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Latin America's oldest musical traditions are
those of the Amerindians of the Andes. Their
music is best known outside these countries
through the characteristic panpipes of poncho-clad
folklore groups. However, there's a multitude of
rhythms and popular musics found here deserve a
lot more recognition, incuding huayno and
chicha, still relatively unknown abroad, as well
as the distinct coastal tradition of Afro-Peruvian
music, rooted in black slaves brought to work in
the mines.
For most people outside Latin America the sound
of the Andes is that of bamboo panpipes and
quena flutes. What is most remarkable is that
these instruments have been used to create music
in various parts of this large area of mountains
- which stretch 4500 miles from Venezula down to
southernmost Chile - since before the time of
the Incas. Pre-Conquest Andean instruments -
conch shell trumpets, shakers which used nuts
for rattles, ocarinas, wind instruments and
drums - are ever present in museum collections.
And the influence of the Inca empire means that
the Andean region and its music spreads far
beyond the mountains themselves. It can be
defined partly through ethnicity, partly through
language - Quechna (currently spoken by over six
million people) and Aymara , both of which are
spoken alongside Spanish and other Amerindian
languages.
The dominant areas of Andean culture are Peru ,
Ecuador and Bolivia, the countries with the
largest indigenous Amerindian populations in
South America. Here, in rural areas, highly
traditional Andean music, probably little
different from pre-Inca times, still thrives
today at every kind of celebration and ritual.
But beyond this is a huge diversity of music,
differing widely not only between countries but
between individual communities. Andean people
tend to identify themselves by the specific
place they come from: in music, the villages
have different ways of making and tuning
instruments and composing tunes, in the same way
as they have distinctive weaving designs, ways
of dressing or wearing their hats. Use of
different scales involving four, five, six and
seven notes and different singing styles are
also found from place to place, tied to specific
ritual occasions and the music which goes with
them.
Andean music can be divided roughly into three
types. Firstly, that which is of indigenous
origin , found mostly amongst rural Amerindian
peoples still living very much by the seasons
with root Amerindian beliefs; secondly music of
European origin , and thirdly mestizo music ,
which continues to fuse the indigenous with
European in a whole host of ways. In general,
Quechna people have more vocal music than the
Aymara.
Written by Jan Fairley, with thanks to Thomas
Turino and Raúl Romero, Gilka Wara Céspedes,
Martin Morales and Margaret Bullen. Adapted from
The Rough Guide to World Music, Vol 2.
Traditional music
Panpipes , known by the Aymara as siku, by the
Quechna as antara and by the Spanish as zampoña,
are ancient instruments and archeologists have
unearthed panpipes tuned to a variety of scales.
While modern panpipes...
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Afro-Peruvian music
Afro-Peruvian music has its roots in the
communities of black slaves brought to work in
the mines along the Peruvian coast. As such,
it's a fair way from the Andes, culturally and
geographically. However, as it developed,
particularly in this...
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Chicha
Chicha , the fermented maize beer, has given its
name to a new and hugely popular brew of Andean
tropical music - a fusion of urban cumbia (local
versions of the original Colombian dance),
traditional highland huayno, and...
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>>
Peru's performers
Many performers have achieved mass appeal and
recording contracts in Peru and can support
themselves solely by their work as musicians.
Nationally celebrated performers include
Florcita de Pisaq (a huayno vocalist), Pastorita...
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>>
Discography
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