Country in South America; sharing borders with Brazil to the north and east, Paraguay and Argentina to the south, and Chile and Peru to the west.
GERARD BÉHAGUE (I), MAX PETER BAUMANN (II)
Until 1776 Bolivia formed part of the Viceroyalty of Peru, as ‘Audiencia de Charcas’ or ‘Alto Peru’; the early history of art music in Bolivia is therefore related to that of Peru. During the colonial period the capital, La Plata (or Chuquisaca, and since 1839 Sucre), was one of the important intellectual and artistic centres of Spanish America, particularly because of its S Francisco Xavier University and its cathedral. Founded in 1538 it became a bishopric in 1552 and as early as 1569 its first music school was established by the musicians Juan de la Peña Madrid and Hernán García, to teach the Indians singing and instrumental performance. The wealth and consequent musical development of La Plata Cathedral (whose liturgy was closely linked to that of Seville) during the 17th and 18th centuries is attested to by the substantial historical and musical archives at the cathedral, whose holdings dating from the Baroque period make it one of the richest South American archival centres. Manuscript copies of works by such European composers as Galuppi, Hidalgo, Durón and Michael Haydn have been little explored. Throughout this period the cathedral library expanded considerably, receiving works from Spain and the colonies, especially Mexico. At the same time works of composers active at the cathedral were copied locally: the manuscript copy made in Potosí in 1784 of a mass by Zipoli, active in Córdoba, Argentina, is in the cathedral archive. The cathedral chapter maintained an ensemble of singers and instrumentalists numbering 50 musicians by the beginning of the 18th century.
Gutierre Fernández Hidalgo (1553–1620), who had worked at Bogotá and Quito, became maestro de capilla at La Plata in 1598. None of his works has been found in Sucre but his vain attempts to have them published in Spain or France are documented (1607). The most important 17th-century composer in La Plata was Juan de Araujo, who was born in Spain and who studied at the University of S Marcos in Lima with Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco. He was maestro de capilla at La Plata Cathedral from 1680 until his death in 1712. Almost 200 of his works are in the music archive, and five more are in the archive of the Seminary of S Antonio de Abad in Cuzco, Peru. He wrote sacred and secular vernacular works, of a consistent quality, including Latin psalms, hymns, partsongs and polychoral villancicos. The music of another 17th-century maestro de capilla at the cathedral, Pedro Villalobos, is also in the Cuzco archive. The musical activity of the mining city of Potosí during the 17th century is well documented in local archives. Theatrical representations with music were predominant, but no music survives.
During the 18th century Manuel Mesa y Carrizo distinguished himself as the maestro de capilla at La Plata from 1761 to 1773. His numerous works, dating from the 1760s and 1770s, and now in the cathedral archive and in private libraries, include masses, psalm settings, hymns, villancicos, jácaras and juguetes.
The Jesuits developed significant musical activities in the missions of Moxos and Chiquitos where the Indians were taught singing, instrumental performance and instrument making. Historical documents attest to the ability of the Indians in mastering the European musical idiom. The S Ignacio de Moxos church and the Episcopal Archive of Concepción, in particular, hold fairly substantial collections of secular and sacred works (including copies of works by Juan de Araugo and Domenico Zipoli). Even after the expulsion of the Jesuits, the missions maintained this tradition of neo-European music, concurrently with the inclusion of native indigenous dances in various religious processions.
In contrast to the activity of the colonial period, music in Bolivia developed little in the 19th century after independence (1825). La Paz, the effective capital (Sucre being the nominal one), began organizing its musical life in the mid-19th century. The first pianos were introduced in the 1840s; some operas were produced in 1845. But musical organizations with some degree of continuity were not established until the early 20th century, when the foundation of the Military School of Music (1904), the National Conservatory of Music (1908), the Circle of Fine Arts (1910) and many similar institutions contributed considerably to La Paz’s musical life. The National Orchestra was established in 1940 under the direction of José María Velasco-Maidana, who was the foremost Bolivian nationalist composer of his time. His ballet Ameríndia (1934–5), first performed in Berlin in 1938, and many of his symphonic poems (Cuento brujo, 1935, Los Khuzillos, 1936) are based on Aymara-Quechua mythological subjects. The nationalist movement is also represented by Antonio González Bravo (1885–1961), Eduardo Caba (b 1890), Teófilo Vargas Candia (1886–1961) and Humberto Viscarra Monje (1898–1971). Caba, a native of Potosí, studied in Buenos Aires with Felipe Boero and with Turina in Madrid, and became director of the La Paz Conservatory in 1942. Most of his works, such as the tone poem Potosí, the ballet Kollana and the 18 piano pieces Aires Indios, are in a marked Indian idiom with modal and pentatonic structures and rhythms characteristic of music of the Bolivian plateau. Viscarra Monje mainly wrote piano miniatures, among which a Rondino became very popular in Bolivia. Simeón Roncal, a native of Sucre, wrote a series of 20 cuecas(Bolivia’s chief national dance) and other popular genre pieces in a Romantic virtuoso piano style. González Bravo, primarily a student of folk music, wrote numerous choral works for teaching purposes and orchestrated many Aymara folk tunes.
