Music of Bolivia
Encyclopedia
The music of Bolivia has a long history. Out of all the Andean
countries, Bolivia
remains perhaps the most culturally linked to the indigenous peoples. Like most of its neighbors, Bolivia was long dominated by Spain
and its attendant culture. Even after independence, Bolivian music was largely based on European forms. In 1952, a revolution established nationalistic
reforms which included cultural and political awareness of the Aymara and Quechua natives. Intellectuals in the country began wearing ponchos and otherwise associating themselves with native cultures, and the new government promoted native folklore by, among other methods, establishing a folklore
department in the Bolivian Ministry of Education.
Awareness of native music, spirituality and art continued into the 1960s. In 1965, Edgar 'Yayo' Jofré formed a quartet called Los Jairas
in La Paz. With Bolivian folk music gaining popularity throughout the country, Jofré, along with Alfredo Dominguez, Ernesto Cavour Julio Godoy, and Gilbert Favre
used traditional music in modified forms to appeal to urban-dwellers and Europeans. Later groups like Wara
, Khanata
, Paja Brava
, Savia Andina
, and especially Los Kjarkas
and Kalamarka helped further refine this fusion. Following a close but different path, groups and singers like Luzmila Carpio
, Ruphay, and Grupo Aymara
started touring abroad and gained international praise for their compositions, tunes that have brought indigenous Bolivian culture and history to the world's attention.
Los K'jarkas consists of three brothers, the Hermosas, who play primarily Huayño
or, more rarely, sayas
. These are both dance music
influenced both by native forms as well as Africa
n music imported to Bolivia with slavery
. Los K'jarkas are known internationally for their Caporales
classic "Llorando se fue", which was adopted and transformed to the popular beginning of the lambada
dance craze of the 1980s, along with forró
and carimbo
in northern Brazil
. The song was popularized by a French group, resulting in a successful lawsuit
from the Hermosa brothers.
Kalamarka was founded in 1984 by Hugo Gutierrez and Rodolfo Choque. They fusion folk instruments such as Zampoña, Quena, Charango and Bombo with modern instruments, creating a beautiful musica andina. Their famous songs are 'Cuando Florezca el Chuño' and 'Ama, Ama, Amazonas'.
In the 1980s, Chilean nueva canción
was imported to Bolivia and changed into canto nuevo, which was popularized by performers like Emma Junaro
.
Traditional Bolivian (and other South American) musical instruments include the charango
, charangón
, ronroco, hualaycho, zampoña, quena
, bombo
, huancara, reco reco, chiapya box, pinquillo, tarka
, toyo
s, moseño, pututu, Andean saxophone, and sheep hooves formed into a kind of shaker, as well as Europe
an musical instruments such as the violin
and guitar
.
Musical forms such as the Huayno
, Bailecito, Kullawada
, Tonada (or, directly Tinku
), and Cueca
are prominently featured in Bolivia's cultural music.
Andes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
countries, Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
remains perhaps the most culturally linked to the indigenous peoples. Like most of its neighbors, Bolivia was long dominated by Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and its attendant culture. Even after independence, Bolivian music was largely based on European forms. In 1952, a revolution established nationalistic
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
reforms which included cultural and political awareness of the Aymara and Quechua natives. Intellectuals in the country began wearing ponchos and otherwise associating themselves with native cultures, and the new government promoted native folklore by, among other methods, establishing a folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
department in the Bolivian Ministry of Education.
