The Garland Handbook of Latin American Music

1
The Garland Handbook of Latin American Music

• Part Three Nations and Musical Traditions, South
  America, Qeros

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Overview

• Qeros
• Several Quechua speaking Andean Amerindian
  communities (province of Paucartambo, Peru)
• Musical practices a blend of Incan and pre-Incan
  traditions
• Music an integral part of rituals
• Linked with cosmology and way of life
• Qeros mainly herders and farmers
• Exploit several ecological zones
• Acculturation minimal
• Traditions maintained coexist with contemporary
  elements
• i.e., the Hatun Qeros community (focus of
  chapter)

3
Qeros Musical Traditions

• Musical instruments and contexts
• Remain relatively unacculturated since arrival of
  Spanish
• Instruments primarily those used during time of
  Inca
• Panpipes (qanchis sipas, qori phukuna, or
  choqewanka)
• Linked with Qeros sacred beliefs
• Reflect Andean concept of duality (in
  construction)
• Flutes (i.e., Pinkuyllu)
• Used in fertility rituals, also for Carnaval
  songs (Pukllay taki) linked with surrounding
  environment
• Also reflect Andean concept of duality in its
  relation to female vocal part
• Trumpets (Pututu)

4
Qeros Musical Traditions

• Contexts and Genres
• Festivals
• Several major seasonal agricultural and animal
  veneration festivals
• Often coincide with Roman Catholic calendar
• Musical genres specific to context, or type of
  animal
• Women sing and men play pinkuyllu
• Song (and flute accompaniment) an individual
  expression
• Tells personal story
• Flute and voice coincide only occasionally
• Tuning of flute specific to instrument
• Several songs may sound simultaneously, only
  occasionally coinciding

5
Qeros Music and Social Identity

• Individuality, community, and gender through
  music
• Emphasized throughout this handbook is the notion
  that music is social. As such, it comes to
  express different ways of being and relating with
  not only the physical world, but also with the
  metaphysical (or supernatural) world
• Consider how Qeros musical traditions reflect
  Qeros notions of sociality
• Questions for discussion
• What do Qeros musical traditions tell us about
  the relationship between 1) individuals and the
  greater community, and 2) males and females in
  Qeros society?
• What do Qeros musical traditions tell us about
  the relationship between Qeros and the natural
  environment (including their animals and
  surrounding landscape)?
• How are these relationships expressed through
  music?
• How might this relate to other Amerindian
  traditions in Latin America?