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billkilpatrick
May-23-2004, 12:06pm
contributors to the medieval/renaissance/classical threads on the message board have very kindly tolerated my intrusion into their business for quite some time now and i was wonderfing if there are any amongst you who would entertain the idea of adding the charango to the CBOM section of the message board? #from what i've gathered, almost everyone has one but doesn't play it much. #this is a shame because it's a beautiful, soulful little instrument. #like the cittern, its roots are early #european and the with the possibility of different tunings it could be opened up to a more varied repertoire and (hopefully) a wider circle of happy players.
there are no sites (in english) for the charango at the moment that are in the same league as this one and i would welcome the exchange of information.
please let me know what you think about this proposal and thank you for any consideration you might give it.
sincerely - bill

Jim Garber
May-23-2004, 1:07pm
You might want to approach Scott on this matter or else just post a thread on the CBOM area. It is not so far fetched from some other threads, about ukes, for instance.

Jim

Martin Jonas
May-23-2004, 2:44pm
from what i've gathered, almost everyone has one but doesn't play it much. #this is a shame because it's a beautiful, soulful little instrument.
I think it might be appropriate to quote Douglas Adams at this juncture: "This must the some new meaning of the expression 'almost everyone' with which I was not previously familiar."

Martin

Bob A
May-24-2004, 10:04pm
CBOM or right here, no one could object to the occasional thread on an instrument like a charango when we freely speak of Persian chittarones. (If your instrument is missing a tuning peg near the nut on the treble side, I may be forced to increase my medication. There can be such a thing as too much coincidence).

Anyway, I've been banging away on my baglama, and I'm reliably informed that they have been made of coffee cans, dried pumpkins, and scooped-out turtle shells, so a scooped-out armadillo would fit right in. However, I've seen at least one instrument the back of which was badly in need of a shave. I would venture my personal preference here that I not be treated to a photo of such, at least until the sun has progressed past the yardarm.

Until the time has come for the many fanciers to establish a charango cafe, I'd venture to guess that this would be a reasonable meeting place. I'm certainly no animal bodyparts chauvinist; what with tortoise, abalone, elephant and mastodon ivory, the feathers of myriad avian species, to say nothing of bone and intestine, all having provided gristle for the conversational mill, I would welcome another lost sheep to the fold. I wouldn't think Scott would mind either.

I have to ask, what sort of repertoire exists specific to the instrument? And are the roots european? I'd have thought central/south Amerigoland myself. Bill, you might wish to give a thumbnail sketch of the subject for the uninitiated.

lucho
May-25-2004, 1:47am
Bob A asked: " what sort of repertoire exists specific to the instrument? And are the roots european? I'd have thought central/south Amerigoland myself. #Bill, you might wish to give a thumbnail sketch of the subject for the uninitiated."
#Even though #I am no expert I do own 3 charangos I play with my ceilid band or at sunday mass, and also teaching my younger nephew and niece who like to sing along with them. The charango roots are european probably derived from the spanish vihuela in the "Altiplano".... charangos have sizes from waylacho to ronroco... being charango standard SL similar to mandolin. Through the years, #I had had the luck to see and hear the charango to be played in almost any genre.... mostly with andean base... up to classical music.... there are many instrumental songs specifically written for charango.#When you start on the charango, the basic problem with it... is the note range (tesitura) scale somewhat limiting and chords that tend to be easier on minor scales than major... On the other hand, the easy way would be if you check on a fellow in California (thinnman) who sells string sets to tune charango as mandolin /mandola. I believe... he call these axes charangolin. Anyway, there are also a number of charango books, workshops and festivals in South America. There are music schools in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Perú and probably Ecuador where you could take a charango class. As an example, last southern summer I took a weekend charango workshop in a music school in Valparaiso, Chile with the Inti-Illimani master charango player Horacio Durán who gave us more than a few tips.... ending all of us in a orchestra charangada.....

billkilpatrick
May-25-2004, 7:41am
i thought you'ld never ask...

i came to the charango while looking for an inexpensive instrument suitable for playing medieval/renissance, etc. music. as lucho says, it's european in origin (i had no idea it came from the spanish high plains but as bolivia seems to be the charango manufacturing capital of the world, there might be a dissertation in the making for some musicologist who links geographic traces from the old world to geographic locations in the new) and - in terms of basic construction - extremely ancient. it's related to the citole because of its single piece, hollowed-out, bowl construction and to the calvalquino (spelling?) from portugal because of its size. it's also very similiar in size (though not in construction) to the tiple (without an "m") from the canary islands. (i read that this instrument was introduced into the islands by laborers from n. africa.)

its tuning makes it sound south american but even that may be a forgotten legacy from renaissance europe.

i too have three charangos: one "concert" quality and two, simpler, more primative models with wooden tuning pegs (it's these i use when performing early music.) i'll post photos of these when i have the time.)

in terms of repertoire, that too is dependent on the peculiar "andes" sounding tuning. ronaldo goldman http://www.rolandogoldman.com.ar/html/home.htm performs a piece with full orchestra and charango but it's the only "classical" sounding music i've been able to find so far. (violinists do it all the time but to stand up there mid-stage with a symphony orchestra booming away behind you, armed only with a wee charango is nothing short of heroic, in my book.)

