Fifă

The fifa (Romanian: fifă; also: dudină, șuieraș) is a Romanian folk wind instrument, a type of fluier, found in specific areas in the foothills of the Carpathians in northern Oltenia. It is an archaic end-blown flute without finger holes, closed at the lower end, which produces a single, constant tone.

The key feature of the fifa is the combination of its instrumental sound with vocal improvisation: its constant tone serves as a sonic support , over which the performer – traditionally a young, unmarried woman – sings an improvised melody using the hăulit (guttural falsetto) technique, which resembles yodeling.

In ethnomusicology, the fifa is classified as an instrument that combines vocal and instrumental practice in equal measure. Its music is built on the steps of the natural harmonic series and is characterized by asymmetrical rhythms.

Typologically, the fifa is close to other flutes without finger holes (such as the tilinca), and by its construction (a stopped tube), it is similar to the individual pipes of pan-flutes (like the nai).