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Inca music.
Music of the Pre-Columbian culture of the Central Andean area of South America.
1. Introduction.
The Inca Tahuantisuyo (Empire or state) was the peak of a long process of development, starting with the first migrants, who arrived in the Andes approximately 15, 000 years ago, culminating in the Zapac Inca, who shaped and extended the Tahuantisuyo in the years 14501535. The empire reached its maximum size under the Inca Huyna Capac (14931527). When the Spaniards arrived, the Tahuantinsuyo extended in length from the extreme south of Colombia as far as the River Maule in Chile and in breadth from the Pacific Ocean to the high ground of the Amazon. The Inca capital was Cusco, a city of magnificent architecture built with enormous polished stones set with precious metals. Only some stone remains can be seen today. Other splendours have survived only in the descriptions of chroniclers. Little is known of musical instruments made of precious metals as they fell victim to the invaders insatiable greed to possess the Incas' dazzling riches of silver and gold. Objects made of precious metals, including musical instruments, were melted down into exportable ingots. Later, when the Viceroyalty of PERU was established, the Spaniards also destroyed instruments made of organic materials, because they were associated with Inca ceremonies, which were considered idolatrous rites and thus banned by both Catholic clergy and the colonial government. Ceramic objects survive from between 2000 and 100 BCE, including sound-producing instruments of fine quality that show individual stylistic traits.
(a) Single-row stone panpipes, 13001500 CE; (b) musicians with
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The cultures of that period include: Chorrera, Guangala, Baha, Jama Coaque, Guayaquil, Tolita, Capul, El Angel, Tuncahun, all situated in what is now the country of Ecuador, and Tembladera, Jequetepeque, Guaape, Chavn, Paracas, Salinar, Vics, Tablada de Lurn, Pukara in modern Peru. Later cultures, between 100 and 600 CE, produced the highest achievements of ceramic instruments in terms of technique and construction. The greatest exponents were the Mochica and the Nasca (Peru), and, the Cuasmal, Manteo, Cosanga and Purhua (northern Andes and Ecuador). The Wari (6001000 CE) were the first to attempt to create an empire in the central Andean region. From Ayacucho, they dominated an area extending from Cajamarca and Lambayeque to the north, and as far as Cusco and Arequipa to the south. Little is known about their instrument-making, but they did overpower the Mochica and Nasca in the course of their expansion. By approximately 1000 CE Wari society had disintegrated, giving way to the Sicn, Chim, Chincha and Chancay in Peru, and the Cuasmal, Manteo, Cosanga and Purhua in Ecuador. These peoples had not been dominated by the Wari and had therefore continued the development of their societies without the strong influence exercised by the Wari on those they conquered. In a similar way the Gentilar in Arica and Tarapac in Chile, among others, were also outside the ambit of the Wari. In 1450, after almost 100 years of large-scale aggression, the Incas came to dominate virtually all the peoples of the Andean region. They were thus able to choose the best instrument-makers; those who had inherited a long history of both knowledge of acoustics and techniques of construction. The customs of the Incas and the peoples of the Tahuantinsuyo are known only through the accounts of the Spanish conquerors and the chronicles and documents which describe the period. Such writers had no knowledge of the lengthy history of Andean culture and as a result the information they provide is limited to the previous 100 or 150 years of Andean customs and heroic legend. Through their imperial position the Incas organized new social, political and economic structures and new means of productivity and technology, in what was to become the final stage of the Andean cultures long history. Yet at this moment of cultural evolution, the territory was destined to be invaded, leading to its destabilization and the destruction and loss of all that had been achieved over many thousands of years. A great deal of knowledge, including that related to instrument-making, was lost for ever. An account by Cabello de Balboa explains one of the causes, as well as the tragedy, of this destruction, reporting how after Francisco Pizarro ordered his army to seize the gold from Cusco and Pachacamac, the Spaniards pillaged the palace, taking gold, silver, and everything else of value. Among those objects must have been drums and other musical instruments musical instruments. Once the colony was established, not even burial places went unmolested. The
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ransacking for gold of burial places high up on the dry land of the Chincha valley is related in chronicles. Other narrators reported on the customs, dances and instruments encountered.
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Cobo (1956) describes a similar instrument, although not played as part of a group: Also, in their dances, they usually play an instrument made of approximately seven little flutes, placed like organ pipes, side by side, and unequal, the largest as big as the palm of a hand and the rest in descending order. They call this instrument ayarachic , and they play it placed on the lower lip, blowing into these little flutes to produce a muffled sound which is not very sweet.
