El Charango y la Sirena
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The Charango and the "Sirena": Music, Magic, and the Power of LoveAuthor(s): Thomas TurinoSource: Latin American Music Review / Revista de Música Latinoamericana, Vol. 4, No. 1(Spring - Summer, 1983), pp. 81-119Published by: University of Texas PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/780281 .
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Thomas Turino The
Charango
and the
Sirena: Music, Magic, and
the
Power
of
Love
In
southern
Peru,
the
charango1
is
used
by
both
campesino
traditional
Quechua-
and
Aymara-speaking
peasants)
and
mestizo
(used
here
to
denote mixed
indigenous
and
Spanish
cultural
heritage)
musicians
in
what
may
be
regarded
as
two
basically
distinct
musical traditions.
Although
the
charango
is used
in
a
variety
of
con-
texts,
ranging
from
the
papa tarpuy
(potato-planting
ceremony) among
campesinos
o
mestizo concert
stage performance,
there
is a
predominant
cultural
association
of the
instrument
with
the
power
to
attract
and
seduce women and with matters of courting and love. In such activities,
the
instrument
is
used
in
both
culturally
sanctioned and
unsanctioned
ways.
Here,
I
shall focus
my
attention
on
the
charango
and
its actual and
symbolic
functions
in the
courting
cycle
in
the
province
of
Canas,
Cusco.
In
Canas the
charango
is
used
almost
exclusively by young,
single
men
in
courting
activities,
and the
instrument
is viewed as
an
essential
tool
for
winning
a
girl.2
In
this
region,
courting
takes
place
in
a
sequence
of
formalized
activities
in which
the
charango
serves
a
well-defined,
central
role.
This
topic
is
illuminated
further
by
the
description
and
analysis
of
a
body
of folklore that
is an intimate
part
of the
charango
tradition and
in-
volves,
of
all
things,
the
figure
of
a
mermaid,
la
sirena.
Throughout
the
southern
Peruvian
sierra,
young
charanguistas
charango players)
turn to
the
sirena
for
supernatural
aid
in
their
musical endeavors
to
capture
the
hearts of ladies.
Specific
magical
rites
are
performed
to
this
end,
and
legends
abound
of
the
sirena's intervention
in
the
activities
of the
string
musician
(see
Appendix
1).
The sirena
is so
important
to
these musicians
that she serves as their own special muse. It will become apparent that
this
very
strange
association-of
the
highland
charango
with the mer-
maid-may
be
explained
in
regard
to
a
common
underlying
significance;
that
is,
like the
sirena,
who for
good
or
ill uses the
power
of music to
seduce,
we find the
charango
vested
with
a
similar
ambiguous power.
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82
:
Thomas
Turino
Part
1
Courting
n Canas
Among
campesinos
n
Canas,
charango performance
is
viewed as
an es-
sential
activity
for
winning
the
heart
of
a
chola
(peasant
girl).
The
instru-
ment is central to a
series of
courting
activities
that take
place
through-
out the
year
and
that
culminate in
marriage
or
sirvinakuy
a
socially
sanc-
tioned
period
of trial
marriage).
For this
reason,
the
charango
is
not an
instrument
for
specialists.
Rather,
every young
man
develops
some
per-
formance
ability,
which allows
him
to
participate
in
the
courting cycle.
The first
stage
of
courting
takes
place
at the
weekly
markets in the
larger villages
in
Canas. The
young single
men who live in
the
surround-
ing
communities come to these markets
by
foot or on horseback and
usually
play
their
charangos
as
they
travel.
The
young
men
who
are
actively
involved in
courting
not
only
dress
themselves in
their finest
clothes,
but
they
may
also
decorate their cha-
rangos
elaborately
(see
photo
1).
Both
aspects
outwardly signify
the
kind
of
activity transpiring,
as
well as
support
it,
since the
desired intent
is
to
impress
the
young
ladies. The musicians
decorate their
instruments with
ribbons and mirrors, and each has its own
significance.
Although
not to
be
taken
literally,
boastful Caneino
youths
state
that
each of the
colored
ribbons
hung
from the
instrument's
peg
head
(and
often
they
are abun-
dant)
represents
a
girl
who has
been
conquered.
Hence,
numerous
rib-
bons are a
sign
of machismo
(manliness)
and
prowess
in
love. The
mirrors,
also
hung
from
the
peg
head,
are
said
to
represent eyes,
which
attract
the chola.
In
legends
and
festival
dances
throughout
Cusco,
mirrors
are
supposed
to have
the
special power
to attract
individuals
by
capturing
their
images
in
the
glass.3
A
number of
these
young
musicians confided
that they decorate their instruments precisely to attract girls' attention.
Furthermore,
although
not
directly
stated,
the
conspicuous
decorations
may
also
be
used
as a
demonstration of
wealth meant to
impress
the
girls
(One
campesino
proudly
volunteered the information
that
his
cha-
rango
cost
5,000
soles
1$12.50[
and
that the ribbons
and
mirrors
cost
nearly
the
same).
The
young
charanguistas
at
these
markets stated
consistently
that
they
carried
their
charangos
to "sacar
chicas"
(to
get girls
or to
attract
girls).
They
also
indicated that one could
not
expect
any
real success with
the
ladies unless one was playing the charango. It is often at the village
markets where a
young
man
first makes
his
intentions known to the
girl(s)
of
his
choice.
Courting
begins
in a
very
subtle, nonverbal,
but
persistent,
manner.
The
young charanguista,
having
identified
his
heart's
desire,
passes by
her
frequently,
or hovers
around
her and strums his
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Photo
1
Young
CAMPESINO
dressedfor
courting,
Descanso,
Canas
1981
(Photo:
Elisabeth Barnett
Turino).
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i
Photo
2
CHARANGUISTA
strolling
the
market
n
Descanso,
Canas
(Photo: author).
-'u,:i:-:-;-: i::i:::=?:-:?i:::::?=-:Wi
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86 : Thomas Turino
done
in a
variety
of
contexts and
choreographic styles
but
that is
clearly
related to
the
pre-Columbian
dance.
The
dance
specifically
termed
punchay
kashwa in
Canas is a
courting
dance done at
public
fiestas
in
the
plazas
or
streets
of a
village.
