Lotos Lab: reviving the most popular musical instruments of humanity

Nine doublepipes and four singlepipes revived from archaeological finds: complete instruments from Stone Age, Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman worlds. From thousands of finds in museums, these are the reed pipes I currently consider most worth learning to play. Why? Because they deliver greatest value for effort, musically. Whether you are a school teacher, musician, researcher, or hobbyist, they offer fantastic rewards for your investment of time and money.
The experience of engaging with these pipes is like a lotus: growing out of a dark sludge of ignorance, fertilised by a rich soup of evidence, twisting and turning through water and air on an adventure towards light that is moving, warming, and seasonal. Potentially, some petals may one day open in sunshine, giving others joy. Seeds may form. But any beauty on the sonic surface - any power to move listeners - would be impossible without a deep tangle of roots, without the chaotic wrong turns of pioneers, without the multiple lifetimes of love and energy that lie out of sight. The doublepipes revival is a majestic muddy symphony of interconnected creativity.
The Lotos Lab website is under construction, but any of these instruments can be ordered by emailing [e-mail]. I work on behalf of makers and customers gathering energy, knowledge, and momentum to uplift the revival of ancient reed pipes. The 28,000-year-old Isturitz pipe can also be sounded like a ney or a trumpet, but is much easier to play with the addition of a reed.
Filmed at Marco Sciascia's home in Orte, Italy, 6 July 2022.
Pipe makers: Robin Howell (Elgin, Pydna), Thomas Rezanka (Berlin, Louvre), Marco Sciascia (Ur, Maket, Poseidonia, Selinus, Turin 8-hole and 6-hole, Panopolis), Chrēstos Terzēs (Megara),
Zexuan Qiao (Isturitz)
Reed makers: Callum Armstrong (Berlin), Barnaby Brown (Ur, Megara), Robin Howell (Louvre, Poseidonia, Selinus), Marco Sciascia (Maket, Elgin, Pydna, Turin, Panopolis, Isturitz)