hmmmm... while i agree that branches of the same tree may differ slightly in terms of shape, number of leaves, etc., their similarities far outweigh their differences.
stringed instruments were unknown before the spanish arrived in the new world. i don't think the charango prototype would have undergone much of a change during the years subsequent to the invasion and the first recorded images of the instrument. to think so would infer there was an experienced, fully competent, luthier technology lying dormant in the indian population all ready to go, just waiting for the opportunity to take the previously unseen european instrument and quickly make it into something home grown. there's a cathedral, somewhere in south america built in 1700-something which has statues of people playing charangos. (i can retrieve this information if you would like.) the name of the instrument and the music they play on it may be south american but the tuning (gg-cc-eE-aa-ee) and the basic design (designs, actually ... including a charango with a triangular shaped body ... does that make it a balalaika?) are all early european - see the cantigas de santa maria illustrations. respectfully, over to you - bill On Mercoled�, ago 11, 2004, at 15:33 Europe/Rome, Eugene C. Braig IV wrote: > Interesting point, but I would argue that in addressing citoles and > gitterns one is not addressing true charangos, but charango ancestors; > e.g., I don't consider citoles and gitterns to be citterns, guitars, > mandolins, etc. > > Best, > Eugene > > At 09:15 AM 8/11/2004, bill wrote: >> al contrario... >> >> those early music enthusiasts who first introduced the charango >> prototype to the new world (most probably a citole: >> http://www.crab.rutgers.edu/~pbutler/citole.html) would have been >> playing something carved from a single piece of wood. turtles may >> have been a source of inspiration for the first really, really...i >> mean extremely "early" music enthusiasts in europe but then, i think, >> we'd be speculating on iron age ingenuity. >> >> the charango (imho) is european in origin - call it what you will - >> and well suited for early music. what people in peru or elsewhere >> choose to play on it, however, is entirely up to them. >> >> chow... - bill >> >> On Mercoled�, ago 11, 2004, at 14:18 Europe/Rome, Eugene C. Braig IV >> wrote: >> >>> This is, of course, largely a group of earl music enthusiasts. The >>> earlier >>> charangos tended to favor a more vertebrate-based bowl construction. >>> I >>> have no idea at what temperature armadillo hide begins to break >>> down...I >>> don't think I want to find out. >>> >>> Eeew, >>> Eugene >