The
young
men who
participate
always
perform
the
musical
accompaniment
for
the
dance on their
charangos
in
unison
in a
strumming style
as
they
dance:
,\
J=
7
(
loo)
: . .
Example
1.
PUNCHA
Y
KASHWA
The
dance
itself
may
take several
choreographic
forms,
as the
following
illustrations
show.
The basic dance
step comprises
two
taps
of
one
foot,
out
to the side
(while
remaining stationary
[1-2
in
fig. 2]),
a
change
over
step
on the
same
foot
(forward
motion
[3]),
then two
taps
with
the
op-
posite
foot
(stationary
[4-5],
another
change
over
step
(forward
motion
[6]),
and
then
the
cycle repeats.
Note
that the
musical
phrase
of
the
melody,
which is six
beats
in
duration,
corresponds
with the
six-beat
dance
cycle.
It is
clear
from the
diagrams
of
the
choreography
(fig.
1)
that
the
young
people participate
as a
group
and that the male/female
dichotomy
is
emphasized.
In
figure
la,
the
circular form of
the
dance is divided
in-
to distinct
male and female semicircles.
In
figure
lb
the
men are en-
veloped by
the circle
of
dancing
women,
and
thus once
again
the
dis-
tinction
between the male
and female
spheres
is stressed
in
the
choreog-
raphy.
Although
the kashwa
is
not
a
couples
dance
per
se,
the dancers
identify
themselves
as
couples.
This is
evidenced
in
the feverish
activity
to
secure
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-c
04
C4
.7C
( p ) Q
0
4-Ql
o _ o
C
1c1
C
a/tO
\q
((
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88 :
Thomas
Turino
^
Q6
4-5
A
o
I-Z
Figure
2
(1-2)=
two
taps
out to
the
side,
right
foot
(weight
on left
foot)
(3)
=
change
over
step
on
right
foot
(weight
on
left
foot)
(4-5)=
two
taps
out to
the
left,
left
foot
(weight
on
right
foot)
(6)
=
change
over
step
on left foot
(weight
on
right
foot)
one
dance
cycle-six
beats
1 J
J
(
--
3
S C
Figure
3
a
"partner"
in
the
weeks
leading up
to these events.
I
observed
in
the
market
courting
activities that intraction
between the
boys
and
girls
was
subtle,
indirect,
and
nonverbal,
thus
emphasizing
the
social
separation
of
males and females. In the market
context,
communication between the
two
spheres
takes
place
primarily through
musical
means,
(i.e.,
charango
performance)
as
well as
through gestures
and
glances.
So
too,
in the
pun-
chay
kashwa,
the
male
and female
spheres
remain
separate,
as demon-
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The
Charango
and the Sirena
:
89
strated
in the
choreography,
and the
pairing
off of
couples
remains
subtle and implicit, although the participants know who the couples are.
In
the
punchay
kashwa music is
again
the
major communicatory
medium
between the
separate
male
and female
worlds
(and
between
partners),
as
is
evident
in the
songs
and the
way
they
are
performed.
The
musical
performance
may
take a
variety
of forms.
First,
the
boys
may simply play
the musical
accompaniment
to the dance on
their cha-
rangos.
Second,
the
girls may sing
in
unison to the
boys'
charango
ac-
companiment.
In a third
form,
the
girls
and
boys perform
the
songs
in a
call-and-response
(antiphonal)
fashion. Sometimes the
male
and female
dancers sing in unison, but what happens more frequently is that the
boys
and
girls sing
different verses
at
each other
simultaneously,
each
trying
to out-shout
the
other. Thus
in
the musical
performance
the
male/female
dichotomy
is
expressed,
but
it
is
equally
clear
that music
and
singing
serve
as the
communicatory
medium
between
the
sexes.
The
punchay
kashwa
song
is
strophic.
Verses
may
be
improvised
on the
spot,
or the
singer may
draw
from
a
large repertoire
of
stock verses.
Since the music
performance
so often takes the form of a
"song
duel"
between
the
sexes,
verses are
improvised
or chosen to offer
whatever
challenge, comment, insult,
or comeback
the situation
requires.
When
singing
as
a
group, they
follow
a
leader's choice
in
regard
to the
stanza
to be
sung.
The
intensity
of
the musical
activity
builds as the
perfor-
mance
progresses,
until the dancers
finally
wear themselves out
in
the
climatic
singing/shouting
matches.
The
songs
most often
begin
with
either invitations to
dance or com-
ments on the
dancing
activity:4
Hakuchu
hakuchu
Let's
go,
let's
go
boys:
Qhaswarakamusun
Dancing
the kashwa
HakuchuMamachay Let's go little mama
Qhaswarakamusun
Dancing
the
kashwa
Subtle
challenges
are
introduced
into the
invitations
and
are
aimed at
the
opposite
sex
(and
usually
at a
specific
partner):
Mana
sayaqtiyki
If
you
won't dance
boys Noqa
sayakusaq
I am
going
to dance
(anyway)
or Mana
qhaswaqtiyki
If
you
won't
dance
the
kashwa
girls:
Noqa qhaswakusaq
I
am
going
to dance
the
kashwa (anyway, i.e., with
someone
else)
And
the banter
between
the sexes intensifies as
they
wind into
the
per-
formance:
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90 :
Thomas
Turino
Hakuchu hakuchu
Puriramusiasun
Hakuchu hakuchu
Kay
ura kallinta
Mana
risaymanchu
Kay
ura kallinta
Supay
masiykipas
Selosakuwanman
Let's
go,
let's
go
Walking
Let's
go,
let's
go
To
this
street
below
(i.e.,
away
from
the crowd-let's
go
off
alone)
I
can't
go
To this
street
below
A
devil
like
you
Makes me
suspicious
(jealous)
Then
the insults
begin,
and
both one's
partner
and
one's rivals
in
love
are
fair
game:
Wasiyki
qhepapi
kinsa
loqlo
runtu
Kinsantin
inkayki
noqa
contra
kasqa
Pin
mana
yachanchu
Khuchikasaqaykita
Pin
mana
yachanchu
Khuchikasaqaykita
In
back of
your
house
there
are three
rotten
eggs
Your three friends
are
against
me
(i.e.,
are
my
rivals)
Who does not know
That
you
are
filthy
Who does not know
That
you
are
filthy
The
wealth
and
ingenuity
of these
song
texts and
the
way
that
they
are
manipulated
in
performance
deserve to be the
topic
of
a
separate
ar-
ticle.