Awareness of native music, spirituality and art continued into the 1960s. In 1965, Edgar 'Yayo' Jofré formed a quartet called Los Jairas
Los Jairas
Los Jairas are a folk music band from Bolivia. They have worked with Los Condores. Their work features the charango, a stringed instrument from Bolivia.They were formed in 1965 by [Gilbert Favre, founder of the folklore cabaret La Pena Naira in La Paz]....
in La Paz. With Bolivian folk music gaining popularity throughout the country, Jofré, along with Alfredo Dominguez, Ernesto Cavour Julio Godoy, and Gilbert Favre
Gilbert Favre
Gilbert Favre was a flautist of Swiss descent. He also played the quena as a founding member of the popular Bolivian folk group Los Jairas. Favre was commonly referred to as "El Gringo" by the Bolivian public...
used traditional music in modified forms to appeal to urban-dwellers and Europeans. Later groups like Wara
WARA
WARA may refer to:* Weighted average return on assets, the collective rates of return on the various types of tangible and intangible assets of a company* WARA , a radio station licensed to New Washington, Indiana, United States...
, Khanata
Khanata
Khanata, or Grupo Khanata, is a contemporary Bolivian musical group.The Zombie Nations are a very popular Khanata group, playing many contemporary classics....
, Paja Brava
Paja Brava
Paja Brava is a Bolivian musical group. The band has had many different musicians that have participated over the years. The first recording was a self-titled album released in 1977 .-References:*...
, Savia Andina
Savia Andina
Savia Andina was one of the first groups to have international success with traditional Andean music. They had this success starting in the 1960s and went on to have three albums to go gold. They toured Europe and are sometimes classed in the "new song/nueva cancion" movement of Latin American music...
, and especially Los Kjarkas
Los Kjarkas
Los Kjarkas is a Bolivian band from the Capinota Province in the department of Cochabamba, one of the most popular Andean pop bands in the country's history...
and Kalamarka helped further refine this fusion. Following a close but different path, groups and singers like Luzmila Carpio
Luzmila Carpio
Luzmila Carpio is a representative of the autochthonous music and soul of Bolivian people.She learned the daily songs of the Quechua and Aymara indigenous peoples that inhabit the mountains and valleys of Northern Potosí in Bolivia as a small child...
, Ruphay, and Grupo Aymara
Grupo Aymara
Grupo Aymara are a Bolivian folk troupe that have been acclaimed worldwide for its inspiring interpretations of traditional music of pre-Hispanic and contemporary music of the Andes, particularly that of the Aymara and Quechua speaking people of Bolivia...
started touring abroad and gained international praise for their compositions, tunes that have brought indigenous Bolivian culture and history to the world's attention.
Los K'jarkas consists of three brothers, the Hermosas, who play primarily Huayño
Huayno
Huayno is a genre of popular Andean Music and dance from Andean countries. It is especially common in Peru. It originated in Serrania, Peru as a combination of traditional rural folk music and popular urban dance music...
or, more rarely, sayas
Afro-Bolivian Saya
The Afro-Bolivian Saya is an art form of traditional Andean and Afro-Bolivian music and dance originated in the Department of La Paz, Bolivia...
. These are both dance music
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
influenced both by native forms as well as Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n music imported to Bolivia with slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
. Los K'jarkas are known internationally for their Caporales
Caporales
Caporales is a traditional Bolivian dance originating in the Department of La Paz, Bolivia; it was created and presented to the public for the first time in 1969 by the Estrada brothers, who were inspired in the Afro-Bolivian Saya character of the Caporal, a dance that belongs to the region of the...
classic "Llorando se fue", which was adopted and transformed to the popular beginning of the lambada
Lambada
Lambada is a dance from Pará, Brazil. The dance became internationally popular in the 1980s, especially in Latin America and Caribbean countries...
dance craze of the 1980s, along with forró
Forró
Forró is a kind of Northeastern Brazilian dance as well as a word used to denote the different genres of music which accompanies the dance. Both are much in evidence during the annual Festa Junina , a part of Brazilian traditional culture which celebrates some Catholic saints...
and carimbo
Carimbo
-Carimbó drum:Carimbó is a tall African drum. It is made of a hollow trunk of wood, thinned by fire, and covered with a deerskin. It is about 1m tall and 30cm wide.-Carimbó dance:Carimbó is also a Brazilian dance...
in northern Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. The song was popularized by a French group, resulting in a successful lawsuit
Lawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
from the Hermosa brothers.