i'd dearly love to get rid of the traditional tuning (ee-aa-Ee-cc-g'g') for something else. the octave spread in the 3rd c. gives it that s. american flavor but all mine are tuned like an early lute (gg-aa-dd-g'g'-c'c'). this isn't very successful as it "flubs" a bit in the bass strings. i tried a set of 5c. mandorino strings in nylgut but promptly snapped one of the treble strings (the tastiera is approx 35-37 cm. long). next time i change strings i'm going to exchange the 3rd c. "Ee" with the 5th c. "ee" to hear what that sounds like.

i hope you-all will consider the charango as a long-lost, distant cousin that's been wandering around the new world all these years and would like to come back home to europe now, please.

- bill

billkilpatrick
May-25-2004, 8:00am
here's one:

Sellars
May-27-2004, 5:25am
i hope you-all will consider the charango as a long-lost, distant cousin that's been wandering around the new world all these years and would like to come back home to europe now, please.
You've got my vote!

Welcome home sonny! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

billkilpatrick
May-27-2004, 6:10am
thanks dad...

if there's discernable response in the affirmative, one of the biggies on site says he'll consider making space for it.

i'm not sure if the charango is closer to a mandolin or a lute but as some wag said in another thread on site...

you push the little strings down
the music goes down and around
whoa oh oh oh oh oh
and it comes out here...

it's the basic principle that unites us all.

sincerely - bill

Áine
May-27-2004, 10:21am
I've been interested in the charango for a while now, and I would love to see more discussion about it here on the forum. #I haven't found one to purchase yet, so that would be the first question I'd ask. Also, I'd like to know more about the instrument itself and the music written for the charango.

Consider this a very positive reply to your query. #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

All the best, Áine

Bruce Evans
May-27-2004, 10:34am
#it's related to the citole because of its single piece, hollowed-out, bowl construction and to the calvalquino (spelling?) from portugal because of its size. #
- bill
cavaquinho - for your future reference

It is believed among some (specially ukulele players) that the cavaquinho is a direct descendent of the Portuguese braguinha (little instrument from Braga), despite the fact that the cavaquinho has steel strings while the ukulele has nylon.

lucho
May-28-2004, 5:18pm
For those of you interested to try out a mandolin tuning in fifths for charango you should check thinman at: http://thinmanmusic.com/mandoli....uki.htm (http://thinmanmusic.com/mandolins,Mandolas,octave%20mandolins,%20bouzouki. htm)
Have any of you tried out any of those special sets?
Another point, the charango story started at the bolivian altiplano or the area between Cusco to Potosí-Oruro in the XVIII century (nor the spanish meseta, altiplano is used in South america... meseta in Spain), when indigenous peoples copied the spanish vihuela using armadillo (Dasypus sp) backs and later when they got luthier techniques and wood supply from the lowlands carved wooden backs... the earliest XVIII century charango representations are found as sculptured figures at churches in Oruro and Potosí.

salu2,[I]

billkilpatrick
May-29-2004, 9:11am
thank you lucho - what a wonderful find!

for those interested, you can find some even more ancient charango look-a-likes on the following site:

http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cantigas/images/

and this is a wonderful, citole site:

http://www.crab.rutgers.edu/~pbutler/citole.htm
sincerely - bill

Jim Garber
Jul-20-2004, 1:23pm
Bill asked me to post these for him. He says:

if you disregard the abalone shell-like face guard, i don't think it's asking too much to think of it as a suitable instrument for the early music repertoire.

the man who owns it made it himself! intimidating, no?

Actually this is a very nice looking instrument but not of the traditional materials. I have never seen a charango with a flamed maple back. This maker is not Bolivian or Peruvian is he?

Jim

Jim Garber
Jul-20-2004, 1:24pm
Here is the back of that charango.

It would be interesting if this builder was interested in trying to amke a Neapolitan mandolin. More info, Bill?

Jim

Bob A
Jul-20-2004, 3:04pm
An attractive piece of work. I could live without the slab of whatever it is - MOP, MOTS? So, how's it sound?

billkilpatrick
Jul-20-2004, 3:30pm
thank you jim, very much. i don't know much about imaging software but i know someone who does...

the man who made this lives in france and says he currently has 12 charangos in his colllection - several of which he made himself. i'm definitely coming around to the idea that the "vihuela de mano" was father to the charango - mainly because of its vague and uncertain nomenclature - no one is entirely sure what it means - but also because it sounds right for early music. throw in a rose and away you go.

for all i know, the "vihuela de mano" could also be a neopolitan mandolin.

20 or 30 years ago, if someone had said to me that i'd end up as a middleaged man exchanging photos with complete strangers of small stringed instruments...

i have no idea how it sounds - it's just one of the photos he sent me. mine sounds wonderful, however. if my experiment with 5c., octave mandocello strings proves successful, i'll let you know.

nite-nite - bill

ps - thanks again, jim.