Let it suffice to
say
here
that
jokes, jabs,
insults,
challenges
(are
you
going
to
dance well?/are
you
going
to
dance
like
a
man?),
as well as
praise
for oneself
(I
am
well-known
throughout
this
region
/
all
the
cholas
like to
look
at
me)
are
themes
included
in
these
songs
and are a
part
of
the beginning of courtship and sexual play.
The
song
of the
punchay
kashwa
is a
particulary
good example
of how
one can
sing
things
that one cannot
say,
or that
are
socially
unacceptable
to
say.
I
have
implied
above that
during
the
early stages
of
courtship
the
young people
of Canas are
bound,
either
by
social norms
or
by shyness,
not to
speak
to each other. And
yet
in the
performance
of the
punchay
kashwa
song, they
sing
to,
and
at,
each other with an absolute
boldness,
because
the situation
is framed
in a
way
that allows
for
this
type
of ac-
tivity.
Clearly,
the
dance,
the
music
performance
in
general,
and cha-
rango performance in particular are essential features for keying this
particular
frame,
which
makes communication
between the
sexes,
and
courtship, possible.
At a more concrete
level,
the
charango provides
the
instrumental
accompaniment
for the dance
and
song.
Furthermore,
for
a
boys:)
girls:)
boys
or
girls:
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The
Charango
and the
Sirena : 91
young
man,
the
ability
to
perform charango
is essential to his
participa-
tion
in this
important
courting
activity.
The
Tuta Kashwa
Kashwanapatata
In
the
place
of the
kashwa
Hakuchu
rirusun
Let's
go
walking
Sayana
lomata
To dance
in
the
hills
Hakuchu
rirusun
Let's
go walking
This verse, sung during a punchaykashwa, is a very special type of invita-
tion
to dance. The reference
to
the
kashwapata
place
of the
kashwa),
and
dancing
in
the hills
indicates that the
singer
is
referring
to the
tuta
kashwa
(night
kashwa).
Unlike the
public punchay
kashwa,
the
tuta kashwa
is
a
private
young people's
dance
that
takes
place
in a
special
place,
the
kashwapata,
in
the hills
near the
community during
the
nights
of
April
to
July.
In
many
instances
the tuta
kashwa
is the
culmination of
courting,
since it is in
this context
that the
young couples
often make
love for
the
first
time,
which
leads to
marriage
or
sirvinakuy
trial
marriage).
Hence,
the reference to the tuta kashwa sung in a verse during the punchaykashwa
is
an
invitation to the next
and
often last
stage
of
the
courting process
and
has the
implied
reference
to sexual
activity.
I
noted above
that,
during
the
village
markets,
the
charanguistas
play
only
the
melody
of
the
tuta
kashwa
during
their
initial
courting
activities.
)
J=
oo
Example
2.
TUTA
KASHWA
The
repeated performance
of the
tuta kashwa
melody
as the
charanguista
buzzes around
his
prospective
sweetheart serves as
an
implied
nonverbal
invitation to consummate the
courting process.
The
message
is
delivered
through purely
musical means
and,
in
this
case,
the
tuta
kashwa
melody
serves as a
musical index for
both the tuta kashwa dance
context,
and
lovemaking,
which
is
commonly
a
part
of this context.5
Thus in
Canas,
the
simple
tuta
kashwa
melody
must be understood
as
having
a
particu-
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92
:
Thomas
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larly provocative meaning,
and
it is
for this reason that
the
young
cam-
pesinos strum it continually as they stroll the marketplace.
According
to
Canefios,
the
cholos
invite the
cholas
to the
tuta kashwa
by
standing
near their
houses
in
the
evening
and
playing
a llamada
(call
or
signal)
on their
charangos. Significantly,
the
tune
of
the tuta kashwa
is
used as the
signal.
The
melody
of
the tuta kashwa
is
also
played
as the
group,
now
assembled,
walks to
the
traditional
kashwapata.
Once
the
group
arrives at the
kashwapata
the dance
begins.
The
step
is
the same as
that described for the
punchay
kashwa,
as are
the
style
of
vocal
performance
and
the
type
of texts
used.
Note
also
that,
as
in
the
song for the punchaykashwa, the complete melodic phrase of the tuta
kashwa is six
beats
long
and
corresponds
with one
cycle
of the dance
step.
In
contrast with the
punchay
kashwa,
however,
here
the
women form
a
circle while
holding
hands,
and
the
charango-playing
men dance around
the
outside
of
the circle
and
tease and flirt with their
"partners."
Then,
as
if
wishing
to
elude the
men,
the circle of
dancing
females breaks
into
a
line,
and
they
move off to another
place
to re-form the
circle,
and the
process
begins again.6
As the
party progresses,
some of the
couples
may slip away
into the
night to make love. Like the aggressive style of verbal love-making re-
flected
in
the kashwa
texts,
actual
lovemaking
(as
it was described
to
me)
among
campesinos
s a
rough
and
tumble
affair in
which
the man
is the
aggressor
who
battles to
have his
way
with the
girl.7
The
rough
nature
of
campesino
romance is
widely spoken
of,
and
it is
referred to
in
popular
sayings
such
as,
"The
more
he
hits
me,
the more he
loves me."
After
the
couples rejoin
the
party,
toward
dawn,
as the kashwa
comes
to
an
end,
a
despedida
farewell)
is
sung, again
accompanied
by charango:
Hakuna hakuna
ripukapusun-
chis
Tayta
mamanchisme
watuku-
wasunchis
Aman
taytayman
willaykun-
kichis
Aman
mamaymanwillaykun-
kichis
Maypitaq
waway
nispa
niq-
tinqa
Una kanchapinvelasianninkin
Arariwan velasian
ninki
We
go,
we
go,
now we are
going.
Our mothers
and fathers are
going
to ask where we are.
Do not tell
my
father
Do
not tell
my
mother
If
they
ask,
Where is
my
daughter?
Tell them I am taking care of
the
sheep.
