Museumofworldmusic.com

Peru, Bolvia

Instruments

2008.10.10 Friday Updated.

Name: Moceños or Mohoceños.

Type: Aerophone, transverse, double chanber-flute.

Region: Southern Peru, Bolivian Alti-Plano, South America

Source: 1000 Villages (for first specimen) in Vancouver, B.C. Canada; Rene Hugo Sanchez (for second specimen)

Description: The moceños or mohoceños is a transverse flute unique to Southern Peru and Bolivia’s Alti-Plano region. The moceños is tuned three octaves below the kena or pingullo. Some have made the observation it’s constructed like the Slovakian Fujiara. The moceños is played solo or with percussion and now added to ensembles which feature the charango, mandolin, bandurria, guitar, ETC. Or other times this instrument is played solo. It has a very haunting low-octave bass timbre.

Construction: I will start describing the second specimen of moceños. In which is Peruvian. The instrument is a double-duct transverse flute having 6 relatively wide finger holes. The two changers the mouth piece and the actual flute are bound with animal hide. And pitch is sometimes used to secure the animal hide binding. The over all length of the 1·2 meters or 3 feet in length My moceños is tuned to a very low C-tuning in which can be played in two octaves the main octave and an overtone octave when blowing stronger into the instrument.

Tuning: Nowadays often makers tune the "moceños" to what musicians and others may request the instrument to be tuned to. There is a standardized set of tunings. One of the most common is a two octave lower C-Tuning.

Misc: The moceños traditionally the moceños is accompanied by a tambor (drum) this is more common amongst the Indio’s aka Indigenous people in the Bolivian’ Alti-Plano when the Spanish had widely distributed a Fujiara like instrument. According to the article written in the New Grove Dictionary of Music.

Citations: Rene Hugo Sanchez, New Grove Dictionary of Music: moceños, page 677. authors John M. Schechter; and discography