Portable, unique and easy to learn!

History of the charango

The exact history of the charango is a matter of debate and will probably remain a mystery. The most romantic theory revolves around the Spanish conquerors forbidding the natives from playing music, who subsequently began developing smaller more portable instruments like the charango, so they could easily be hidden beneath a poncho. We do know that it has been around for roughly 200 years and has become a staple of Andean folk music, frequently being part of a smaller ensemble with the Quena and pan flute.
Traditionally a dried armadillo shell would be used to form the body, however declining armadillo numbers and subsequent conservation efforts have largely outlawed the use of armadillo shells.
Modern charangos are carved from a single piece of specially selected wood, that is cured for about 2 years. The overall process of manufacturing a Charango is very time consuming and done almost entirely by hand.
You can take a look at how they are made here:

How I discovered the charango

I was exposed to the charango by the excellent movie Motorcycle Diaries, which features a soundtrack by Gustavo Santaolalla - an award winning film composer and a true genius of modern movie music. While many people won't know who he is, most will have heard a song of his somewhere. His most notable achievements are consecutive Academy awards for Brokeback Mountain and Babel, as well as the excellent original score for the video game The Last of Us.

Motorcycle Diaries features a Gustavo Santaolalla song of sublime beauty called "De Ushuaia a la Quiaca". The best rendition of this song is probably from "Encuentro en el Estudio" which can be found here:

When I heard this song I immediately wanted to know how it was done and soon realised it was impossible to accurately reproduce with a regular guitar, leading to me buying my first charango - a cheap thing from eBay. As I already had years of experience with the guitar the transition was rather easy and it took me about a month to feel comfortable with the new instrument.
A few years later I went to the effort of ordering a properly handcrafted charango from Bolivia, which made a world of difference.

How it works

What makes the charango unique is how it's strung. For starters the strings come in five pairs and rather than having a typical E-A-D-G-B-E tuning of a guitar, the pairs are tuned G-C-E-A-E. Additionally, the central pair of E strings is an octave apart, essentially resulting in the instrument being split down the middle into two separate scales. This layout allows for a wide variety of playing styles and gives the charango an intrinsic harmony, resulting in almost everything you play on it sounding good. I like to compare the way the charango works to the way birds are able to produce two harmonizing sounds at once.

For somebody already coming from a background in stringed instruments, it's very easy to learn and I highly recommend you check it out. An essential purchase with any charango would be the Charango Chord Bible by Fretted Friends, as it makes learning the Charango so much easier. Furthermore, I highly recommend Gustavo Santaolalla's album "Ronroco". The Ronroco is essentially a larger version of the charango, but follows the same basic principle.

I hope you enjoyed this brief introduction to the charango and ideally I inspired a few people to pick up one of these amazing instruments.

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