Charango
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about an instrument. There is also an album called 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").
Contents |
[edit] History
When the Spanish 'conquistadors' came to South America, they brought the vihuela (an ancestor of the classical guitar) with them. However, it is not clear from which Spanish stringed instrument the charango is a direct descendant of. 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.
The first historic knowlege of 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.
File #857 of The New Cronicle 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.
[edit] Construction
Tradtionally 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 ta large headstock, often approaching or even exceeding the size of its diminutive sound box. Aside from these visual distinctions, it resembles a small ukulele.
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.
[edit] Tuning
Tunings for the charango vary, but the ones most commonly used (for the five-stringed version) are:
(A minor | LA menor)
1-|E|--|MI|--- 2-|A|--|LA|--- 3-|E|--|MI|--- 4-|C|--|DO|--- 5-|G|--|SOL|--
and
(E minor | Mi menor)
1-|B|--|SI|--- 2-|E|--|MI|--- 3-|B|--|SI|--- 4-|G|--|SOL|-- 5-|D|--|RE|---
[edit] 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 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.
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.
[edit] Variants
The ronroco is a larger relative of the charango, usually tuned one octave lower. The walaycho (also hualaycho, or maulincho) is a smaller relative, usually tuned a fourth higher (sometimes a 5th higher). In addition depending on who you are talking to in South America, there is also a "charangon" which is tuned lower than a charango. There are various types--some are a 4th down, others a 5th, yet others are an octave down. For example, in Bolivia a ronroco is an octave down from a charango, and a charangon is in-between. Conversely in Argentina the ronroco is a 4th down from the charango (what the Bolivians would call a charangon) and therefore the Argentinian ronroco is one octave below the maulincho.
There are also charangos with more than 10 strings, and there are both steel string and nylon string charangos. There is a flat-backed charango known as a chillador which is typically steel stringed. Some steel-stringed versions have all ten strings at the same gauge.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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.