Kalamarka was founded in 1984 by Hugo Gutierrez and Rodolfo Choque. They fusion folk instruments such as Zampoña, Quena, Charango and Bombo with modern instruments, creating a beautiful musica andina. Their famous songs are 'Cuando Florezca el Chuño' and 'Ama, Ama, Amazonas'.
In the 1980s, Chilean nueva canción
Nueva canción
Nueva canción is a movement and genre within Latin American and Iberian music of folk music, folk-inspired music and socially committed music...
was imported to Bolivia and changed into canto nuevo, which was popularized by performers like Emma Junaro
Emma Junaro
Emma Junaro is a Bolivian musician.Junaro's style incorporates Brazilian popular music, European folk styles and Andean music. She has worked with the record producer Fernando Cabrero on recording the poems of Matilde Casazola, a poet...
.
Traditional Bolivian (and other South American) musical instruments include the charango
Charango
The charango is a small Andean stringed instrument of the lute family, 66 cm long, traditionally made with the shell of the back of an armadillo. Primarily played in traditional Andean music, and is sometimes used by other Latin American musicians. Many contemporary charangos are now made with...
, charangón
Charangon
The Charangón is a small lute-like fretted stringed instrument, of the charango family.Its general shape and construction are very similar to the charango, but it is larger and is typically pitched 3 or 4 diatonic intervals lower than a standard charango.The overall length varies from 70 to 80 cm,...
, ronroco, hualaycho, zampoña, quena
Quena
The quena is the traditional flute of the Andes. Usually made of bamboo or wood, it has 6 finger holes and one thumb hole and is open on both ends. To produce sound, the player closes the top end of the pipe with the flesh between his chin and lower lip, and blows a stream of air downward, along...
, bombo
Bass drum
Bass drums are percussion instruments that can vary in size and are used in several musical genres. Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished. The type usually seen or heard in orchestral, ensemble or concert band music is the orchestral, or concert bass drum . It is the largest drum of...
, huancara, reco reco, chiapya box, pinquillo, tarka
Tarka
Tarka can mean:*Tarka, also Chaunk, a common word used in India cuisine to describe the word seasoning*Tarka, Nigeria, a Local Government Area in Benue State, Nigeria*Tarka, Niger*Tarka the Otter, a novel by Henry Williamson...
, toyo
Toyo
TOYO may refer to:Places:*Tōyō, Kōchi, a town in Japan*Tōyo, Ehime, a former city in Japan*Toyo Province, a Japanese province divided in 683*Toyo, Democratic Republic of the CongoCorporations:*Toyo Engineering Corporation, Japan...
s, moseño, pututu, Andean saxophone, and sheep hooves formed into a kind of shaker, as well as Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an musical instruments such as the violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
and guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
.
Musical forms such as the Huayno
Huayno
Huayno is a genre of popular Andean Music and dance from Andean countries. It is especially common in Peru. It originated in Serrania, Peru as a combination of traditional rural folk music and popular urban dance music...
, Bailecito, Kullawada
Kullawada
The Kullawada is an Aymara folklore dance that is part of the Bolivia Andean culture. Originating in the region around the Lake Titicaca, it is traditional to be danced among alpaca and sheep wool weavers. The dancers wear colorful, elaborately decorated costumes for the dance, which is meant to...
, Tonada (or, directly Tinku
Tinku
Tinku, an Andean tradition, began as a form of ritualistic combat. It is native to the northern region of Potosí in Bolivia. In the language of Quechua, the word “tinku” means encounter. In the language of Aymara it means “physical attack.” During this ritual, men and women from different...
), and Cueca
Cueca
Cueca is a family of musical styles and associated dances from Chile, Bolivia, Peru, and Argentina. In Chile, the cueca holds the status of national dance, where it was officially selected on September 18, 1979.- Origins :...
are prominently featured in Bolivia's cultural music.