The younger generation of composers has further explored native music within neo-classical or neo-Romantic styles or else has experimented in advanced compositional idioms. Jaime Mendoza-Nava and Gustavo Navarre represent the former tendency, Hugo Patiño Thórrez, Atiliano Auza, Alberto Villalpando, Marvin Sandi, Florencio Pozadas Cordero and others the latter. Most of these composers studied abroad. Auza, Villalpando and Pozadas were fellows in the 1960s of the Di Tella Institute, Buenos Aires, under the direction of Ginastera, where they became aware of avant-garde techniques. Auza moved from a dissonant neo-classicism to serial and aleatory techniques in his works of the late 1960s. Villalpando chiefly used serialism, and wrote some successful scores for films. In general, however, opportunities for experimental composition in Bolivia have been slight. Younger composers active since the 1970s and 80s include Juan Antonio Maldonado, Willy Pozadas, Cergio Prudencio, Cesar Junaro, Oscar García and Augustín Fernández Sánchez.
See also Peru, §I.
StevensonRB
O. Mayer-Serra: Música y músicos de Latinoamérica (Mexico City, 1947)
G. Chase: Introducción a la música americana contemporánea (Buenos Aires, 1958)
A. Auza León: Dinamica musical en Bolivia (La Paz, 1967, 2/1985)
C.G. Muñoz and W.A. Roldán: Un archivo musical americano (Buenos Aires, 1972)
R. Stevenson: Latin American Colonial Music Anthology (Washington DC, 1975)
J. de Mesa and C. Seoane: ‘La música en Bolivia durante el siglo XIX’, Die Musikkulturen Lateinamerikas im 19. Jahrhundert, ed. R. Günther (Regensburg, 1982), 93–120
A. Auza León: Simbiosis cultural de la música boliviana (La Paz, 1989)
C. Seoane Urioste and A. Eichmann: Lírica colonial boliviana (La Paz, 1993)
3. Mestizos, folklore groups and ‘canto nuevo’.
Bolivia, §II: Traditional music
The Andean highlands of Bolivia occupy more than a quarter of the country's entire area. By contrast with the more thinly populated lowlands of eastern Bolivia (Oriente) and the north-eastern Andean slope of the Yungas, the mountain plateaux and the high valleys are relatively densely inhabited. Members of Amerindian societies constitute more than half of the population. Most live in small rural settlements on the altiplano and in the valleys of the cordilleras at 2500 to 4500 metres above sea level, for which reason they are sometimes called ‘highland Indians’. The Spanish term ‘indio’ (Indian), a denomination from outsiders, refers today primarily to the feeling of semantic, cultural and social solidarity among these groups. The indios speak at least one Indian language as their mother tongue and feel bound to traditional Andean cultural heritage. Following the land reform of 1953, the term indio was replaced by the now customary term ‘campesino’ (peasant or farmer). Most of this rural population lives from farming and stockbreeding.
Numerically, the largest language groups of the Andean highlands are the Quechua- and Aymara-speaking farmers. Quechua is primarily spoken in the departments of Cochabamba, Oruro, Potosí and Chuquisaca, as well as in some provinces of the department of La Paz. It is a vernacular language which has evolved from the classical Quechua of the Inca Empire (1438–1537). The Aymara language survives in the vicinity of the pre-Inca ritual sites at Tiahuanaco near Lake Titicaca. Indios or indigenous peoples who speak one of these languages are designated here as Quechuas or Aymaras. The Aymaras (or Kollas) live primarily on the altiplano in La Paz and Puno (Peru) as well as in relatively large areas of Oruro and Potosí. Many musical terms and concepts from the Aymara seem to have been transmitted to the Quechuas. In addition to the Aymaras and Quechuas, a smaller group of indios still survives in linguistic and cultural isolation near Lake Coipasa; their language, Chipaya, is spoken by fewer than a thousand people. It is assumed that these people, known as Chipayas, together with the Urus of Lake Titicaca were among the first settlers of the central Andes. Some 2000 of the Callawayas or Kallawayas, the Quechua-speaking provinces of Bautista Saavedra, Muñecas and parts of the provinces of Tamayo and La Paz use their own esoteric language, Machchaj-Juyai, (literally, ‘language of the compatriot or companion’); otherwise they generally speak Quechua. The Callawayas differ culturally from the Quechuas and Aymaras, although many reciprocal influences can be observed, especially in the realms of music and musical instruments.
The traditional music of the indios of the Bolivian central Andes uses a large variety of wind instruments, a smaller number of different kinds of drums and a few idiophones. Wind instruments hold the most important position within the Andean tradition of the campesinos, followed by drums (wankaras or bombos, tambores) which are used primarily as accompaniment. Unlike the urban folklore ensembles (conjuntos), in which acculturated string instruments are mixed with some or all of the three basic types of flutes, the rural ensembles of the indios (tropas) generally consist of a set of one type of melody instrument. The musical groups of the campesinos can usually be divided into three main types of flute ensemble, according to native categorization: panpipe ensembles (sikus), notched flute ensembles (kenas) and duct flute ensembles (pinkillos). Some include drum accompaniment.
