Music of the Andes Region: A Thriving Tradition

With the coming of the Spanish conquerors in the latter half of the sixteenth century, accompanied by Catholic missionaries and African slaves, additional musical idioms were introduced:

[T]he pulsating rhythms of the bombo, and the congo beats permeate that which we call Andean music. Its culture is one of great contrast, but also of profound and remarkable unity. It is even more remarkable that cultures of such distinct and unpa

The Spanish domination [Figure 7] lasted until the end of the eighteenth century and there were many means by which the Andean people expressed their feelings of entrapment and frustration. Not surprisingly, song became a primary method by which they protested. First, there was the “Yaravi” or lament – it is at once an elegy and a love song, sung or played in a slow pattern of irregular beats with the haunting tune characteristic of the Andean region. One of the oldest examples of “yaravi” is during the time of the Inca, “A llama would be tied to a stake in the center of an arena. The llama would begin bleating and the Inca himself would approach, and, to the rhythm of the bleating of the llama, would sing his yaravi.” (Boleadora 1) [Figure 8] The yaravi continues to be a very important expression of deep feeling in the Andes, and its sound inspires a strong feeling of nostalgia and regret over the loss of past glories. Protest songs made a revival in the middle of the twentieth century in the form of the “nueva canción” or “new song”. Nueva canción is expressed by casting off materialistic things and focusing on the feelings and thoughts of the people of the country. This change in focus is not only a change in personal expression, however. Nueva canción has been used as a political weapon to attack unjust governmental systems. Nueva canción has the belief that songs can be used to alleviate problems in a country. The power of Nueva canción comes from its ability to begin and support a revolution within a country. Although the political struggles with the Spanish were painful and trying, there were Europeans in the nineteenth century who took from the Andean culture in a positive way.

During the Paris Exhibition of 1889 [Figure 9], there was a cultural awakening. Paris invited many nations around the world, including Mexico, Japan, Siam, Brazil and Peru. The music of these countries greatly influenced the post-impressionistic composers of this time, including Debussy and Ravel. The pentatonicism and whole-tone scales, used in the Andean music exhibited in Paris, caught their attention right away. Debussy even wrote to a friend, “Do you not remember the Peruvian music able to express every nuance of meaning, even unmentionable shades, and which makes our tonic and dominant seem like empty phantoms for the use of unwise infants?” (Machlis 89). Debussy tried to capture something from what he heard – its pentatonic scale, unusual timbre and texture – in a number of his compositions, including the symphonic poem, “La Mer”, the piano work, “Pagodas”

Some topics in this essay:
Andean Music, Titicaca Andean, Argentina Chile, Spanish African, Debussy Ravel, Peru Bolivia, Spanish Conquest, Cuba Figure, Spanish Nevertheless, Andes Africa, andean music, andean people, sixteenth century, nueva canción, peru bolivia, arranged single row, ancient tombs, spanish conquest, arranged single, pulsating rhythms, central andes, southern peru bolivia,