Since the 1970s, a "pan-Andean- musical style has emerged, which has diffused from southern Peru and Bolivia into many of the cities and towns in the central Andes, largely because of tourism. This unique style includes indigenous Andean instruments, such as quena flutes [Figure 1], siku panpipes [Figure 2] and small charango guitars [Figure 3].
The Andean people were familiar with instrument making long before the Spanish Conquest of the sixteenth century. There were a wide variety of wind and percussion instruments which defined musical life in the Andes. Perhaps the most recognizable instruments used in Andean music are the panpipes, called "siku- or "zampoñas-. These come in a variety of sizes and arrangements and are usually made out of bamboo cane or a very strong but lightweight reed called "songo- which grows on the banks of Lake Titicaca. The Andean panpipes are generally played either with one player playing two rows of pipes, or they may also be played by two players, each with a separate row, in "dialogando-. Each player plays alternating notes of the scale. Some panpipes have a third row added which allows chromatic scales to be played, thus allowing songs in any diatonic key to be played. Other variations to the standard panpipes include the "antara- [Figure 4] in which all the pipes are arranged in a single row, and the "rondador- which is arranged in a single row, but in alternating third intervals, allowing a base for harmony in their music. The rondador is very often used in the "San Juanito-, a processional song form originating from Ecuador. Other types of flutes traditionally used in Andean music include the quenilla, quena, and quenacho. .
The main drums used by the Andean people were the "Quechua tinya- [Figure 5], a small-frame drum with two heads, and a larger and deeper instrument which today is called "bombo-, also with two heads. The Spanish element began in the sixteenth century, when minstrels, aristocracy, and clergy introduced guitars, harps, mandolins, violins, transverse flutes, pipes-and-tabors, and oboes into the land of Peru.