Except for the one-string musical bow (arco selvatico, arco musical or arco de boca), no string instruments were known in pre-conquest South America. Various guitar types, such as vihuelas, lutes and bandurrias, spread throughout the affluent mining centres of Bolivia with Spanish colonization. Through the mediation of the mestizos, the guitarrillo, jitarrón and charango were also introduced to the campesinos of the altiplano and were adapted and transformed there.
Traditional instruments and ensembles often have particular regional and individual names, related to the areas in which they are played. This applies especially to terms used to classify the sizes or tonal registers of one generic type of instrument in a particular ensemble. In a duct flute ensemble from the Arque province, for example, the various pinkillos or charkas are divided into four categories according to their tonal register (similar to the choral divisions of soprano, alto, tenor and bass). Each instrument is assigned an individual name according to the register group to which it belongs: the deepest and longest flute is called charka machu, the instrument belonging to the next higher register (about a 5th higher) is called charka mala; next is the charka tara, pitched an octave higher than the charka machu. The instrument belonging to the highest register is called charka ch'ili, it is also the smallest instrument, sounding a 5th higher than the charka tara. Machu, mala (also malta), tara and ch'ili also symbolize the social hierarchy: machu means ‘honourable’ and, as a rule, is associated with the oldest and most experienced musicians; mala or malta means ‘intermediate one’, while ch'ili (‘smallest’) is usually played by the youngest and least experienced musician.
In the Bolivian highlands, music, dance, song and ritual are closely intertwined. Dance is present in almost all group music-making. The Quechua term taki (song) encompasses not only the idea of sung language but also rhythmic melody and dance. The three key terms takiy (to sing), tukay (to play) and tusuy (to dance), each emphasize only one aspect of an integrated musical whole. These three complementary elements signify the inherent unity of structured sound, movement and symbolic expression.
Most instrumental and vocal melodies possess a pronounced anhemitonic pentatonic structure. Although certain flute types have a diatonic tuning and could theoretically be played diatonically, the scales actually played by the campesinos are predominantly pentatonic. These scales are more traditional and are played most often. Semitones do occur, in particular in melodies of wide range. Such melodies seem to be the result of a transposition by a 4th to a lower register or a 5th to a higher one; this occurs, for example, in some sikura panpipe ensembles. Such hexatonic and heptatonic scales can be explained as the combination of two anhemitonic pentatonic scales whose tonal centres are arranged in layers of a sequence of intervals built up first on the final and then on the upper fifth. Influenced by Western-type compositions such as national and regional anthems, and the urban folklore groups, traditional ensembles now more often adopt melodies in major and minor keys.
Generally speaking, the melodies produced by the various traditional panpipe types are performed in a playing technique of interlocking pairs (tinku or contrapunto). Each pair consists of a complementary set of female and male instruments (arka and ira, fig.1). The melody is simultaneously performed by several panpipe pairs in two to five parallel octaves. Parallel octaves also occur in some duct flute and some kena ensembles. In ensembles of double-row panpipes, as well as in some duct flute and notched flute ensembles, parallel octaves will often be embellished with parallel 5ths and/or 4ths or, somewhat less often, with parallel intervals approximating a tritone.
In formal terms, the traditional indio melodies are marked by phrases that are relatively short and few in number; these phrases are repeated individually within a melody which itself undergoes several repetitions. Instrumental pieces often begin with a drum introduction (qallaykuy); after the much repeated main section (tukana, kantu or wirsu) there is a shorter coda (tukuchana). Rhythmically, a binary character predominates, related to the countless forms of the wayñu dance (Sp. huayño).
The singing (takiy) of men and women is mostly accompanied by one or more charango players and is combined with particularly lively and rhythmic dances with their own stamping sequences (tusuna or zapateo). The most important traditional song genres include wayñu, tunada (tonada, copla), yaraví, bailesitu (bailecito) and kwika (cueca). These are now mainly performed in connection with the Christian festivals, such as Carnival, Easter, Holy Cross Day (3 May), All Saints' Day (1 November), and Christmas. Solo singers perform lari-wayñu and burruqhatiy songs, accompanying themselves on the charango while journeying through the countryside (fig.2); there is also ensemble singing (taki, tusuna) and antiphonal singing between two contesting singers or groups of singers (takipayanaku). The individual melodies (tunadas, wirsus) and types of instrumental ensembles (tropas) are tied to specific festivals: examples include the carnival music of the puka uma or pujllay ensembles (tonada del carnaval), the tonada de la Cruz and the cosecha wirsu (harvest melody).
Song, dance and music are associated with festive occasions such as the sowing and harvesting seasons, family celebrations, communal celebrations in honour of patron saints and other occasions particular to each group. The festivities and music-making reach their zenith when celebrating the various rites of offering, involving drinks, incense or animals, as well as during animal branding ceremonies. Music, song and dance are always an inseparable part of diverse fertility rites.
The basic figure of the dance ensemble is the circle formation, in which participants dance in single file, the oldest first, the youngest last. In traditional dance ensembles instruments are played by men while women take a leading role in dance and song, often waving coloured flags to the music. The dances always begin in an anticlockwise direction and after a certain time change symmetrically to clockwise; the musicians then make a half-turn on their own axis and continue dancing in the same formation, one behind another. This fundamental pattern can be observed in many dances such as the charangeada, the sikuriada, the ‘wild dance’ (chúkaru-baile) of the jula-julas panpipe ensemble and the ushnizatni of the Chipayas' duct flute (ch’utu) ensemble. The circle dance is also combined with dancing in single file, with serpentine movements in the jula-jula dances or with dancing in double rows, as in lichiwayu (kena) dances. The leader of the music group, the tata mayor, sometimes plays a pututu (signal horn) and holds a whip in his hand to signify his authority.
