The Musical Arts of the bolivian indian

Bolivia extends across one third of the territory covered by the great Aymara and Quechua civilisations. In Bolivia, today's costumes, customs and traditions are manifestations of a vital, living heritage. Its roots are in KOLLASUYU, the Andean homeland created by the dark skinned, thick set race who found their life breath in the sun. Their perception of the unearthly and the cosmic, their attunement with nature expressed in their unsuppressable musical tradition, all set this people part of from the colonised masses. Sadly, in the years since Europe has started to appreciate the haunting sounds of the quena and zampoña, most of the records available on the commercial European and North American marked offer only a sanitised "pseudo indian" music, in spite of evocative titles like "The Indian Flute".

Instrumentos autóctonos de Bolivia

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The members of Awatiñas are descendents of the Aymara of the Bolivian Andes, legitimate inheritors of one of the most developed civilizations of the world. The songs they perform form part of the oral tradition handed down through the centuries. On stage they offer a faithfull image of a living people who , since the 16th century have resisted all attempts of eradicate their culture. The group reveals a music which is authentically EXOTIC, intertwined since immermorial time with the rhythm of life. It bursts forth at each feast or ceremony dedicated to the Sun or to PACHAMAMA (The goddess of the earth and fertility), at each social and family occasion where popular melody makes way for a more primordial music.

Here earthy percussion (lek`eña) blends with etherial flutes (sicuña) in sounds animated by the winds which blow incessantly over the high Bolivian plateau.

Another type of Bolivian music which deserves mention is the variety of folk melody played in the big cities. This is a crossbred form of music influenced by the lives of the "whites" but whose rhythms come straight from the valleys and tropical regions of the country. One can easily see how this sparkling music, with its tuneful themes, has seduced the ear of foreigners. Here is the sources of sources of that "pseudo indian" music now so widely heard in Europe. Awatiñas are the expression of that which is undying in their civilisation. Their ability to reveal all the nuances and facets of Bolivian music makes them, as their Aymara name indicates, truly the guardians of their culture and its heritage.

All rights Reserved Mario Condé, ©Awatiñas, La Paz, Bolivia 1998

Last updated:

30 mai, 2002