THE INTEGRATION OF THE FLUTE INTO WESTERN ROCK MUSIC OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY: AN ATTEMPT AT SYSTEMATIZATION

Maria Kholodova; Mikhail Shirshak

doi:10.31804/2782-4926-2026-5-2-70-81

UDC

78.03

THE INTEGRATION OF THE FLUTE INTO WESTERN ROCK MUSIC OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY: AN ATTEMPT AT SYSTEMATIZATION

Published in Siberian Art History Journal · Pages 70–81 · Rubric: musical art

DOI: https://doi.org/10.31804/2782-4926-2026-5-2-70-81

Received: 30.06.2026 Accepted: 30.06.2026 Published: 30.06.2026

Authors

Maria Kholodova

Mikhail Shirshak

Maria Kholodova

Hvorostovsky Siberian State Academy of Arts Russian Federation · Krasnoyarsk

Mikhail Shirshak

Hvorostovsky Siberian State Academy of Arts Russian Federation · Krasnoyarsk

ABSTRACT

The article traces the history of the flute's entry into Western rock music – a process spanning the 1960s through the 1980s. Drawing on specialized literature, archival research and in-depth analysis of audio and video recordings by rock acts from a range of countries, the study tracks – for the first time in Russian and international art history – the instrument's journey from occasional timbral guest (The Beatles) to a leading voice and de facto “frontman” (Jethro Tull, Focus), receiving official international recognition within rock culture. The core methodological approaches are diachronic, historical-typological and comparative-analytical. The study establishes that the flute's path into rock was not a straight one. It first moved beyond the classical sphere into jazz – as early as the first half of the 20th century (Jerome Richardson, Sam Most, Herbie Mann). The pivotal mediating figure was the American musician Roland Kirk. His extended playing techniques, absorbed from the academic avant-garde (Edgard Varèse, Luciano Berio), and his expansion of the instrument's expressive range served as the connecting link between jazz and rock. The authors identify three stages (waves) in the flute's conquest of “the kingdom of leather jackets and guitar drive”: 1965–1966 (episodic use), 1967–1968 (consolidation within the ensemble) and 1968 to the mid-1980s (the flute as artistic identity of a rock band). Attention is given not only to Anglo-American and European groups, but also to the creative experiments of bands from South America, Africa, Australia and Asia, who adapted the instrument's sound in original ways across a range of rock subgenres – psychedelic, progressive, ethno, jazz, hard and funk rock – blending it with national musical styles and traditions. The study emphasizes that the peak of this integration was marked by the victory of Ian Anderson's British band Jethro Tull at the Grammy Awards (1989), where they defeated Metallica in the category of “Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance” – a paradoxical yet emblematic event that secured the flute's status as a fully legitimate rock instrument on the world music stage.

KEYWORDS

20th-century art, popular music, Western rock culture, flute in rock music, Jethro Tull, Ian Anderson, progressive rock

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JATS XML

Doctor of Cultural Studies, Docent

Julia Zamaraeva

rybka08@bk.ru

Candidate of Philosophical Sciences

Anastasia Kistova

Candidate of Cultural Studies, Docent

Maria Kolesnik

masha_kolesnik@mail.ru

Doctor of Philosophy, Professor

Natal'ya P. Kopceva