Traditional musical behaviour is always embedded in a particular context within the ritual and religious annual cycle. Music-making and singing are determined by the two halves of the agricultural cycle: the rainy season and the dry season. The seasons generally determine the kinds of musical instruments to be used and the melodies and dances to be performed.
The various festivals also need to be considered in connection with historical layers and traditional re-interpretations that have been superimposed. Often, for example, the old astronomical (or Inca) calendar, the Christian (or Gregorian) calendar and the annual agricultural cycle simultaneously influence such celebrations. Numerous festivals celebrated the earth deities. In these, offerings of smoke, drink and animal sacrifices are made, related to the tilling of the ground, the sowing of seeds, the growth of crops and prayer for a good harvest. Each has its own set melodies and musical instruments. Music and dance may also be expressions of joy as well as offerings to honour Father and Mother Earth (Pachatata and Pachamama).
The contemporary cosmological-religious world view of the altiplano indios seems to be partially syncretic. Traditional central Andean beliefs partly survive; some have mixed with Christian conceptions of faith and worship. The Virgin Mary is associated with the concept of Pachamama (pacha = earth, mama = mother) to the extent that Pachamama is generally interpreted as the Virgin Mary, manifesting herself on a local level in the form of individual virgins, such as the Virgen de Candelaria, Virgen de Copacabana, Virgen del Carmen and Mamita Asunta (Virgen de Asunción). More broadly speaking, the female concept of Pachamama is the timeless and female aspect of the Mother Earth. Throughout the centuries, incoming religious figures such as the Virgin Mary have been considered reincarnations of an element of this fundamental principle.
During the rainy season, in the department of Oruro, charka flutes are sounded in honour of Pachamama to give thanks for the first good harvest of the season. Charkas of various sizes are played by men to accompany dances, together with a cow horn or pututu, while unmarried girls sing ‘Takisun pachamamaman mañarisun’ (‘Let us sing and call to the Pachamama’) in a high falsetto voice.
Other duct flutes such as pinkillos, mohoceños or aymaras (fig.3), ch'utus, tokurus and tarkas or anatas are traditional to the rainy season, from All Saints' Day until the carnival season in February or March. These instruments belong to the ‘female’ cycle of the year. The distinction between ‘female’ and ‘male’ times of year can be related to the old Inca calendar. Wooden duct flutes symbolize the female principle of irrigation and fertility; they celebrate the sprouting seeds and the harvest. Their connection with water is emphasized by the fact that they are sometimes filled with water so that they can become saturated and airtight. Because of the superimposition of Christian religious concepts on the festivals, duct flutes are also closely related to the numerous festivals of the Virgin Mary in the rainy season, such as the feast of the Immaculate Conception (Fiesta de la Concepción; 8 December) or Candlemas (2 February). The instruments are also played to celebrate Christmas and the New Year.
By contrast with these instruments there are others (panpipes and notched flutes) made of hard bamboo and played predominantly during the dry season. These are closely tied to the ‘male’ festivals during this part of the year, such as Holy Cross Day (3 May) and Corpus Christi (end of May or beginning of June). They are also played during the numerous festivals honouring male saints. Such festivals are linked to the concept of Pachatata, Tatapacha or Apu. During this dry season the instruments used are predominantly notched flutes made of bamboo (kenas, chokelas, kena-kenas, lichiwayus, pusi-ppias) and different kinds of panpipes (sikus, sikuras, antaras, jula-julas, laqitas). These instruments are associated with the male principle, represented also by the sun, the dry season and the wind.
Bolivia, §II: Traditional music
More than 30 large and small ethnic groups live in the tropical lowlands, particularly in the departments of Beni, Santa Cruz, Pando, La Paz, Cochabamba and Tarija. Indios of the savanna and forests, about 150,000 in number, belong linguistically to the Arawak, Tacana, Guaraní and Pano language groups. The languages of the Chiquitos, Chimanes, Movimas, Yaracarés, Itonamas, Canichanas and others also fall into these groups.
Melodies based on characteristic rhythmic patterns make up the most popular songs and instrumental pieces. Typically for music of the eastern lowlands these are extensively marked by the rhythms of the dance or dance-song genres taquirari, chobena, machichi, cumbia and polca. They are played by various ensembles as monophonic, biphonic or polyphonic melodies, from Rio Mamoré to deep in the vicinity of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. In their simplest form, these ensembles consist of a vertical or transverse flute (pífano or sibibire) and a large and a small drum. One or two calabash rattles (sonajes or caracachá) accompany the lively and strophically structured melodies. Two cymbals (platillos) may be added for extra rhythmical support. In the cities, groups of one to three guitars or mandolins with a matraca (rattle) as rhythmical accompaniment are preferred. String instruments have become popular and accompany one or more singers. Other instruments, such as home-made violins, bombo and tambor drums, accompany strophic songs for entertainment at church festivities.
