An ethnographic study of performance on the transverse wooden flute in the urban Asturian folk scene from 2015

This thesis is an ethnographic study of performance on the transverse wooden flute in the urban Asturian folk scene from 2015 onwards. The work examines how the transverse wooden flute was used in this scene to perform Asturianidad (Asturianess) and how the cultural ideas shaping performance on transverse wooden flutes affected and reflected the non-musical elements of cultural identities and value systems of this specific scene. The work identifies the types of transverse wooden flutes used by performers in this scene and the key repertorial and stylistic features of Asturian folk music. It examines constructs of identities connected to Asturian Celtic and folk revival music and how space and place shape identity and performance. The project was the first to examine performance on the transverse wooden flute in the contemporary Asturian Celtic and folk revival music scene. I demonstrate that performance on this instrument in this context and constructions of cultural and national and regional identity around it are an example of rooted Celtic cosmopolitanism.