Patagonia, Arizonia
Navajo Style / Maker: Odell Mulski Borg

Wood, turquoise, leather
1990s
Length:  23.5 in
Aerophone – Wind Instrument Proper – Edge-blown Flutes

Signed: High Spirits

This hand carved wood flute in the style of Navajo flutes, has a cylindrical, hollowed body with six finger holes, a square duct, and a rounded blow hole at the top end.  At several points along the body including near the blow hole, between finger holes, and near the end, are circular turquoise stones inlaid in the medium-colored wood. The wood grain is highly distinct, and there are engraved diamonds framing each of the stones. The block is stylized to form a bird (condor) with a turquoise stone atop the head, and the leather wrappings are primarily made of thin black leather excepting an additional strip of orange by the block. The underside of the body features the “High Spirits” makers mark. 

This is a Native American Style Flute, which means they are crafted in the design style of the Native American Flute but are not made by Native Americans.

Courting flutes were used principally by Woodlands tribes, Southwestern tribes, and tribes from the Southern and Northern Plains as an integral part of traditional music.  They were used as both means of transmitting signals in the night, and as a means by which a young man could communicate his love.  Flute making is never a static form, as seen here with the addition of turquoise.