Wind Instruments

Quena: A foot-long bamboo flute with a simple notched mouthpiece and seven holes, which produces a sweet and melancholic sound. Its distinctive tone is heard throughout the Andean region of South America. A longer, deeper toned variant is called the Quenacho, and another variant with an extended mouthpiece is called the Pinkuyo.

Zampoña: A generic term for a family of wind instruments each consisting of a collection of thin bamboo tubes strapped together in a form similar to East-European Pan-pipes. The Zampoña family ranges in sizes from the tiny Chuli to the six-foot long Bajones . The Zampoña is the oldest of the South American indigenous flutes. Other members of the family, of different sizes and tuning arrangements are called Sikus, Antaras, Rondadores (from Ecuador), and Payas. You can often see pairs of Zampoñeros playing alternate notes in rapid succession resulting in a kind of "stereo" effect.

Ocarina: A ceramic flute which appears in many fanciful shapes, from that of birds, fish, and turtles to unrecognizable lumpy shapes. It is played all over Central and South America. It usually has from four to six holes and is used primarily to create bird sounds of various pitches.

Concha: The familiar Conch shell is used in South and Central America to produce loud trumpeting sounds, often to announce the commencement of communal gatherings, fairs and processions.

  String Instruments

Charango: Diminutive high-pitched ten-string instrument played throughout the Andean region, the product of indigenous craftsmen inspired by the Spanish Guitar and Vihuela. The face and neck look like a miniature toy guitar, and the sound box consists of carved wooden shell or the dried skin of lizards or armadillos. It is most often played by rapidly fanning or plucking the strings. A larger variant is called the Ronroco.

Tiple: A mid-sized guitar-like string instrument, most often seen in Colombia. It is strung with four sets, or courses, of three strings each, and has a distinctive nasal, sizzling sound.

Cuatro: A tiny Venezuelan/ Colombian string instrument played by the people of the plains shared by the two countries. In recent years it has spread over much of South America. Similar to the Hawaiian ukulele, the cuatro has four strings and is strummed rapidly to produce a lively, bouncy sound.

Tres: A guitar like instrument from Cuba.  It has three sets of two strings or three sets of three strings.  It is a key instrument and signature sound of the Changui and Son style.

  Percussion Instruments

Cajón Peruano: A percussion instrument originating from the black folkloric tradition of Peru, it consists of a wooden box played by rhythmically slapping its thin front surface while the player sits on its top. The front face is only partially fixed to the body of the box, giving a distinctive rattling sound when played. Often loose strings are attached to the rear surface of the front face which vibrate against it and produce a sound similar to a snare drum.

Bombo: A large, two-headed slack drum played with either sticks or a muffled beater. It is can be seen all over South America--particularly in the Andean regions. It takes its name from the distinctively deep, muffled sound that it produces. It appears in several different sizes and varies in appearance from country to country, where it takes various names such as Wancara or Bombo Leguero. Some are made out of a hollowed out tree-trunk, others are made of a thin sheet of wood steam-bent into a cylindrical shell. A common arrangement is to have one head made from cow-hide and the opposite head made from sheep-skin with the wool intact.

Caña de Agua: Known in English as the Rain Stick, it is a sound-effect device that mimics the sound of rushing water --or drizzling rain depending on how you handle it. It originated in the Pacific coast of South America, where it was made from a length of dried cactus-branch, filled with sea-shell fragments or hard seeds. It later spread as far as Mexico, where it was made from lengths of bamboo.

Güiro: A bottle-gourd instrument of African origin made from a long, hollow gourd. On its surface it has indentations that are stroked by a flexible wooden stick or fork-like scraper to make a rhythmic, scratching noise. The Güiro is played all over Latin America, but it is used mostly in Afro-Caribbean music.

Chabchas: A uniquely Andean percussion instrument known also as Chullus, it consists of a woven ribbon with numerous dried goat-hooves tied onto it. When it is shaken is suggests the sound of wind and falling rain. Chabchas can also be found with sea-shells, beads, seeds or scraps of hardwood.

Ganza: In its most rudimentary form, this Brazilian noisemaker consists of a tin can partially filled with sand or fine pebbles, which is shaken.

  More familiar instruments played by Viva Quetzal!:

  WINDS--saxophones, trumpets, silver and wooden flutes, harmonica
  STRINGS-- electric and acoustic guitars and basses, mandolin
  PERCUSSION--congas, claves, maracas, bongos, quijada, kit drums, tambourine, cowbell