Hulusi

The hulusi (simplified Chinese: 葫芦丝; traditional Chinese: 葫蘆絲; pinyin: húlúsī), also known as the cucurbit flute[1] and the gourd flute,[2] is a free reed wind instrument from China, Vietnam, and the Shan State, played also by the indigenous people of Assam.

Advanced configurations have keyed finger holes similar to a clarinet or oboe, which can greatly extend the range of the hulusi to several octaves.

The hulusi was originally used primarily in the Shan State of Myanmar, Yunnan province in southwest China, and Assam in northeastern India by a number of ethnic-minority groups, in particular the Dai people who call the instrument "pi lamtao" (Chinese: 筚朗叨 or 筚郎叨); the word pi means "woodwind instrument," and the word lamtao comes from namtao, meaning "gourd."

Like the related free reed pipe called bawu, the hulusi has a very pure, mellow clarinet-like sound.

Rohan Leach and Jack Reddick from England, Raphaël De Cock from Belgium, Sara Bentes from Brazil, Nadishana from Russia and Herman Witkam from the Netherlands have all taken the instrument in new directions.