Sunday 30 January 2011

World Music: Andean Music




Andean music comes from the general area inhabited by Quechuas, Aymaras and other peoples that roughly in the area of the Inca Empire prior to European contact. It includes folklore music of parts of Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela. Andean music is popular to different degrees across Latin America, having its core public in rural areas and among indigenous populations. The Nueva Canción movement of the 70s revived the genre across Latin America and bought it to places where it was unknown or forgotten.

In accordance with wikipedia, wind and percussion instruments are known to have existed in South America even before the Incans, but musical evolution peaked with the Incan empire. The arrival of the Spaniards in the sixteenth century brought string instruments and new forms, spurring the invention of the distinctive charango, a ten stringed instrument similar to a lute that was originally constructed from the shell of an Armadillo but now generally constructed from local wood varieties. In the charango family there is a larger instrument called the ronroco similar in size to the mandolin. Violins have also found their way into Andean Music.


The panpipes group include the sikú (or zampoña) and antara. These are ancient indigenous instruments that vary in size, tuning and style. Instruments in this group are constructed from aquatic reeds found in many lakes in the Andean Region of South America. The sikú has two rows of canes and are tuned in either pentatonic or diatonic scales. Some modern single-rowed panpipes modeled after the native Antara are capable of playing full scales, while traditional Sikús are played using two rows of canes wrapped together. It is still commonplace for two performers to share a melody while playing the larger style of sikú called the toyo. This style of voicing interspersed notes between two musicians is called playing in hocket and is still in use today in many of the huaynos traditional songs and contemporary Andean music.

Quenas (notched-end flutes) remain popular and are traditionally made out of the same aquatic canes as the Sikús, although PVC pipe is sometimes used due to its resistance to heat, cold and humidity. Generally, quenas only are played during the dry season, with vertical flutes, called tarkas, being played during the wet season. Tarkas are constructed from local Andean hard wood sources. Marching bands dominated by drums and panpipes are commonplace today and are used to celebrate weddings, carnivals and other holidays.





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