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PERU TRAVEL
PLANNER
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Peruvian traditional music
Panpipes , known by the Aymara as siku, by the Quechna as
antara and by the Spanish as zampoņa, are ancient instruments and archeologists
have unearthed panpipes tuned to a variety of scales. While modern panpipes -
played in the city or in groups with other instruments - may offer a complete
scale allowing solo performance, traditional models are played in pairs, as
described by sixteenth-century chroniclers. The pipes share the melody, each
with alternate notes of a whole scale so that two or more players are needed to
pick out a single tune using a hocket technique. Usually one player leads and
the other follows. While symbolically this demonstrates reciprocity within the
community, practically it enables players to play for a long time without
getting too "high" from dizziness caused by over-breathing.
Played by blowing (or breathing out hard) across the top of a tube, panpipes
come in various sizes, those with a deep bass having very long tubes. Several
tubes made of bamboo reed of different length are bound together to produce a
sound that can be jaunty, but also has a melancholic edge depending on tune and
playing style. Many tunes have a minor, descending shape to them. Playing is
often described as "breathy" as overblowing is popular to produce harmonics. In
general those who play panpipes love dense overlapping textures and often
syncopated rhythms.
Simple notched-end flutes , or quenas , are another independent innovation of
the Andean highlands found in both rural and urban areas. The most important
pre-Hispanic instrument, they were traditionally made of fragile bamboo (though
often these days from plumbers' PVC water pipes) and played in the dry season,
with tarkas (vertical flutes -like a shrill recorder) taking over in the wet.
Quenas are played solo or in ritual groups and remain tremendously popular
today, with many virtuoso techniques.
Large marching bands of drums and panpipes , playing in the co-operative
"back-and-forth" leader/follower style captivated the Spanish in the 1500s can
still be seen and heard today. The drums are deep-sounding, double-headed
instruments known as bombos or wankaras. These bands exist for parades at
life-cycle fiestas, weddings and dances in the regions surrounding the
Peruvian-Bolivian frontier and around Lake Titicaca. Apart from their use at
fiestas, panpipes are played mainly in the dry season, from April to October.
There is something quite amazing about the sound of a fifty-man panpipe band
approaching, especially after they've been playing for a few hours and have had
a few well-earned drinks. It is perfectly normal for a whole village to come
together to play as an orchestra for important events and fiestas. Andean
villages are usually composed of ayllus (extended families) whose land is often
divided up so that everyone gets a share of various pastures, but with everyone
working together at key times such as harvest and when caring for communal
areas. Music is an integral part of all communal celebrations and symbolically
represents that sharing and inter-dependence: drinks are drunk from communal
glasses which everyone will empty in turn. The organisation and values of each
community are reflected in the very instrument an individual plays, down to the
position of players within circles and groups.
Folk music festivals to attract and entertain the tourist trade are a quite
different experience to music in the village context. While positively
disseminating the music, they have introduced the notion of judging and the
concept of "best" musicianship - ideas totally at odds with rural community
values of diversity in musical repertoire, style and dress.
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