The sopilka is the first instrument a Ukrainian village boy would reach for. Easy to make (from willow, viburnum, cherry, elder), it gave voice to shepherd melodies, pastoral songs, and lyrical ballads.
There are several varieties: the simple sopilka (6 finger holes, no semitones), the chromatic sopilka (10 holes, full chromatic scale — designed by Dmytro Deminchuk in 1970), the double sopilka (two bores, playing in two voices), and the whistle sopilka (no finger holes, just whistling). The academic sopilka today is a virtuoso concert instrument: performers play Vivaldi, Bach, Skoryk, as well as jazz and ethno-folk on it.