Tell
them
that
the
keeper
of
the fields
is
out
caring
for
the
crops.
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^^
-
rm
le
-
___
o
Of'^ dancers 0
0
0/ 0^ro
female
0
Tancers
a
00 0On
Figure
4
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94 :
Thomas Turino
This
text
is
particularly
interesting.
First,
it
gives
us
a
clue into the
general
societal attitudes
regarding
the
tuta kashwa
activity, society being
represented
here
by
the
parents.
The
chola's almost
comically
feeble ex-
planation
of
where
she has
been
all
night
indicates that
there
is a
gen-
eral,
unspoken acceptance
of that which
is
going
on,
although
some
type
of
pretense may
still
be
required.
The
song
also
marks,
or
keys,
the
end
of
the tuta kashwa frame. From
the
text itself we
can
see that the
song
serves as a transition out
of
the
very
special
situation
of
the
night
dance
back to the
mundane
world of
parents
and
chores. The
tuta kashwa is a
special
type
of
event
that
allows for certain
types
of
behavior,
including
sexual
activity.
It
is the culmination of
the
courting process, which,
as
I
have
tried to show
here,
has
a
definite structure
that,
like
the
tuta kashwa
itself,
is
socially
sanctioned,
since it leads
to
marriage
or
sirvinakuy.
It
is
fitting
that
music
(the despedida)
should
key
the
end of
the
tuta
kashwa,
since it
was
the
performance
of
the
tuta
kashwa
melody
on cha-
rango
that
marked the
beginning
of
the
event,
in
the
llamada,
and
keyed
the
whole
courting process
in
the first
place
during
the
village
markets.
As a
special
type
of structured
activity,
the
courting
events must
some-
how
be
framed,
that
is,
set
apart
from
everyday activity,
and be iden-
tified
publicly
as
the
"courting
frame,"
in
which
a
specific
set of
rules
is
in
operation (see
Abrahams
1977;
Bauman
1977;
Bateson
1972;
Goffman
1974;
Turino
1982).
Special
clothing
and
charango
decorations
are used
to
key
the
courting activity during
the
village
markets and
fiestas. More
importantly,
however,
through
an
indexical
relationship
(consistent
cultural
association),
charango
playing,
and
specifically
the
performance
of the
tuta
kashwa
melody,
signal
that the
courting process
is
indeed under
way.
Thus at
all
stages
of
the
courting cycle, charango
performance
plays
a
central role
in
establishing
and
maintaining
the
special
frame
that
makes the
amorous activities
possible.
I
have
already
noted that
charango
playing
also serves
as
an
important
mode of
non-verbal
communication
between
the
separate
male
and
female
spheres.
The
charango performance
of the
tuta
kashwa
melody
during
the
markets,
in
the
llamada,
as well as
during
the dance itself
serves as
an
index that
has
as its referent
courting
and consummation.
That
is,
the
performance
of the
tuta kashwa
melody
foreshadows the
culmination
of the
courting
process by
calling
to mind the activities that
are associated with the
night
dance.
Furthermore,
since the
sight
of
a
young
campesino
with a
charango
in his hands is so
strongly
associated
with
courting,
the
very
act of
carrying
the instrument
signals
that
the
boy
has
entered
the sexual
arena.
In
this
case,
the
physical presence
of
the
charango
serves as an
index for
courtship.
So
pervasive
are
the
asso-
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Part
2
La Sirena
The wealth of
legends
and
magical
practices surrounding
the
charango
reflect the
dominant
cultural
attitudes
toward
this instrument.
Magical
rites
are
performed
mainly
to
enhance
the
charango's power
over
women.
For
example,
the
campesinos
n Chumbivilcus
(the
province
next to
Canas)
cut off
the head
and
tail
of
a
snake
and
place
them
inside the sound box
of their
charangos.
They
believe
this
heightens
the
instrument's
power
to
captivate
or
enchant women
(E.
Saldivar,
Chumbivilcus,
personal
com-
munication,
23
August 1981).
In
Acora,
Puno,
campesinos
ake a hair of
their
lady
love and
twist
it with
a
piece
of their own
hair,
after
which
they
tie three knots
in
the twisted
hair and
place
it
in
the sound
box of
the
charango.
The
campesinos
believe
that,
if
you
then
play
the
instru-
ment at
midnight,
"it
will make the
girl
cry
out for the
love
of
you"
(J.
Catacora,
Acora, Puno,
personal
communication,
4
February
1982).
In
both of these
cases,
the
charango
is the
physical
medium
through
which
the
magical
power
is created
and
operates.
The vast
majority
of
magic performed
and
legends
told
regarding
the
charango,
however,
involve the
figure
of the sirena
(see
sample
in
Appen-
dix
1).
Almost
every
town
I
visited
has its own
sirena
living
in a
nearby
spring,
river, lake,
or
waterfall.
Typically,
she was
described as
being
a
beautiful
woman with
a fish
tail,
who
is associated
with music
and se-
duction.
The
sirena
is so
important
to
string
musicians that
one
man
noted:
"Some
people
believe that
sirenas
are the
source of
all music and
that,
if
a certain town
does not
have a
sirena,
then
there
will
be no
music
in
that town"
(see
Appendix
1,
no.
4).
This comment
is
particularly
curious,
because the sirena
is never associated
with
wind
or
percussion
instruments native to
preconquest
Peru,
but
rather,
only
with
stringed
instruments
of
European
or colonial
origin
(see
Appendix
2
for historical
information on the
Andean
sirena).
The
strict
association
of the sirenawith
stringed
instruments
appears
to
be
original
for Latin
America,
from the
colonial
period,
since there
has
never been such
a consistent association
of
strings
with the
European
mermaid,
nor
did
stringed
instruments
exist
in
Peru before the
Spanish
conquest.
When the
indigenous
Peruvians first encountered
stringed
in-
struments,
certain
aspects
must
have seemed
truly
wondrous,
such as the
instruments' power to sustain a sound for a relatively long time after be-
ing
plucked
or strummed.
Other
elements,
such as the
instruments'
need
for constant
tuning,
must have
posed
certain
problems.
It is
interesting
that
in
contemporary
sirena stories
and
rites,
musicians turn
to the
sirena
as
a
supernatural
aid in
tuning
their instruments
(see
Appendix
1,
nos.
