quena

plural quenas · alternative kena

1. entertainmentA traditional flute of the Andes.

   One song the group performed on Thursday, “La Partida,” featured lovely bell harmonics from the guitars, a shifting pattern of cross‐rhythms on the guitar‐like charango, and a quena lead.

   1978 April 14, “Music: Inti‐Illimani, From the Andes”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

   1 more example

   As the band’s traditional instrumentalist, Yuri Callisaya, shrilled on the quena, the band’s fans sang along with Mr. Méndez: “Ama sua, ama llulla, ama quella,” which translates as, “Don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t be lazy.”

   2013 December 31, William Neuman, “Headbanging in Bolivia to the Flutes of Yore”, in The New York Times, →ISSN