There have been few ethnomusicological studies of the indios of eastern Bolivia. This also applies to those of the Chapare region in the department of Cochabamba, to the Yungas north of La Paz and indios in the Chaco area of the department of Tarija. The best documented indio groups, in musical terms, are the Mojos, Sirionós, Morés and Chimanes in Beni.
For almost 100 years, from 1675, the Mojos underwent the missionary influence of Jesuits in 21 missionary stations, receiving instruction in religious singing and church music. Indio dances were partly adapted by the priests, blended with Spanish dances and used in processions on patron saints' days. The machatero dances are famous examples (fig.4). Mojos, decorated with colourful head feathers and foot rattles (cascabales), perform a variety of dance steps, holding machetes fashioned from wood. In Trinidad (Bolivia) the dancers are accompanied by a six-hole bone flute (yópeque) and four drums, which might include a caja (large drum), one each of the smaller cajita mayor and cajita menor and a zancuti. In San Ignacio the melody is played on a transverse flute (sibibire). The ensemble can be expanded to include two panpipes (jerure). Almost all dances have been influenced by the Jesuits' missionary activities. Like the machateros, many traditional dances were functionally changed to become Christian and then allowed to be used in the church festivals and processions. These include the theatrical dances performed between Christmas and New Year including angelitos, barco (‘boot’), marcha de los reyes and dances for the saints' days such as toritos, achus (‘the old ones’), mascaritas (masked dancers) and sol y luna. A form of church music called coro de la capilla survives in San Ignacio, performed on feast days by singers and an ensemble of four violins, two transverse flutes, clarinet and large and small drum, with four bajones (trumpets) made of palm leaves, up to two metres long and arranged like panpipes. They are played in pairs using hocket technique and imitate the deep bass notes of a church organ.
The Morés, in the region along the border between Bolivia and Brazil, play various idiophones, bamboo trumpets, transverse flutes and panpipes (Snethlage, 1939). Among these is a two-string mouthbow (mapuíp), a relatively rare example of an autochthonous South American string instrument. Drums were a later introduction among the Morés. Although they are almost completely acculturated, the Morés formerly had numerous war dances as well as dances and songs honouring nature and the animal world.
Musical instruments were formerly unknown among the Sirionós in the high forests of eastern central Bolivia. The morning song (hibera) occupies an important position in their musical life. This is an individually inspired and improvised song sung by a single hunter before dawn; through it he magically enters the proper mood for the hunt. The hunter sings of the specific marsupial that he wants to hunt down, calling for luck in his endeavour. Singing the morning song is at the same time a rite of repentance for the necessity of hunting. The tyuruki songs accompanying group dances, performed in the evening, are differentiated from the morning songs in their performance style as well as content; they alternate between solo voice and chorus.
Songs are also performed by the Chimanes in the province of Ballivián (Beni), mostly before sleeping and immediately after daybreak. These songs are built on basic models of two or three pitches or on pentatonic sequences; they are characterized by mythological conceptions of the world of hunters and fishermen, and take as their topics both social relations and entertaining or ironic incidents. Shaman songs, on the other hand, refer to the act of creation.
Little is known about the shamanic songs of the Ayoreós, which are microtonally structured and are performed with the caracachá or paracará calabash rattle. Their healing power is used to calm natural forces and cast a spell on their evil elements.
There have been hardly any ethnomusicological investigations of the numerous mythical, social and work-related songs and dances of the Chiquitanos, Chiriguanos, Guarayús, Itonamas, Izozeños, Matacos, Movimas or Tacanas. Most of these groups have been influenced by missionaries of the Catholic Church and Protestant denominations to the extent that their Amerindian music has been almost completely suppressed. Secretly, and only in small circles, some traditional conceptions and musical practices still exist, but these have to fight, like most Bolivian lowland indio groups, for survival.
Bolivia, §II: Traditional music
In addition to the music of the indios and the sacred and secular music of Spanish descendants (the criollos, about 13% of the population) a unique branch has developed: the music of the mestizos (cholos). Mestizos comprise approximately 32% of the population. Their music, which has become urban, is marked by acculturated Spanish social dances (cueca, bailecito, carnavalito, vals, marcha, pasodoble, polca, pasacalle), as well as Indian forms that have been adapted in the urban areas (huayño, kacharpaya, kaluyos taquirari etc.). The mestizos are brought up bilingually and speak Spanish as well as at least one Amerindian language. Popular among them are coplas (song-forms) in the Quechua language, songs for swinging (columpios or wallunkas), takipayanaku antiphonal songs, villancicos and canciones that they themselves create. Many songs are performed for dancing and entertainment at social events. Numerous music cassettes and singles have been released with Quechua songs sung in a rural style by mestizo women. Famous female singers have established their own entertainment market. Their performances are often accompanied by an orquesta that usually contains one or two accordians and a set of percussion (batería).
