Name that tune : The Strange Flute

[Corey]

OK this one's probably something only Canadians would recognize. 5 notes that make us all go,"Heyyyyy I remember thaaaaaat..." But to guess it, you have to know the title it came from. I hope someone get's this one or it'll be embarrassing.

Oh yeah, mad props to the Edirol flute, it's killer sounding. (or at least insofar as any flute can be "killer sounding")

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

[Corey]

Uh-oh, looks like this one was too oblique. Arcane Canadianna and obscure flauting, what a combo... Anyhow it's from the "Hinterland Who's Who", you can see all the vintage clips here:

http://www.hww.ca/media.asp?mcid=1

In Canada those used to come on TV in between other stuff, like ads, so we heard that flute riff about ten thousand times by the time we were 10. Even SCTV spoofed that as part of their show, with that same flute riff and John Candy going, "The Woodchuck is found in open woods and ravines..." in his best golf announcer voice. Hilarious. Just goes to show what a large part of our pop culture Hinterland Who's Who really was... You can view the SCTV spoof ("Woodchuck") and other spoofs here:

http://www.hww.ca/media.asp?mcid=4

Originally there were two flute riffs they alternated between in the clips, this one quoted here and a deeper one. You can hear this one in many of the clips from the page above such as the first two "beaver" and "bighorn sheep".

My favorite clip is "Chipmunk".

There's also a ton of more new clips from the newer versions of that series too, great to go through with your kids. After all, how many kids nowadays know what a Gannet is, or a Killdeer? http://www.hww.ca/media.asp

Like the man says, "For a more complete story on the Chipmunk why not contact the Canadian Wildlife Service in Ottawa?"

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software