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The
Charango
and the
Sirena
:
97
2, 4, 10,
11,
15,
16).
Furthermore,
a
supernatural explanation,
the
sirena,
may
have been
sought
in
the colonial
period
to
help
explain
the
long,
sustaining quality of strings, as is
suggested
by comments made by
a
contemporary charango
player
(see
Appendix
1,
no.
4).
Since the
in-
novation of
stringed
instruments
and
the Greco-Roman mermaid were
introduced into the
Andes
simultaneously during
the colonial
period,
the two
may
have become associated in the minds of the
indigenous peo-
ple.
This
process
would
have
been facilitated
by
the
preassociation
of
mermaids with
music,
and a
syncretization
of
pre-Columbian
water
spirits
with the
sirena
(see
Appendix
2).
Among contemporary
campesino
musicians,
the
sirenais
seen as a
source
of supernatural power who can aid them in their musical and courting
endeavors.
The
musician
can
partake
of the
sirena's
power
to seduce with
music
by
several
diverse
means.
Particularly
interesting
is a rite that is
commonly performed
when a
boy
buys
a new
charango.
This
activity
takes
place
at
night,
and
some
say
that
a full
moon
is
necessary.
The
young
campesino,
in
the
company
of his
friends,
takes his new
acquisition
to the
place
of the
sirena.
Frequently
the
instrument is
placed
in
a
manta
(a
square
piece
of woven
cloth)
with
gifts
for the sirena
such as
coca,
chunu
(a
type
of dried
potato),
little ornamental
figures,
coins, alcohol,
and the like.8 The boys leave the charango and the gifts with the sirena
overnight
and then
go
away
so
that
they
will
not
come
in
contact with
her.
They
return
in
the
morning
to fetch
the
instrument, which,
during
the
night,
is
supposed
to
have been
tuned and
played by
the sirena.
The
most
commonly
cited
results of this ritual are
that
(1)
the
instrument
will
be
perfectly
tuned,
(2)
it
will
have a
more
beautiful
voice,
and
(3)
the in-
strument
will
have more
power
to
conquer
the cholas
(see
Appendix
1,
nos.
2, 4, 8, 10,
11,
14,
15,
16).
Since,
in
Canas,
the
charango
is so
closely
associated with the
court-
ing cycle, the purchasing of a charango and the performance of this rite
must
be
interpreted
as a
preparation
for
courting
activity.
The
nature
of
this ritual
and
its
position
at
the
beginning
of
the
courting
cycle
indicates
its
significance
as
a
kind
of sanctification or initiation rite
in
which
the
charango
itself
is
readied for its
task. This is
particularly
evident,
since
the instrument
is
taken
to
the
sirena
precisely
to
improve
its
"voice" and
to increase its
power
to
attract
girls.
This
activity parallels
other sancti-
fication rituals
in
which
musical
instruments
are
prepared
for their
roles
in
sacred or
special
activity.
Another such
example
is the
sanctification
of the drums used in Candomble cult centers in Brazil (Herskovits 1944;
Behague
1975).
The musician can
partake
of the sirena's
power only
through
the me-
dium of
his
charango,
for
if
during
this
ritual,
or at
any
other
time,
the
musician comes into direct
contact
with the
sirena, madness,
his own
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98
:
Thomas
Turino
seduction and
ruin,
or
some
physical
harm
will
befall him
(see
Appendix
1,
nos.
3,
8, 9,
12, 14,
15).
For
example, Julio
Catacora notes:
Once
I
went with
a
group
of
boys
to the home of
a sirena
near
Acora to
perform
a
ceremony
for a
new
charango. They
put
the
charango,
with
coca
and
alcohol
near the
spring,
then we
walked
off some
distance.
We
were all
drinking.
It
was
about
midnight
with
a full
moon.
My
friends
began
to
say
that
they
were
hearing
the
sirena
uning
the
charango.
I
my-
self
did not hear it. Then
they
all
began shouting
and
screaming
to cover
up
the
sirena's
music,
for
if
we had heard
it
we would all have
gone
mad.
(Appendix
1,
no.
14)
Thus,
although
the
sirena
is viewed
as
a
source of aid
in
musical activ-
ity during courtship,
she herself
is
considered
dangerous.
In
other
in-
stances,
the
sirena
is
actually
associated
with the devil
(see
Appendix
1,
nos.
5,
9).
She
is therefore
an
ambiguous
figure
who can
vacillate be-
tween
her
positive
and
negative aspects,
and
a
positive
relationship
can
be established with
her
only indirectly, through
the
medium
of one's
charango.
Another
means of
partaking
of
the
sirena's
positive power,
that
is,
the
power
to
attract with
music,
is the use of
a
"charango
en
sirena"
(see
Appendix
3
for
information
about
this
charango variant).
This
is
a
type
of
charango
in which the instrument's sound box is constructed to re-
semble
the mermaid's
form,
including
a female head and a
fish tail
(see
photo 3).
As Benavente notes
(Appendix
1,
no.
1),
using
the actual
form
of the
sirena for the instrument's sound box is believed to
invest
the
in-
strument
with
a
"supernatural
voice,
which is
better for
winning
the
cholas.
"
In
addition
to
the
personification
of
the
charango
built
in
sirena
form,
we
may
also
interpret
the
constant
use of the term voz
(voice)
to refer to
the instrument's
sound as
a
type
of
personification.
The term
voz
may
be
significant
in that the sirenais associated with
singing,
and interest-
ingly enough,
the term
voz is used
only
in
reference to
stringed
instru-
ments
(just
as the
sirena
is
associated
only
with
strings)
but
never in rela-
tion
to
the
sound of winds or
percussion.
Another identification
of the
sound
of the
charango
with
the
sirena is
suggested by
the
fact
that
in cer-
tain
regions
of Cusco and Puno
the
E
minor
tuning
is referred to as
the
tuning
of the sirena.9
The
relationship
between
the
charanguista
and
the
sirena,
and
the
way
in which the musician
partakes
of
the
mermaid's
power through
the
medium of his charango is based on processes that S. J. Tambiah
(1979:
356)
has
called
"persuasive"
or "evocative"
analogy.