Since the 1950s urban mestizo folklore has also developed in the cities of La Paz, Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, Oruro, Sucre and Tarija, bringing thousands of people together at the large Fiestas del Gran Poder in La Paz, at the Carnaval de Oruro, at the Fiesta de Virgen de Urkupiña in Cochabamba at the Fiesta de San Roque in Tarija, and many others. Brass bands (bandas) have pushed traditional ensembles into the background. Choreographed dances are performed to trumpets, trombones, sousaphones, drums of various sizes and cymbals. Brotherhoods of musicians and dancers vow to perform a dance for a saint or the Virgin Mary as a feast day offering at a parade or a church procession. Among the best known of these show dances are the diablada, caporales, morenos, reyes morenos, morenada, kullawada, llamerada, toritos, waka tokoris, doctorcitos, chuntunquis and tobas.
The peñas folklóricas began to exert an influence on traditional music among the upper social classes in the early 1960s. These are urban folklore restaurants and performance locations catering for both Bolivians and tourists, in which ‘typical’ Andean ensembles can be heard. Such cunjuntos folklóricos link individuality and virtuosity with traditional genres and Indian musical instruments in an innovatory way. New melodies are created for a standard cunjunto instrumentation of guitar, charango, bombo, kena flute and zampoña panpipes with texts in Spanish or a mixture of languages. This folklore music establishes a connection between an aesthetic of concert presentation and Amerindian, Spanish and mestizo performance genres. Even Afro-Bolivian dances such as saya and tunduqui are integrated into this entertainment genre (música folklórica), which is considered typically Bolivian. The music is extensively supported by the harmonic progression I–IV–V–I. Música folklórica has consciously established itself as a form of commercialized folklore distinct from international pop and rock music, which, as every other form of pan-American entertainment music, has also found a wide audience through discotheques and the mass media in Bolivia.
As a result of contact with internationally famous singers such as Atahualpa Yupanqui, Mercedes Sosa (Argentina), Violeta Parra, Victor Jara (Chile) and Nicómedes Santa Cruz (Peru), a politically orientated movement called nueva canción or canto nuevo was formed at the beginning of the 1970s. This was associated with a more progressively minded younger generation which strove to move away from the ‘romantic clichés’ of the songs concerning the landscape or love. The songs, more direct in manner, using everyday language and showing commitment to social reform, were performed by musicians eager to confront contemporary life in their music. Traditional structures were still followed, but without excluding such international idioms as jazz, the avant garde, Latin American protest song or elements of rock and pop music. A cultural-political movement emerged which celebrated its first large assembly of singer-composers and poets of the new Bolivian song in 1983 at Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
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A. González Bravo: ‘Música, instrumentos y danzas indígenas’, La Paz en su IV centenario, 1548–1948, ed. Comité pro IV Centenario de la Fundación de La Paz (La Paz, 1948), 403–23
H. Sanabria Fernández: ‘Estudio preliminar sobre el cancionero popular de Vallegrande’, Universidad de San Francisco Xavier, xvi (1951), 51–122; continued as ‘Cancionero popular de Vallegrande’, xvi (1951), 400–35; xvii (1952), 109–66; xviii (1953), 60–118
J.F. Costas Arguedas: ‘El folklore negro en Bolivia’, Tradición: revista pervana de cultura, no.15 (1954), 58–69
B.A. Beltrán Heredia: El carnaval de Oruro y proceso ideológico e historia de los grupos folklóricos (Oruro, 1962)
J. Díaz Gainza: Historia musical de Bolivia: epoca pre-colonial (Potosí, 1962, 2/1977)
H. Sanabria Fernández: Música popular de Santa Cruz: los 25 mejores carnavales de ‘La Guardia Vieja’ (Santa Cruz de la Sierra, 1964)
A. Olmos Agreda: ‘Cancionero popular en Cochabambo’, Archivos del folklore boliviano, ii (1966), 102–46
A. Paredes Candia: La danza folklórica en Bolivia (La Paz, 1966)
H. Ruíz Ruíz: ‘Fiesta patronal de San Pedro en la localidad de Achacachi’, Archivos del folklore boliviano, ii (1966), 164–81
L. Sierra Chávez de Méndez: ‘Vestimenta típica ordinaria y extraordinaria del Oriente boliviano: música, danzas, instrumentos musicales’, Archivos del folklore boliviano, ii (1966), 147–56