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from the skins of the caciques and captains they had marked out in the battle. They skinned them alive, and when filled with air, they looked very like their owners, and they played on their stomachs with little drumsticks to show their contempt. Four thousand soldiers came marching along to these sounds. Behind them came many captured chiefs and captains, and they were followed by more soldiers, and then by six more drums like the first. One captive, the Seor de Andagylas, was held naked on a platform surrounded by six drums made of the skins of his relations, and they made sounds come out of these drums' (Montesinos, 1930).
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ancestors and others of the same blood, mentioning deeds carried out in peace or in war, with singing alternated between groups to avoid tiredness. The Incas watching would join in while the Inca king sometimes danced at the festivals to solemnize them more.
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that the principal chiefs, Indian men and women, should have the right to dance and to sing taqui (songs); the haylli (song of victory) the uacn uauco (song of the Chinchaysuyos) the sainata (mask song); the llamallama (song of the shepherds); the hayachuco (war song); the Cimo Capac (song of the great Chimu); the Ayanya (song of the dead one); the Guarmi Auca (song of the woman warrior); the Antisuyo (song of the Anti); the chipchillanto (brilliant song); the uaruro (light song); the hahiua (song of the punished acollas or adulterous women); the apac (song of the absent); the llamaya (song of the llama shepherds); the harauay (song of the craftsmen); the uaricza (song of the creator); the tumipampa (song of the tumi ceremonial knife); the haraui (a triumphal song for harvests and time of war); the pingollo (song to the sound of the pingollo flute); the quenquena (song of the kena flute); the catauri song that is danced while spinning round); as well as Spanish,negro and other Amerindian dances. He advised that they should be danced in front of the Most Holy Sacrament of the Virgin and all the Saints, at feasts of vigil, at Easter and at all the feast days of the year marked out by the Holy Mother Church. Those who do not observe this will be punished (Guamn Poma, 1956). While there were objections to the principle of accepting the music and dances of the peoples of the Tahuantinsuyo, the Spaniards expressed surprise at the remarkable musical qualities and facility for music of the Andean people, their ability to learn to read, write and sing organ chants, play hornpipes, flutes, organs and all kinds of music (Herrera, 1726). Deductions can be made regarding the music of the Incas and the Tahuantinsuyo, and of earlier periods, by studying both old and contemporary genres and melodies of Andean music. While certain kinds of music have been modified in both form and expression, characteristic features are preserved. Throughthese endure the surviving traditions and customs with each modification signalling a new phase.
Bibliography
A. de Herrera: Historia general de los hechos de los castellanos en la isla y tierrafirme del mar oceano (Madrid, 1726) J.P. de Arriaga: La extirpacin de la idolatra en el Per (Lima, 1920), 75 M. Cabello de Balboa: Historia del Per bajo la dominacin de los incas (Lima, 1920) A. de Meza: Informaciones de virrey Toledo, acerca de la tirana de los incas, y las verificadas en Jauja, Cuzco, Guamanga y Yucay (157072), Informaciones sobre el antiguo Peru (cronicas de 1533 a 1575) , ed. H.H. Urteaga, Coleccion de libros y documentos referentes a la historia del Per, 2nd ser., iii (Lima, 1921), 10344 J. de Santacruz Pachacuti Yamqui: Relacin de antiguedades desde el reyno del Per, Historia de los incas y relacin de su gobierno, ed. H.H. Urteaga (Lima, 1927), 127235
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F. Montesinos: Memorias antiguas historiales y polticas del Per, Coleccin de libros y Documentos referentes a la historia del Per, 2nd ser., vi (Lima, 1930), 95 F. Guamn Poma de Ayala: Nueva cornica y buen gobierno (Paris, 1936) I. Garcilaso de la Vega: Comentarios Reales de los Incas (Buenos Aires, 1943), i, 119; ii, 218 B. Cobo: De los juegos que teran para entretenerse, sus instrumentos msicas y bailes, ed. F. Mateos, Biblioteca de autores espaoles, xcii (Madrid 1956), 269 71 R. Stevenson: Music in Aztec and Inca Territory (Berkeley and London, 1968/R) M.E. Grebe: Instrumentos musicales precolombinos, RMC, no.128 (1974), 555 L.G. Lumbreras: Crticas y perspectivas de la arqueologa andina (Peru, 1979) P. Porras: Arqueologia del Ecuador (Quito, 1980) P. Cieza de Leon: Crnica del Per (Lima, 1984) C. Bolaos: La msica en el antiguo Per, La msica en el Per (Lima, 1985), 1 64 J. Idovro Irigen: Instrumentos musicales prehispnicos del Ecuador (Ecuador, 1987)
Cesar Bolanos
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