Stated
briefly,
Tambiah
distinguishes
between
science
and
magic
(ritual)
in
the
types
of
analogy
used.
In
science,
analogy
is
predictive
and
based
on causal
rela-
tionships
and actual
similarities between the entities
compared.
In
magic
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The
Charango
and
the Sirena : 99
Photo 3. Instrument
makerwith
his
"charango
en
sirena,
"
Sicuani,
Canchis
(Cusco) (Photo:
author).
and
ritual,
analogy
is used
to
evoke
(rather
than
predict)
a
desired
end,
and
relationships
of
co-occurrence or association
replace
the causal
basis.
For
example,
the
sirena
through
the
power
of
music,
has
the
ability
to at-
tract or seduce. The
ypung
musician
(or
the
bohemio)embarking
on
his
courtship
career also wants to
gain
a
similar
ability
through
the
power
of
music. Thus
by associating
himself with
the
sirena
through
the
charango
initiation
(sanctification)
ritual,
and
through
the medium of the
charango
itself,
the musician becomes ike the sirena in his
power
to attract and seduce.
In
this
ritual the
analogy
is
particularly
direct
(resembling
Frazer's con-
tagious magic,
1944:12)
in that
the
charango
is believed
to
be
perfectly
tuned
and
to have
a
better voice because the sirena
actually
tunes
and
plays
it.
l_ir : :
'B
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100 :
Thomas Turino
Charango
Ritual
Sirena
Campesino
with
charango
has
(gains)
Ritual
that
establishes the
analogy by
using
the medium
of the
charango
The
power
of music
The Power of
music
(to) (to)
V
v
Attract
or seduce
Attract or seduce
Other means of establishing the relationship with the sirenaand par-
taking
of
her
powers
through
evocative
analogy
are found
in
the use of
the
"charango
en sirena."
Unlike
the
typical
case of
homeopathic
or
im-
itative
magic
(Frazer
1944:12),
which
results
in "the
influencing
[of]
certain
objects by manipulating
other
objects
which resemble them"
(Tambiah
1979:356),
however,
here the musician
wishes to affect the
secondary entity
(the
charango) by
imitating
the
visual
image
of the
primary entity
(the
sirena).
Contrasting
with
voodoo
practices,
for
exam-
ple,
in
which a doll
is created
as
an imitation of
a
person
and then
ma-
nipulated to affect the real person, the charango en sirena uses the imi-
tation of
a
visual
image
to evoke
an
analogy
that
affects the
charango
itself.
Interestingly enough,
in
Southern
Peru,
a visual
representation
is
used to
create
an
auditory similarity
by
means of the
power
of
analogy.
Sirena
(looks
like)
-Charango
en sirena
-Thus
it-
Beautiful voicc -(sounds like) oBeautiful voice
-Thus
it-
Power
to
attract- (acts
like)
-Power
to attract
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The
Charango
and
the
Sirena
: 101
That
is,
the
charango
is made to look
like
the
sirena
so that it
will
sound
like
the
sirena,
and
her
power
is
thus
placed
at the
disposal
of the musi-
cian.
Conclusion
In
the
previous
discussion
of the uses and functions of
charango
and the
societal attitudes
regarding
these,
I
noted
that
charango performance
is
viewed
positively
in
the
courting
context
among young
campesinos,
and
negatively
in
regard
to bohemio
activities. These attitudes
are
clearly
re-
flected and reinforced in the sirenastories discussed above (and found in
Appendix
1).
First,
the sirena's role
in the
charango
initiation ritual is
clearly positive
and hence
supports
the
societal
attitudes
in
sanctioning
the use
of
charango
for
legitimate
courting
activities.
In
the
story
of
the
"Saqra
charango" (devil charango,
Appendix
1,
no.
3),
the
sirena's
role
once
again
reflects cultural values
in
regard
to
charango
use:
she
puts
an
end
to
a bohemio'swicked
ways by destroying
his
tool of
seduction,
the
charango.
Note
the
inversion
present
here:
in
the
charango
rituals,
the
sirena
prepares
the instrument
for
courting by
putting
it
in
perfect
tune,
whereas, in the
Saqra
charango
story,
she ruins it
by making
it untunable.
In
most
cases, however,
the sirenaherself has
an
ambiguous identity,
which includes
her
potential
for
positive
aid,
her own
beauty,
and
the
beauty
of her music.
At
the same
time,
she is viewed as a
dangerous
power,
a
force for
destructive
seduction,
and
sometimes
she
is associated
directly
with
evil.
Finally,
then,
the dualistic
nature
of the
sirena
becomes
an
analogy
for the
charango
itself
in
its
positive
(courting)
and
negative
(bohemio)
contexts of use.
The
charango's potent power
in
courtship
and
amorous activities has
been explained in regard to the instrument's keying functions and index-
ical
significance
in
these
contexts. At
another
level,
the
charango
is
vested with
magical power through
the
process
of
evocative
analogy
with
the
sirena. There is
an
interesting
parallel
in the musician's use
of the
charango
in
his
relationship
with
the
sirena,
and
in
his
relationship
with
the
chola
during courtship.
The female
world
of
the
sirena
remains
sepa-
rate from that of
the
musician,
and
the
charango
is
the
only
safe
medium
by
which he
can
contact her.
Likewise,
in
campesino
courtship
the
charango
(and
the
performance
of
music)
is the
only
safe,
nonver-
bal, nondirect, hence nonthreatening, bridge by which the campesino
can
contact the chola.
The
separation
of the male
and
female
spheres
is
apparent throughout
the
courting cycle,
and
is dramatized
by
the chore-
ography
of
the
punchay
and tuta
kashwas.
In these
dances,
vocal
perfor-
mance is
used
by
the
sexes
to
communicate,
and
the
music
performed
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102
: Thomas
Turino
on
charango
serves as
the essential
medium
for
interaction
(song
and
dance)
between
them. The
performance
of
the
tuta
kashwa
melody
during
the
village
markets and for the llamada serves as an index and
directly
communicates the
intentions and
desires
of the
musician.
Finally,
the
very
act
of
carrying
a
charango
serves as
an
index
for
courtship.
Hence,
the
charango
is
used as
both
an
intermediary
and
as the
means
of com-
munication
between the
separate
male
and
female
spheres,
and
therefore
is
essential in
uniting
them.