F. de M. Rodríguez de Ayestarán: ‘A proposito de la jota y de la cueca’, Boletín interamericano de música, no.63 (1968), 3–8
P. Díaz Machicao: Testificación de la cueca (La Paz, 1968)
J.E. Fortún: ‘Panorama del folklore boliviano’, Enciclopedía-Guía: Bolivia Mágica, ed. H. Boero Rojo (La Paz, 2/1976), 117–41
A. Paredes Candia: Fiestas populares de Bolivia (La Paz, 1976)
H. Boero Rojo, ed.: Carnaval de Oruro, Tarabuco y Fiesta del Gran Poder (La Paz, 1977)
A. Pizarroso Cuenca: La cultura negra en Bolivia (La Paz, 1977)
M.P. Baumann: ‘Der Charango: ‘Zur Problemskizze eines akkulturierten Musikinstruments’, Musik und Bildung, xi (1979), 603–12
A. Cachau-Hereillat: Recherches sur la musique populaire bolivienne: musiques jouées spontannément dans les provinces Camacho et B. Saaevdra du département de La Paz (diss., U. of Lyons, 1980)
J. de Mesa F. and C. Seoane U.: ‘La música en Bolivia durante el siglo XIX’, ed. R. Günther, Die Musikkulturen Lateinamerikas im 19. Jahrhundert (Regensburg, 1982), 93–117 [with Eng. summary]
M.P. Baumann: Sojta chunka qheshwa takis Bolivia llajtamanta/Sesenta canciones del Quechua boliviano (Cochabamba, 1983) [incl. cassette]
J.C. Paredes Ruíz: ‘La “nueva canción” boliviana con relación a la música tradicional’, Boletín andino de música, i (1984), 32–7
G. Wara Céspedes: ‘New Currents in música folklórica in La Paz, Bolivia’, LAMR, v (1984), 217–42
A. Auza León: Historia de la música boliviana (Sucre, 2/1985)
M.P. Baumann: ‘Saiteninstrumente in Lateinamerika’, Studia instrumentorum musicae popularis, viii, ed. E. Stockmann (Stockholm, 1985), 157–76
H.L. Goyena: ‘Expresiones musicales, religiosas y profanas tradicionales de la celebración de Semana Santa en el norte del departamento de Chuquisaca (Bolivia)’, LAMR, viii (1987), 59–93
E. Leichtman: ‘Musical Interaction: a Bolivian Mestizo Perspective’, LAMR, x (1989), 29–52
R. Gutiérrez Condori: ‘Instrumentos musicales tradicionales en la comunidad artesanal Walata Grande, Bolivia’, LAMR, xii (1991), 124–59
G. Wara Céspedes: ‘Huayño, Saya, and Chuntunqui: Bolivian Identity in the Music of “Los Kjarkas”’, LAMR, xiv (1993), 52–101
M. Guardia Crespo: Música popular y comunicación en Bolivia: las interpretaciones y conflictos (Cochabamba, 1994)
M. Rey: La saya como medio de comunicación y expresión cultural en la comunidad afroboliviano (diss., U. of San Andrés, 1998)
A.F. Bandelier: ‘La danse des “Sicuri” indiens Aymará de Bolivie’, Boas Anniversary Volume: Anthropological Papers, ed. B. Laufer (New York, 1906), 272–82
M. Rigoberto Paredes: El arte en la Altiplancie (La Paz, 1913, enlarged 2/1949 as El arte folklórico de Bolivia, 6/1981)
R. and M. d'Harcourt: ‘La musisque dans la sierra andine de La Paz à Quito’, Journal de la Société des américanistes, new ser., xii (1920), 21–53
M. Béclard d'Harcourt: ‘Le folklore musical de la région andine: Equateur, Pérou, Bolivie’, EMDC, I/v (1922), 3353–71
K.G. Izikowitz: ‘Les instruments de musique des indiens Uro-Chipaya’, Revista del Instituto de etnologíá de la Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, ii (1931–2), 263–91
A. Métraux: ‘Les indiens Uro-Čipaya de Carangas’, Journal de la Société des américanistes, new ser., xxvii (1935), 111, 325–415; xxviii (1936), 155–207, 337–94
R. Paredes: ‘Instrumentos musicales de los Kollas’, Boletín latino-americano de música, ii (1936), 77–82
A. González Bravo: ‘Kenas, pincollos y tarkas’, Boletín latino-americano de música, iii (1937), 25–32
G. Coimbra: ‘La música y la danza del pueblo aymara’, Revista geográfica americana, no.99 (1941), 331
H. Helfritz: ‘Música indígena del Altiplano’, Antártica, no.14 (1945), 94–6
A. González Bravo: ‘Clasificación de los sicus airmaras’, Revista de estudios musicales, i/1 (1949–50), 93–101
J.A. Vellard and A. Merino: ‘Bailes folklóricos del Altiplano’, Traveaux de l'Institut Français d'Etudes Andines, iv (1954), 59–132
M. and R. d'Harcourt: ‘La musique des Aymara sur les hauts plateaux boliviens’, Journal de la Société des américanistes, new ser., xlviii (1959), 5–133
E. Oblitas Poblete: Cultura callawaya (La Paz, 1963)
J.W. Bastien: Mountain of the Condor: Metaphor and Ritual in an Andean Ayllu (St Paul, MN, 1978)
X. Bellenger: ‘Les instruments de musique dans les pays andins (Equateur, Pérou, Bolivie)’, Bulletin de l'Institut français d'études andines, ix/3–4 (1980), 107–49; x/1–2 (1981), 23–50
M.P. Baumann: ‘Julajulas – ein bolivianisches Panflötenspiel und seine Musiker’, Studia instrumentorum musicae popularis, vii, ed. E. Stockmann (Stockholm, 1981), 158–63
