Cool Stuff #2: Black America and South America

One thing I really enjoyed when listening to Blues is the banjo because of the fun sound it produces. It is an instrument that is common in folk music, country, bluegrass, and other genres as well. It is a reproduction of a lute from ancient Africa and the Middle East after the slave trade started in America. Various instruments in Africa, chief among them the kora, feature a skinhead and gourd (or similar shell) body. The African instruments differ from early African American banjos in that the necks do not possess a Western-style fingerboard and tuning pegs, instead of having stick necks, with strings attached to the neck with loops for tuning. This instrument has a very twangy sound and is associated with a southern style of music. Here is a young man playing the blues on the banjo that reminds me of the blues I heard in my class.

Another great instrument I saw in class was the Imbabura Harp which is found in Ecuador and the Northern Andes Mountains. The shape of the harp closely resembles that of the more commonly seen western harps. The main difference that can be seen is the addition of the soundbox with three sound holes. The Imbabura harp is closely related to 16th and 17th-century harps. The harp has remained unchanged in its original construction for the past 200 years. The strings that are used consist of steel strings for the upper register and gut strings for the middle and lower range. Gut strings are the intestinal fibers of animals twisted dried and stretched to create strings for the harp. The idea of the harp was originally brought from Europe with the explorations of the Jesuit Missionaries conquistadors and other explorers. One large difference between the Imbabura harp and other harps is that it can be played by two people in two different ways at the same time. One person can strum the strings and the other can beat on the soundboard making it a chordophone and an idiophone. Here is an example from the class.

Because the harp has been in Latin America for over 400 years, it is considered by the Quechua to be a “native” instrument. The harp is still used today and is commonly used for cultural ceremonies and dances. Quecha is a very old civilization that was in the Andes before the Spanish arrived in South America. When the Spanish conquered the Inca empire in the 16th century, however, and the Quechua came under Spanish rule, Quechua society was drastically altered. The Spanish economic system of tribute required the Quechua to produce unfamiliar crops for the Spanish at the expense of their own food supply. The Spanish system, unlike its Inca predecessor, did not provide for the welfare of the laborer and his family during his term of forced labor. The Spanish concentrated the Quechua in larger, more populous villages than they were accustomed to, thus further straining Quechua political and social institutions. The Roman Catholic Church made additional demands on the time and resources of Christianized Quechua. A growing desire for the trappings of Spanish wealth even further alienated the Quechua from their own society. By the time Spanish rule ended in the 19th century, the Quechua had been so changed that many remained as servants on the grand haciendas and estates. Others went to the towns and cities of the lowlands to find employment, though some stayed in their mountainous homeland.