Perhaps
the best
summary
of these
multileveled
relationships
is
to
be
found in
the
song "Serenitay"
(Appendix
1,
no.
17),
in
which
the
singer
himself
makes the final
important
analogy:
that between
the sirena
and
his own beloved. In this
song
his fear
(
-
)
of her is
juxtaposed
with his
desire
(
+
)
to
participate
in
the tuta
kashwa
with her
(i.e.,
make love:
"Let us
go
walking
/
Let us
go
strolling
/ Behind
that
hill,
sister").
Also,
the
image
of the
"portrait
of the
devil"
(
-)
is
juxtaposed
with
that of the
delicate,
nocturnal
butterfly
( +).
This
song,
then,
is filled
with
ambiguities
and
the
dualities of fear and
attraction,
danger
(evil)
and
beauty
(good).
These same
dualities
characterize
the
image
of
the
sirena,
the cultural
attitudes
regarding
the
charango,
and
finally,
young
love itself.
Just
as the sirena
is
beautiful,
seductive,
and
dangerous,
so is
the chola, and the
young
campesino
uses music and his
charango
as a
means
of
communication
and
as a
mediator
in
the
anxiety-provoking
ex-
perience
of
courtship
and
lovemaking.
Appendix
1:
Interviews,
Stories,
and
Songs
about the
Sirena
The
following
statements came
forth
during
informal
conversations
and
formal
interviews
(in
Spanish)
with
the
author,
who is
responsible
for
their
translation.
No.
1.
Julio
Benavente
Diaz,
Huarocondo, Cusco,
7/9/81,
age
69,
mestizo
charanguista.
Q:
Why
are
charangos
made in
the
shape
of sirenas?
A:
This
type
of
charango
is
used
by campesinos
and is associated
with
a
series of
legends.
The
added
section on the
sound
box is believed
to
give
supernatural
power
to the
instrument,
the
power
of the sirena. The added
sound
hole on the
sirena's
tail
gives
the
instrument
a
supernatural
voice,
which
is
better
for
winning
the cholas.
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The
Charango
and
the Sirena
:
103
No. 2.
Eighty-year-old
campesino
bandurria
player,
Huarocondo,
Cusco,
7/19/81.
Near the
village
[Huarocondo]
there
is a
spring.
People
say
that
a sirena
lives
in
this
spring.
Musicians
used to leave their
bandurrias,
charangos,
and
mandolins
by
the
spring
overnight
with
the
belief
that,
when
they
came back for
them
in
the
morning,
they
would be
perfectly
tuned
and
that
they
would have
a
better,
purer
voice.
No.
3.
Ernesto
Valdez, Tinta,
Cusco,
7/28/81,
late
thirties,
mestizo
cha-
ranguista.
"El
Saqra
Charango"
(The
Devil
Charango)
(story
from
Sicuani,
Cusco).
Some time
ago
there
was
a
charanguista
who
was
married,
but his main
reason for
playing
the
charango
was to seduce
campesinas.
He used
to
take his
charango
out each
night
to seduce the
girls.
One
night
as he
was
about
to
cross
a
bridge
over the
Vilcanota River
he was
stricken
by
fear,
so
he
started
to
play
his
charango.
He
was
walking
across
the
bridge,
playing
as
he
went, when,
all
of
a
sudden,
incredibly
beautiful sounds
started
coming
out of his
charango,
as
if
he himself were not
playing
it.
At
that moment
he
became
dizzy
and
passed
out. Some
hours later
he
woke
up, picked
up
his
charango,
and went
off
to the
cantina
where
his
friends were to tell them
what
had
happened. They
asked
him to
play
his
charango-to
demonstrate the
beautiful sound he had described.
But
when
he
tried
to
tune
the instrument before
starting,
he found
that,
no
matter
how
he
tried,
he could
not
tune
it. He became so
angry
that
he
threw the
charango
on the
floor in an
effort to
smash
it,
but it would not
break. After
this,
he
just hung up
his
charango
on the
wall
and was
never able to
tune
it
or
play
it
again.
After
this,
the
man was nicknamed
"Saqra
charango" throughout
the
region.
No.
4.
Julio
Benavente,
8/1/81.
Sirena
instruments
were used
in
Huarocondo
[in
the
1920s]
but
only
"bandurrias
en
sirena;"
"charangos
en sirena" came later. When
I
was
a
boy,
my
friend
Manuel used to
say
that
all
you
had to do was
put
the
charango
near the
spring
where the sirenalived
and
it would be
perfectly
tuned and
capable
of
creating
beautiful
music. After
a
stringed
instru-
ment is
affected
by
a
sirena all
you
have
to
do
is
strike
the
strings
once
and it
produces
beautiful
music
almost
by
itself.
Some
people
believe
that
sirenas
are
the
source of
all
music and that
if a
certain town doesn't
have a
sirena
then
there will be no music
in
that town.
[Tapping my
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104 :
Thomas Turino
charango
en sirena
and
then
setting
it
on a
table to
let it
ring, Julio
said
jokingly]
Ah,
you
see?
She
is there
[inside
the sound
box].
You see how
long
it
sounds?
If
a
campesino
were here he would
say
that
there
is def-
initely
a
sirena
here
No.
5.
J. Tapara Champi,
from
Yanoaca, Canas,
93-year-old
campesino
charanguista.
Interview
took
place
outside the
city
of
Cusco,
where
he
now
lives,
8/14/81.
Q:
Is
there
a sirena
near here
[the
ruins
of K'enko above the
city
of
Cusco]?
A:
Yes,
there
is
one
living
in a
river near here. It is the devil.
No.
6.
An
interview with
two
teenage boys
in
the
city
of
Cusco
8/22/81.
Q:
Does
a
sirena
live around here
[near
K'enko]?
A:
[The
two
boys
denied
any
such
knowledge
for some time. Later
in
the conversation one of them
said]
A
sirena
lives
in
a
hole below
Saqsa-
huaman,
which is called
saqrachayoc
place
of the
devil).
She is heard
singing only
on
nights
of
the
full
moon.
Q:
Have
you
heard her
sing?