M.P. Baumann: ‘Music, Dance and Song of the Chipayas (Bolivia)’, LAMR, ii (1981), 171–222
M.P. Baumann: ‘Manchaypuytu – Erinnerungskultur und Geschichtlichkeit’, Musik und Bildung, xiv (1982), 776–83
M.P. Baumann: ‘Music of the Indios in Bolivia's Andean Highlands’, World of Music, xxiv/2 (1982), 80–96
M.P. Baumann: ‘The Kantu Ensemble of the Kallawaya at Charazani (Bolivia)’, YTM, xvii (1985), 146–66
M.P. Baumann: ‘Das ira-arka-Prinzip im symbolischen Dualismus andinen Denkens’, Kosmos der Anden. Weltbild und Symbolik indianischer Tradition in Südamerika (Munich, 1994), 274–316
Cosmología y música en los Andes: Berlin 1992, ed. M.P. Baumann (Frankfurt, 1996) [icnl. ‘Andean Music, Symbolic Dualism and Cosmology’, 15–66]
D. del Campana: ‘Notizie intorno ai Ciriguani’, Archivo per l'antropologia e la etnologia, xxxii (1902), 17–144
B. de Nino: Etnografía chiriguana (La Paz, 1912), 254ff
R. Karsten: Indian Dances in the Gran Chaco (Helsinki, 1914–15)
E. Nordenskiöld: An Ethno-Geographical Analysis of the Material Culture of Two Indian Tribes in the Gran Chaco (Göteborg, 1919) [on the Chorote and Ashluslay Indians]
R. Karsten: Indian Tribes of the Argentine and Bolivian Chaco (Helsinki, 1932)
E.H. Snethlage: ‘Musikinstrumente der Indianer des Guaporégebietes’, Baessler-Archiv, no.10 (1939), 3–38 [north-eastern Bolivia]
R. Becerra Casanovas: Reliquias de Moxos: danzas música, instrumentos musicales y fiestas costumbristas del Beni con un epílogo sobre los silvícolas Sirionóy Moré, el Mamoré y las sublevaciones indígenas contra los blancos (La Paz, 1959, 2/1977)
H. Kelm: ‘Der Morgengesang der Sirióno’, Hermann Trimborn zum 60. Geburtstag, ed. G. Eckert (1961), 42–64
M. Key: ‘Music of the Sirionó (Guaranian)’, EthM, vii (1963), 17–21
R. de Ott: Danzas folkóricas y días especiales de los Ignacianos (Riberalta, Bolivia, 1971)
D.A. Olsen: ‘Música vesperal Mojo en San Miguel de Isiboro, Bolivia’, RMC, no.133 (1976), 28–46
J. Riester and B. Fischerman: En busca de la loma santa (La Paz, 1976)
K. Hahn-Hissink and A. Hahn: ‘Tanzfiguren der Chama-Indianer’, Amerikanistische Studien: Festschrift für Hermann Trimborn anlässlich seines 75. Geburtstages/Estudios americanistas: libro jubilar en homenaje Hermann Trimborn con motivo de su septuagesimoquinto aniversario, ed. R. Hartmann and V. Oberem, i (St Augustin, 1978), 194–8
J. Riester: Canción y producción en la vida de un pueblo indígena (Los Chimané: tribu de la selva oriental) (La Paz, 1978)
J. Riester: ‘Acerca de la canción de los Chimane’, Amerikanistische Studien: Festschrift für Hermann Trimborn anlässlich seines 75. Geburtstages/Estudios americanistas: libro jubilar en homenaje a Hermann Trimborn con Motivo de su septuagesimoquinto aniversario, ed. R. Hartmann and U. Oberem, ii (St Augustin, 1979), 199–206
M. Mendizábal: ‘La flauta pánica de los Guarayú del oriente boliviano: documentación organalógica y análisis de su repertorio musical’, Témas de etnomusicología, ii (Buenos Aires, 1986), 29–66
Folk Songs and Dances of Bolivia, coll. R. and S. Lipner, Folkways F-6871 (1959)
Instruments and Music of Bolivia, coll. B. Keiler, Folkways F-4012 (1962)
Música andina de Bolivia, coll. M.P. Baumann, Lauro LPLI/S-062 (1976)
Bolivia Panpipes, coll. L. Girault, rec. 1950–73, EMI-Italiana 3C/064-18528 (1981) [incl. notes by X. Bellenger], reissued as Panpipes: Syrinx of Bolivia, Auvidis/UNESCO D 8009
Musik im Andenhochland, Bolivien/Music in the Andean Highlands, Bolivia, coll. M.P. Baumann, Museum Collection Berlin MC 14 (1982)
Bolivia: Larecaja & Omasuyo, coll. X. Bellenger, GREM G 8901 (1989) [incl. notes by X. Bellenger and T. Saignes]
Bolivie: musique calendaires des vallées centrales/Bolivia: Calendar Music in the Central Valleys, coll. B. Fléty and R. Martínez, CNRS/Musée de l'Homme LDX 274 938 (1992) [incl. notes by R. Martínez]
Bolivie: charangos et guitarrillas du Norte Potosí/Bolivia: Charrango and Guitarillas from Norte Potosí, coll. F. Alvis and J.-M. Grassler, rec. 1991–3, Archives internationales de musique populaire, VDE CD-871 (1995) [incl. notes by F. Alvis]
Yagua Tairari: música y cantores de los Guarani (Bolivia), coll. W. Sánchez C. and A. Roca de la Reza, Centro pedagógico y cultural Simon I. Patino (1997) [CD with extensive notes and bibliography]
El tambor mayor: música y cantos de las comunidades negras de Bolivia, coll. W. Sánchez C. and A. Roca de la Reza, Centro pedagógico y cultural Simon I. Patino (1998) [CD with extensive notes and bibliography]