Description: The
charango is a small short necked lute and it is a member of the
chordophone family of musical instruments. In the andean regions of
Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador the charango is amongst the Inca, Aymara,
Mestizo peoples. Since the introduction of the charango to South
America during the 1600's to 1770's. The charango spread through out
the Andean regions from Bolivia, Peru to Ecuador and in Northern Chile
and North Western Argentina. Currently the charango has 10 strings,
where as some charangos have up to 12-strings. In Northern Chile one
will find a board-zither with the same name. Although it is an
unrelated musical instrument. In North Western Argentina; there exists
a charango who has only 5 frets. This type of charango is quite
rare. The precise origins of the charango are disputed. It is agreed
upon it may have originated from the vehuela de mano that was
introduced by the Spanish. The Indigenous peoples at the time did not
possess the technology to create the staved back, they did have access
to the 9 banded armadillo. These type of charangos are constructed
using a wooden mould where the armadillo shell is moulded into the
correct profile. The body of the armadillo would have much of the hair
still intact although most of it was removed. Some of the armadillo
charangos also called qirikinchu have the face of the armadillo intact
with the body. Due to the demands from professional musicians,
charangos have the full range of intonation from fret to fret.
Professional quality charangos have up to 19 frets, 10 nylon strings
and machine tuning gears. Originally charangos had up to 5 frets, the
intonation the fingerboard was uneven at best. In rural areas it is
still quite common to find charangos with hand carved wooden tuning
pegs. Some professional models of charangos do have wooden tuning pegs
this usually depends on the maker. The charango is a very melodic and
rhythmical instrument. The Inca have a saying "the charango is to
scream like a cat", in rural areas charango is strung with metal
strings.
| Name | Key |
Tuning |
| Standard | A min7 |
G-C-E-A-E |
| Temple En Fa / Tuning in F | G-C-F-A-F |
|
| Samena Santa / Easter | F#-B-E-A-E |
|
Ab min 7 |
F#-B-Eb-Ab-Eb |
|
E min 7 |
G-C-B-E-B |
|
| Rune | G-D-E-A-E |
|
| Large And Small / Grandes Y Pequeños | D-G-B-E-B |
|
| Medium / Medio | D-G-D-Bb-D |
|
G min 7 |
E-Bb-D-G-D |
|
| C-E-B-G-D | ||
| Jalq'a | F#-A-C-B-E |
|
Charango De Caja (12-string) |
||
| Plain | E-A-D-G-B-E | |
| Comuncha | G-B-D-G-B-E | |
| Diablo | G-Bb-D-G-C-E | |
| Arpa | F#-A-D-F#-B-E | |
Charango-De-Caja: The
charango-de-caja is a type of 12-stringed flat-backed charango which
resembles the guitar and is tuned three octaves above the guitar this
version of the charango is a direct relative to the chillador. This
form of charango is popular in Apurimac, Ayacucho and Puno regions.
A Foot note: I
should point out some charangos are strung with metal strings as well
as with nylon. I have been told that the metal string charangos should
be handled carefully during the tuning process. The metal strings are
quite delicate when taught and are prone to snapping. The neck may warp
in extreme cases. Nowadays many of the major guitar-string
manufacturing companies such as, D'dario and other string makers also
produce string-sets for charango to other ethnic-lutes.