Visit the Guitar Portal

A Bolivian charango

This article is about an instrument. For the album by British Trip-Hop band Morcheeba, see Charango.

The charango is a small South American stringed instrument of the lute family, about 66 cm long, traditionally made with the shell of the back of an armadillo (not to be confused with a Cuban style of music called "charanga"). It typically has 10 strings in five courses of 2 strings each, although other variations exist. Image File history File links E-Guitare-horiz. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1537x770, 248 KB) Summary Bolivian charango, photo by Villanueva Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Charango ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1537x770, 248 KB) Summary Bolivian charango, photo by Villanueva Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Charango ... Trip hop (also known as the Bristol sound or Bristol acid rap) is a term coined by British dance magazine Mixmag, to describe DJ Shadow s hip hop instrumentals that (inspired by Organized Konfusions track Releasing Hypnotical Gases) changed-up the beat and pallet mid-cut, giving the listener... Morcheeba is a British band that mixes influences from trip hop, rhythm and blues and pop. ... Charango is a 2002 album by the British musical group Morcheeba. ... South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ... A string instrument (also stringed instrument) is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. ... A medieval era lute. ... The or meter (see spelling differences) is a measure of length. ... Families Pampatheriidae (prehistoric) Glyptodontidae (prehistoric) Dasypodidae Armadillos are small placental mammals, known for having a bony armor shell. ... A charanga is a Cuban orchestra composed of piano, strings, vocals, flute and Cuban musical style characterized by this kind of orchestration. ... A course is a pair of adjacent strings tuned to unison or an octave and usually plucked together as if a single string, in musical instruments such as the lute, vihuela or mandolin. ...

History

When the Spanish 'conquistadors' came to Bolivia, they brought the vihuela (an ancestor of the classical guitar) with them. It is not clear from which Spanish stringed instrument the charango is a direct descendant. Was it born of the vihuela, bandurria(mandolin) or the lute? There are many stories of how the charango came to be made with its distinctive diminutive soundbox of armadillo. One story says that the native musicians liked the sound the vihuela made, but lacked the technology to shape the wood in that manner. Another story says that the Spaniards prohibited natives from practicing their ancestral music, and that the charango was a (successful) attempt to make a lute that could be easily hidden under a garment such as a poncho. Orpheus playing a vihuela. ... Typical Andes poncho in a flea market in Genoa, Italy Clear Plastic Rain Poncho modeled by Mark Allyn in Seattle, Washington A poncho is a simple garment designed to keep the body warm, or if made from an impermeable material, to keep dry during rain. ...

The first historic information on the charango was gathered by Vega­ going back to 1814, when a cleric from Tupiza documented that "the Indians used with much enthusiam the guitarrillos mui fuis... around here in the Andes of Peru they called them Charangos". Turino mentions he found carved sirens representing playing charangos in some Colonial churches in the highlands of the Altiplano Peruano and Boliviano. Vega (α Lyr / α Lyrae / Alpha Lyrae) is the brightest star in the constellation Lyra, and the fifth brightest star in the sky. ...

File #857 of The New Chronicle of Guaman Poma eloquently expresses under the suggestive title "Indian Criollos" a drawing and text representing the Indigenes of Peru playing a similar instrument. Assuming the chroniclist is not representing the actual "charango" it is very important to notice that the image he presented is dated in the early 17th century, registering the musical mestizaje of the chord instruments in Peru.

It is believed the charango came to be what it is today in the early part of the 18th century in the Andes somewhere in modern-day Peru and Bolivia (Alto Peru) probably from Amerindian contact with Spanish settlers. Native Americans (also Indians, Aboriginal Peoples, American Indians, First Nations, Alaskan Natives, or Indigenous Peoples of America) are the indigenous inhabitants of The Americas prior to the European colonization, and their modern descendants. ... The Spanish colonization of the Americas began with the arrival in the Western Hemisphere of Christopher Columbus (Cristóbal Colón) in 1492. ...

Construction

Traditionally made with a dried armadillo shell for the back and wood for the soundbox top, neck etc, today charangos are commonly made of wood, with a bowled back imitating the shape of the armadillo shell. Unlike most wooden lutes, the body and neck are typically made of a single block of wood, carved into shape. The charango's ten strings require quite a large headstock, often approaching or even exceeding the size of its diminutive sound box. Aside from these visual distinctions, it resembles a small ukulele. Trunks A tree trunk as found at the Veluwe, The Netherlands Wood is a solid material derived from woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs. ... Ukulele The ukulele (Hawaiian: , IPA pronunciation: ; Anglicised pronunciation usually IPA: ), sometimes spelled ukelele (particularly in the UK) or uke, is a chordophone classified as a plucked lute; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four strings or four courses of strings. ...

