The South American mountain range known as the Andes has a long cultural tradition. Famously the home of the Inca empire, the region by the 18th Century had a similar story to Central America. The Spanish had come centuries before, had toppled the indigenous kingdoms, and had heavily mixed with the local population. As such, similar to Central America, it is difficult to take 18th Century music and draw clear lines between the Natives and the Spanish.
What is certain is that, before the arrival of the Spanish, the people of the Andes had many different musical instruments, particularly wind instruments. As Mark Brill writes, “Andean cultures had a greater variety of instruments than Mesoamerican cultures.” [1] This suggests that the Andean peoples were capable of making more sounds in their music than their Central American counterparts. And in the 18th Century, this musical innovation did not stop. A prime example of this is the charango, which was an adaptation of the Spanish stringed instruments. Brill writes, “it is a small guitar descended from the Spanish vihuela whose resonating chamber is made from the shell of a small armadillo […] the neck is fretted, and there are usually 10 llama-gut […] strings tuned in pairs, though a charango can have as few as 4 and as many as 15 strings.” [2] Basically, it’s a guitar made out of an armadillo shell with a widely variable number of strings. This adaptation of a new musical idea to the materials close to hand shows the ingenuity of the Andean peoples. As for the sounds, well, “its strings are short and therefore high-pitched […] charangos are typically accompanying instruments, strummed vigorously with fast rhythmic patterns that lend a driving percussive rhythm to a piece.” [2] This shows that the fast-paced rhythm and high-pitched sounds were popular among the Andean peoples during the time of Spanish colonization. Other instruments that were popular during the 18th Century were the marimba – introduced from the African slave trade – and the harp.
Of course, no discussion of Andean instruments can be complete without mention of the panpipes. A staple of Andean musical culture for centuries before the Inca empire, the panpipes came varied widely in size, tone, and number of pipes. A noteworthy stylistic element to come from the panpipes was the trenzado or “braided” style. Air is thinner up in the Andean mountains, and it can be difficult to play an entire melody on one breath. As such a style evolved where “two players play alternate notes in quick succession, producing a smooth, interlocking melody.” [3] This style of playing would require a high level of virtuosity, and shows how skilled the players of these panpipes became.
Three modern sets of Andean panpipes.
All of this is very general, and indeed the music from the Andes region is a vast space that still has not been fully documented. Brill writes, “there is potential ethnomusicological and anthropological work in the Andes for decades to come.” [4] This vast diversity of culture hasn’t been fully explored today, let alone with the documents from the 18th Century. The music of this region never once stopped growing and innovating, and the 18th Century was no exception for the Andean Natives’ musical works.
[1] Brill, Music of Latin America, p. 304
[2] Brill, Music of Latin America, p. 309
[3] Brill, Music of Latin America, p. 307
[4] Brill, Music of Latin America, p. 303
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