Contexts - The Rough Guide to Bolivia - page 481

“breathy”, as overblowing to produce harmonics is popular (modern city-based groups often
evoke this breathiness using special microphone techniques).
Simple notched-end flutes , or quenas (which do not have a proper mouthpiece to blow
through, just a cut in the open bamboo end), are another characteristic Andean instrument
found in both rural and urban areas. The most important pre-Hispanic instrument, quenas
were traditionally made of fragile bamboo and played in the dry season, with tarkas (stocky
vertical flutes, like a shrill recorder made from the wood of a taco tree) taking over in the
wet season. Another small Andean flute with a span of three octaves is called the pinquillo ,
also made of bamboo. The moseño is a long thin bamboo flute probably modelled on the
European transverse flute and played from the side.
Charangos
The charango is another characteristic Andean instrument. This small, indigenous variant of
the lute or mandolin was created in Bolivia in imitation of early string instruments brought
by the Spanish colonizers, which indigenous musicians were taught to play in the churches.
Its characteristically zingy sound was the result of the natural Andean preference for high
pitches, and because its size was restricted by the fact that it was traditionally made from the
shell of an armadillo (although modern charangos are now generally made of wood). There
are many varieties of charango: from flat-backed instruments with strident metal strings to
larger instruments with round backs that are capable of deeper and richer sounds. The char-
ango usually has five pairs of strings, though tunings vary from place to place and from
musician to musician. The charango may have acquired its name from the Quechua word
ch'ajranku , from the verb ch'ajray , meaning to scratch, since in early colonial times indigen-
ous Bolivians used to refer to the way Spanish musicians played their plucked instruments as
sumaj ch'ajranku , meaning “rich scratch”.
The charango is used to play a host of different types of music and dances. In many rural
areasdifferentinstrumentsareplayedindifferentseasons:thecharangoisusuallyplayeddur-
ing the winter months of June and July, when its shrill sound is thought to attract the frosts
essentialforfreezingpotatoestomake chuño ;thoseinsmalltownsandurbanareasoftenplay
it all year round. In some areas, different tunings and melodies are used for different seasons.