Description: The charango is a small lute popular with the Kecha, mestizo peoples and other groups in Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Northern Chile and North-western Argentina. The neck of the charango often has 5 to 19 frets. The charango is the result of Indigenous and Spanish contact. The charango has 10-strings being a common standard, although many regional variations of the charango do exist to which have other amounts of strings. A rare form of charango in Northern Peru is reported to have 4 strings. Another rare form of charango is found under the name Tailaka and is found in the Amazonas region around the city Iquitios. The amazonas-tailaka is a 5-stringed lute. It’s believed that the modern charango may have evolved from this instrument since Indigenous and Spanish contact in the 1600s to 1770s. The Charango-De-Caja a 12-stringed flat-backed charango is also popular in the Apurimac, Ayacucho and Puno areas (see below).

Charango Tunings

Standard	Am7th	G-C-E-A-E
E Minor	E Min	D-G-B-E-B
		D-G-B-E-C
		F-Bb-D-G-D

There is an old church in Puno which has the statue that depicts a musician playing the charango. The charango traditionally is played by men known as compasinos who are the peasants in rural Peru, more so in Apurimac, to Ayacucho, Puno. The songs range from wedding to funerary processions. The woman would accompany in the role of singing during the funeral of the passing of a small infant or youth. Other celebratory times when the charango would be played are weddings and other communal events. The charango is compared to the shape of the guitar in its current form of construction. One of the theories of why the charango remains so small is because of practical considerations for transport. The other is during the arrival of the Spanish the charango was concealed in the poncho. This is continued today but most often to protect the instrument from rain or other weather during transport.

In Peru the charango is most commonly through Cajamarca, Apruimac, Ayacucho, Puno. The charango is lesser found in the Northern regions of Peru and also lesser found on the coast where guitar, mandolin and percussion dominate. In the Amazonas region in a 5-string variety called a Tailaka. The Tailaka is a rare 5-stringed lute found in some remote Amazonian villages in which the body is carved from tortoise shells. The tailaka is now extinct in most of the regions in peru accept for some remote areas of the amazon.

On some of the specimens of the charango for example my Bolivian made charango has a zero fret (similar to what one would find on a guitar or other custom instrument). Ebony fingerboards and the like are often added on depending on the quality of the instruments. Mostly the fingerboard is constructed and fretted from mahogany, or rosewood.

Construction of the charango: The charango made traditionally from the 9-banded Armadillo a species of armadillo native to South America. in which is bent into shape via steaming and using a wooden-block mold carved into the desired shape for this instrument. Nowadays due to a law in Peru which focuses on the protection of a particular species of Armadillo. Wooden body charangos are now in very common usage. The wooden bodies are mostly hand carved from a single block of wood though in my specimen.

As for my Bolivian specimen also has both the neck and the wood carved from the same peace of wood, also has an ebony fingerboard also increasingly more common. Originally wooden tuning pegs were carved and drilled into the charango head-stock. Nowadays metal and plastic guitar tuning gears are used. Also unlike today the charango back then was mostly strung with metal strings. I should point out some charangos are strung with metal strings as well. Nowadays many of the major North American aka D'dario and other string makers also produce string-sets for charango to other ethnic-lutes. In which the shell is protected under current laws in Peru is a protected species.

The charango traditionally is made from the 9-banded armadillo shells which are Indigenous to South America in particularly Peru. The charango with the armadillo is called Chirinchiu. Before the charango was constructed with hand-carved tuning pegs; nowadays machine-gear tuning pegs are commonly used and considered standards. Many regional names are used to distinguish the charango. The frets may contain wood, bone or metal often brass-frets which are now the norm. Other rare forms of the charango even exist using a round gourd as the body of the charango.

Regional Variations: In Peru one would encounter several types of charango under different regional names, the charango you see in my photograph becoming some what more uncommon due to the wooden bodied charangos is called a chirinchiu this is the older charango that was made from a wooden mold to which the chirinchiu armadillo-shell body was shaped. The species used is the 9-banded armadillo. Several species now are under protection under Peruvian and neighboring countries species protection acts. This is the other reason why this variation is not made as much any more.

Chillador aka “Little screamer / or to make a little high pitch cry”: This is a small flat-backed version of the charango also encountered in Puno, Ayacucho and Apruimac. The given name Chillador means “the little screamer” due to the childaor’s use of the steel-strings. These instruments in which are quite sensitive to tunings and many of these strings are known to pop if tension of the tuning is to high.

Charango-De-Caja: This instrument is a 12-string version of the charango. Found in Apruimac, to Puno and the like. Tunings range from E-A-D-G-B-E referred to as the “the plain tuning”. the same as the standard guitar tuning though several octaves above the 6-string guitar. To other alternate tunings for the charango-De-Caja are the following comuncha tuning, E-B-G-D-B-G popular in rural areas, temple arpa tuning is E-B-F#-D-A-F#, temple diabloe or "diablo tuning" for charango-de-caja is E-C-G-D-Bb-G,

Citations: John Brenton @ ,http://www.cuerdasandinas.net/factspage.html @ ~ Charango Tunings Article > Guitar Forum @ http://www.guitarseminars.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000349.html @ For my write up on the charango-de-caja information was compiled from citation: [the garland encyclopedia of worldmusic, book; South America, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, chapter, Peru, page 475. The New Grove Dictionary of Music page 340 Peru, Charango. Article by Thomas Turino. Charango.org @ http://www.charango.org/ ~ Asza.com/icharango.html ~ Randy Raine Reusch and also pacoweb.net.