Andean Music Vinyl: Pan Flute, Charango and Songs of the Andes on LP
Andean music on vinyl: the basics
This page gathers Andean music vinyl: the music of the highlands of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, northern Chile and Argentina. Its sound rests on a few signature instruments: the quena, a notched cane flute; the zampoña or siku, a pan flute; the charango, a small ten-string guitar; and the bombo, a deep drum. You'll find Quechua and Aymara traditions as well as more urban, modern styles. The selection is small and changes with what partner stores have available.
Artists and styles from the Andes
The world's best-known Andean melody is "El cóndor pasa," written by Peruvian composer Daniel Alomía Robles and covered by Simon & Garfunkel on "Bridge over Troubled Water" in 1970. In the 1960s and 1970s, Chile's Nueva Canción movement, with Violeta Parra, Víctor Jara, Inti-Illimani and Quilapayún, made Andean instruments central. In Bolivia, Los Kjarkas became stars; their song "Llorando se fue" was the basis for Kaoma's hit "Lambada."
Among the artists listed here, Bolivian singer Luzmila Carpio, who sings in Quechua, is known for her very high voice rooted in traditional song. Manzanita y su Conjunto, a band formed in Lima, shows another side of Peruvian music: chicha, the Peruvian cumbia played on electric guitar. Hearing these two side by side shows the gap between rural tradition and urban popular music, two faces of the same region.
Original pressings, reissues and compilations
Original Andean records were often pressed locally in Bolivia, Peru or Chile, with uneven pressing quality. Many albums by Andean groups were also released in Europe in the 1970s and 1980s and turn up used. Reissue labels have revived chicha too, notably Barbès Records with the compilation "The Roots of Chicha," which introduced the style to many listeners outside Peru.
- Check the country and year of pressing
- Inspect condition: local pressings can be fragile
- Tell traditional music, Nueva Canción and chicha apart
- Compare a new reissue with a used original
- Look for liner notes that explain songs and instruments
Comparing offers on Andean music records
