Panpipes; siku

Malta siku, panpipes. Fourteen bamboo pipes arranged in two rows of seven. The paired pipes are of similar lengths and the pipes in each row are graduated by length with their upper rims aligned. The instrument is photographed from the audience's perspective. The pipes of the proximal row (at the back in the photograph) are stopped at the base by a node, so as to produce a note when air is blown across the upper rim. The pipes of the other row are open at the bottom, with their lower ends cut obliquely, and produce harmonic effects. The pipes are held together by a strip of bamboo bark wrapped two and a half times round the raft near the top. The bamboo strip is held by lengths of white and purple vegetable fibre cord that passes between the pipes in three places to hold the ends of the strip together. The instrument is one of a pair with the malta siku panpipes Museum number M24-1990.