# Recommend me some pan-pipe music **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 15, 2003, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-pan-pipe-music/213410 "2003-11-15T08:40:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![flapcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@flapcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flapcats)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-pan-pipe-music/213410/1 "2003-11-15T08:40:11Z")
My SO is giving a talk on her recent climb up Maccu Piccu and would like to get some lyric-free pan pipe music to play during the slideshow. Please can you recommend a group/album that play this kind of music - the talk is on Monday 17th Nov so I need something very soon! Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Brad\_Pittiful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b3f665/32.png) [@Brad\_Pittiful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brad_Pittiful)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-pan-pipe-music/213410/2 "2003-11-15T18:29:45Z")
only person i know who does pan flute stuff is zamfir and thats because of the late night commercials thay had on…search a music site on pan flute music…like amazon or tower records…good luck ---
**Author:** ![Torgo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@Torgo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Torgo)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-pan-pipe-music/213410/3 "2003-11-16T01:48:53Z")
Ennio Morriconne’s them to **Once Upon a Time in America** has some gorgeous pan flute in it, performed by…you guessed it, **ZAMFIR**. If you can’t find the soundtrack, the theme is also available on **A Fistful of Film Music** , a Morriconne compilation. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-pan-pipe-music/213410/4 "2003-11-16T02:06:23Z")
That Simon and Garfunkle song _I’d rather be a hammer than a nail_ or whatever it is called is influenced by Peruvian pan-flute music. ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-pan-pipe-music/213410/5 "2003-11-16T05:46:25Z")
That’s _If I Could_ from Simon and Garfunkel, which is based on _El Condor Pasa_. I’d wager that because of the duo’s hit, _Condor_ is probably the best known of all the “pan-flute and ponchos” style of music. Anyway, based on what I have in my own collection, you may want to try the ensembles Inti Illimani or Savia Andina. Now, Inti Illimani is neither quite traditional (they call their music _nueva cancion_, or “new song”) nor Peruvian (they’re from Chile), but if you’re just looking for background music to a slideshow, it should be close enough. _Imagination_ is their all-instrumental CD, though Amazon doesn’t show it as being availble, so it may be out of print. Savia Andina is from Bolivia, and they may be an instrumentals-only band – only one of my two CDs is titled “Instrumental,” but I don’t hear voices on the other one, either. They are available on Amazon. Speaking of Amazon, it looks like happy hunting if you’d browse through their selection of [Peruvian music](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/63774/002-4429094-0948037). If you wanted something _right now_, you can get legal MP3 downloads from IUMA, and a search of their Peruvian catalog showed two bands that look promising: [Inka Wayra](http://artists.iuma.com/IUMA/Bands/Inka_Wayra/) and [Arpay](http://artists.iuma.com/IUMA/Bands/Arpay/). The question I have, though, is: Your SO went up Machu Piccchu and didn’t bring back any music? Surely she spent some time in Cuzco? Man, when I visited Bolivia and Peru, I loaded up on CDs and cassettes.