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The tarka ( Quechua, Aymara: tharqa) is an indigenous flute of the Andes. Usually made of wood, it has 6 finger holes, fipple on mouth end and free hole on distant end. [1]
The tarka is a blockflute, like a recorder, but is comparatively shorter and quite angular in shape, requires greater breath, and has a darker, more penetrating sound.
The tarka has three variants: big, medium (tuned by fifth above) and small (tuned by octave above). Usually all three kinds of tarka are used together in a big ensemble, all playing the same melody on three voices at fixed intervals and accompanied by percussion instruments ( tinya, wankar). This traditional genre is called tarqueada.
The tarka is constructed out of a single piece of carved wood with a cylindrical bore; the six stops are located on the upper side.