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Flutes have long been associated with meditation and thought to be soulful. And there is something about the simple system flute–made out of wood or bamboo–that appeals to people, that the silver flute doesn’t have. When I heard the Irish flute, that seemed to me like a living, breathing representative of a medieval tradition that had died out. And the sound of these instruments was the fascination. Q: When and why were you first getting interested in making flutes?Ī: In the late 70s and early 80s, I listened to a lot of folk and flute music from South America and Japan I also listened to medieval, early music on woodwinds. Olwell flutes are sought after by avid flute-players all over the world, so the waiting list is long but not hopeless.Ĭontact: Patrick Olwell, Historic Woodwinds, P.O. Patrick’s flutes are an optimized “fusion” combining centuries of experience by the old flutemakers in London, New York and France with Patrick’s new technological approach and autodidactic sense of experimentation and innovation. Olwell flutes integrate a characteristic powerful “bark” with the warm sound of a wooden instrument. They come keyed or unkeyed, with a lined or unlined headjoint, in keys of D, Bb, C or whatever the customer requires. The wooden flutes are made of African blackwood, rosewood, cocus, or boxwood. His instruments (bamboo and wooden flutes) are of exquisite beauty and quality. He started making wooden flutes in the early 80s. What began as a repair and restauration job of antique flutes soon led to his first keyless bamboo flutes. Patrick started making flutes in the 1970s. His shop is located in the tiny, ghostly quiet town of Massies Mill, VA in the upstairs of an old bank building built in 1921.
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Patrick a Cincinnatti native – lives and works in Nelson County, VA south of Charlottesville. And Brian Finnegan (currently playing in the band Flook!) is a virtuoso player of Olwell bamboos. In England, Ian Anderson ( of the band Jethro Tull) plays Olwell bamboos and a wooden flute in the key of G#. Seamus Egan, Matt Molloy, Mike Rafferty (to name only a few) and numerous happy non-celebrity flute players in America and overseas are playing his instruments. Patrick Olwell is one of the world’s most reknowned makers of Irish flutes. Note that a documentary film about Patrick is available. Tina wrote the introduction and transcribed the interview, and also provided the photos for this interview. This interview was conducted by in October 1999 by Tina Eck, a flute player from Washington, DC.