43
  Narrator: Before long, someone sings.
• 9:47
  Narrator: Others follow.
• 9:49
  Narrator: The writer listens for a while.
• 9:52
  Narrator: Then she leans towards the person beside her and asks in Avarin what the words mean.
• 10:00
  Narrator: The flute maker cannot hear the answer over the singing.
• 10:04
  Narrator: That is probably just as well.
• 10:07
  Narrator: Some things become very small when forced into the wrong language.
• 10:25
  Presenter: Thank you for listening to Stories from Väruld. In the next episode, Behind the scenes of this podcast.