Indigenous music in the Andes today is not limited to flutes, drums, and vocal genres with pre-Hispanic origins. One of the most popular Andean instruments today is the charango, a small strummed or plucked lute that developed during the colonial era, representing a unique hybrid of European and Andean practices. Lutes, the instrument family to which both the charango and the guitar belong, arrived in the Andes in the sixteenth century. Attracted to this type of instrument, Indigenous peoples invented their own version, altering several important features in accordance with their own musical sensibilities. Most prominently, the charango is much smaller than the guitar, similar in size to a mandolin. This gives the charango a higher “voice,” reflecting the general Andean preference for high-pitched sounds.

Charangos vary from region to region, depending in part on what materials are available locally. In parts of the southern Andes, instrument makers often construct the charango body out of the shell of the kirkinchu armadillo. In other areas, performers construct the instrument entirely out of wood, more closely resembling a small guitar. The number and type of strings on a charango also vary, reflecting both local custom as well as individual aesthetic choices. Mestizo versions of the instrument since the early-twentieth century have tended to use gut or nylon strings, but Indigenous groups almost invariably utilize metal strings, producing a thinner and more cutting tone. Similarly, while the standard mestizo charango today has ten strings (tuned in five double courses: GGCCEEAAEE), and is often plucked to produce individual notes, Indigenous charangos may have as few as four or as many as 15 strings, all generally strummed together.

Among Indigenous groups in Southern Peru and Bolivia, the charango is often associated with courting practices, and the belief that charangos have a power to attract and seduce women. Indeed, in some regions men play the charango almost exclusively to attract women. Related to the instrument’s role in courtship activities is its relationship with mythical beings called sirenas (“mermaids” or “Sirens”) who inhabit rivers and lakes and are believed to imbue the charango with its seductive power.

Meanwhile, in urban and cosmopolitan contexts, the charango has continued to evolve. Virtuoso performers such as the Bolivian musician Ernesto Cavour promoted the instrument to national and international audiences beginning in the 1960s, helping to standardize its tuning and expanding its reach and popularity beyond Indigenous or folk music audiences in the Andes. The singular charango grew to include a family of instruments, including the ronroco or bass charango that was utilized by bands like the Bolivian supergroup Los Kjarkas in the 1970s and 80s, and the Argentine composer and producer Gustavo Santaolalla, who incorporated it into unexpected musical realms such as the soundtrack for the Hollywood film “Brokeback Mountain.” Contemporary performers like Peruvian virtuoso Federico Tarazona have continued to experiment with the instrument, creating a hatun charango (“large charango”) with seven courses of strings designed to facilitate the performance of concert and Western art music repertoire.