The
quena (hispanicized spelling of
Quechua qina, sometimes also written
kena in English) is the traditional
flute of the
Andes. Traditionally made of
totora, it has 6 finger holes and one thumb hole, and is open on both ends or the bottom is half-closed (choked). To produce
sound, the player closes the top end of the pipe with the flesh between his chin and lower lip, and blows a stream of air downward, along the axis of the pipe, over an elliptical notch cut into the end. It is normally in the key of G, with G4 being the lowest note (all holes covered). It produces a very "textured" and "dark"
timbre because of the length-to-bore ratio of about 16 to 20 (subsequently causing difficulty in the upper register), which is very unlike the tone of the
Western concert flute with bore ratio about 38.