The overall length of a typical charango is about 66 cm, with a string scale length of about 37 cm. However, the number of frets ranges from five to eighteen.

There are many variations in the shape of the top in "plan view" and species of wood, though cedar or spruce family woods are preferred for the soundboard (top), and there is generally a narrowed "waist" somewhat reminiscent of the guitar-family--not the pear-shape of the lute.

The typical construction is a one-piece body and neck, classical guitar style peghead and machine tuners, spruce top, and some degree of ornamentation. Variations include a separate glued-on neck, palisander or ebony vertical tuning pegs, guitar-style box construction, or even a hollowed-out neck. The size and shape of the soundholes is highly variable and may be dual crescents, round hole, oval hole, or even multiple holes of varying arrangement.

More recently solidbody electric and hollowbody acoustic-electric charangos are coming on the scene. The solidbodies are built very much as miniature electric guitars, whereas the acoustic-electrics are usually more like a standard acoustic charango.

The instrument has four to fifteen metal, gut, or nylon strings.

Tuning

The charango has five pairs (or courses) of strings, typically tuned GCEAE. This tuning, disregarding octaves, is similar to the typical C-tuning of the 'ukulele or the Venezuelan cuatro, with the addition of a second E-course. Unlike most other stringed instruments, all ten strings are tuned inside one octave. The five courses are pitched as follows (from 5th to 1st course): gg cc eE (because the thicker one is tuned an octave lower) aa ee. Some charanguistas use "octave" strings on other pairs in addition to the middle course. Note that the lowest pitch is the 1st "E" string in the middle course, followed by the "g" course, then the "a" course, then the "c" and finally the "e" strings. This tuning pattern is known as a re-entrant pattern because the pitches of the strings do not rise steadily from one string or course to the next. Ukulele The ukulele (Hawaiian: , IPA pronunciation: ; Anglicised pronunciation usually IPA: ), sometimes spelled ukelele (particularly in the UK) or uke, is a chordophone classified as a plucked lute; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four strings or four courses of strings. ... The name cuatro can refer to any of several Latin American instruments of the guitar or lute family. ...

The ramifications of the charango tuning is that there is a very narrow tonal range in most chords, and so there is a tremendous wall of sound. Seventh and ninth chords shimmer more than on a guitar due to the close harmonies.

Tunings for the charango vary, but the ones most commonly used (for the five-stringed version) are:

Abm7 and Gm7 are achieved by tuning a step or two down. Em7 is achieved by stepping the appropriate amount too (down, I presume).^{[citation needed]}

Variants

• The walaycho (also hualaycho, or maulincho) is a smaller relative, usually tuned a fourth higher (sometimes a fifth higher) than the charango
• The charangon is a larger relative:
  • Some are a 4th down, others a 5th, yet others are an octave down^{[citation needed]}
  • Bolivia: tuned in between a ronroco and a charango
  • Argentia: one octave below the walaycho (maulincho); presumably a fifth down
• The ronroco is a larger relative of the charango
  • Usually tuned one octave lower.^{[citation needed]}
  • Bolivia: tuned one octave lower than the charango
  • Argentina: tuned a fourth lower than the charango
• The chillador: tuned the same, but with a flat back; usually steel-strung

The number of strings may vary, and includes: A small lute-like fretted stringed instrument, the smallest member of the charango family. ... The Charangon is a small lute-like fretted stringed instrument, of the charango family. ... A small lute-like fretted stringed instrument, the smallest member of the charango family. ... A very small guitar-shaped fretted stringed instrument, ususally with 10, 12, or 14 metal strings, in paired or tripled courses. ...

• 4-string
• 5 courses of 3 strings

There are both steel string and nylon string charangos. Some steel-stringed versions have all ten strings at the same gauge. There are also solid-body electric charangos.

Slangs

The charango is known through different names in the Andes. A few include:

• Mulita and Tatu (in Argentina) and
• Kirkinchu (sometimes "Quirquinchu") and Kirki (in Bolivia and Peru)

There are, of course, various dialects to this slang.

Trivia

The Gipsy Kings's CD Pasajero (2006) features a Peruvian Charango in a few songs -- most notably Café. The Gipsy Kings are a group from Arles and Montpellier in France. ...

Further reading

• Richards, Tobe A. (2006). The Charango Chord Bible: GCEAE Standard Tuning 1,728 Chords. United Kingdom: Cabot Books. ISBN 0-9553944-1-4.  — A comprehensive chord dictionary instructional guide.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Charango

• Charango para Todos, el portal de Héctor Soto
• Charango Libre
• comunidad.ciudad.com.ar
• ancient-future.com/guitar/charango
• www.frii.net/~brain/charango
• Familia de los charangos
• Charango Bolivia
• [1]
• Charango Org