A:
[One
of the
boys
who lived
near
the
sirena's home
answered]
Yes.
Many
of the
people
in
my
neighborhood
have
heard
her.
Q:
Does
she
play
an
instrument?
A:
I
have heard her
play
charango.
Q:
How
did
you
know it
was
a
charango?
A: It sounded
like a
charango;
I
recognized
its sound.
No.
7.
David
Villasante,
Paucartambo,
Cusco,
10/15/81,
mestizo accor-
dion
player
in
his
mid-eighties.
When
I
was
about
twenty-four, people
in
the town
[of
Paucartambo]
began
telling
stories about
a sirena
who
lived
beneath
the famous colonial
bridge
Carlos III.
People
told these stories about the
sirena
singing
beneath
the
bridge
for about
thirty years.
It
was
the
townspeople,
not
the
campesinos,
who told
these
stories.
The
people
in
Paucartambo
made
up
a
song
about the
sirena,
but
I
don't
remember it. It
was called "Can-
to
de
la
sirena." The
people thought
that
the
sirenawas
a
temptress.
Later there was a
young
bohemionamed Luis Valencia who lived at the
foot of
the
bridge
and was
known
for his
singing
and his
parties.
After
some
time,
someone
in
Paucartambo made
up
a
last verse to
the "can-
to
de
la
sirena,"
which said
[translating
from
Quechua]:
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The
Charango
and
the
Sirena
: 105
The
sirenawas
a beautiful woman
With
a wonderful voice.
She was an enchantress.
But it wasn't the
sirena,
Oh no it
was
that
youth,
Luis Valencia
No. 8.
A
middle-aged
mestiza
shopkeeper,
Combapata,
Cusco,
10/20/81.
No,
the
sirena
[of
Combapata]
does not live in
the Vilcanota River. She
lives
in
the
springs
that
feed
the
chacras
(agricultural
fields).
The
musi-
cians from here take their instruments to her overnight between 10:00
p.m.
and 4:00
a.m. to
improve
the
voice
of
the
instrument.
Once there
was a
girl
here,
known
for
her
singing.
The
musicians of
the town were
always
telling
her to visit
the
sirena,
for it would
improve
her
singing
voice.
One
night, following
the advice of
the
musicians,
she
went off to visit the sirena.
When she came back
the
next
morning,
she
had
lost her
mind,
she was
crazy,
and
she
is still like
that.
Now
she
can-
not work
or
study
or
do
anything.
No. 9. F. Paniagua, Pomata, Puno, 11/15/81, mestizo charanguista.
Sirenas live
in
the lake
[Titicaca]
and
they
come out at
certain times
to
entice the
young
men.
Once,
a
young
man from
Pomata met
a
beautiful
girl
in
the
plaza.
He
was
very
drunk
at the time. She
led him to a
beau-
tiful
salon,
it was like a
palace.
When
they
arrived she told him
that
she
wanted
to
change
her
clothes but
that
she would
return
quickly.
He
fell
asleep
in
her absence.
When
he
awoke
he
found
himself in
the water
on
the shore of the lake
being
beaten
by
the
waves.
The
sirena
had taken
him to an enchanted place.
No. 10.
Paniagua,
11/15/81.
When a mozo
[a
young peasant boy] buys
a
charango
he will
perform
a
certain
ceremony
for it. He
takes
the
charango
and
places
it in a
manta
(a
square piece
of
cloth)
called
inkuia.
Then he
puts
coca,
sweets,
the
fetus of
animals,
and
small
figurines
on the
manta
with his
charango,
which,
being
new,
is
of course
totally
out of tune.
He sets
off with
this
bundle and a bottle of alcohol. When he has reached a solitary place he
leaves
the
bundle
for
several hours.
Upon
return,
the
mozo
finds
that
his
charango
is
perfectly
tuned
and that it has
a
magnificent
voice.
[Paniagua
implies
that the
boy
takes the
ritual bundle off
to
a
solitary
place
and
drinks
the
alcohol while
waiting
for
the
transformation to
take
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106 :
Thomas
Turino
place,
some distance
from the
spot.
Furthermore,
although
he
does not
mention
the
sirena in
this
story,
he
told
it to me
in
response
to
a
question
about the sirena.]
No. 11. Luis
Quispe,
Yanaoca, Canas,
Cusco, 12/6/81,
campesino
cha-
ranguista,
82
years
old.
Near
Yanaoca,
sirenas
do not
live in
the
lake,
they
live in rivers where
the
water runs
fast.
There is an old
custom:
people
take
a new
charango,
with
a
new sol
[coin]
of
silver,
and
the
tongue
of
a snake
to
a
place
where
the sirenais believed to
live. Then
these
things
are
hung
over
the
place
in the river where the sirena lives. And when one retrieves the
charango
it is
supposed
to
be
exactly
in
tune. But
I
do
not
believe these
stories.
I
think
that
when
the
charango
is
retrieved,
it
is
tuned
exactly
as
the owner
left it.
No.
12.
Luis
Quispe
12/8/81.
Once
when
I
was at
home,
and
I
was a
little
drunk,
I
went outside to
urinate.
While
outside,
I
had a
vision.
I saw a
beautiful,
green,
wide
pampa
[plain]
and two men
walking
across it toward me. I knew the two
men,
and it all seemed
real.
I
did not understand what
I
had
seen,
but
I
connected
this
experience
with stories
I
have heard about the sirena com-
ing
to
take
away
musicians who
play particularly
beautifully.
But
I
do
not think that
this is
the
answer,
because
the
sirena
usually
comes to
musicians
in
dreams,
and
I
was awake
[he
did
not
elaborate on the con-
nection between the
men whom he saw and
the
sirena].
No. 13.
Thomas
Turino, 2/3/82,
(the
following experience
took
place
on
the shores of Lake Titicaca near the
city
of
Puno).
I
was
sitting
by
Lake
Titicaca
composing
a
new
wayno.
When
I
finished
the
song
I
played
it
over
and
over for
quite
some time
so
that
I
would
not
forget
it.
After
I
had
finished
playing,
I
held
my
charango
on
my lap
looking
out
over
the water.
Just
then,
I
began
to hear a
very
beautiful
sound
coming
from
my
charango.
It
was soft but
very
clear,
thick
with
overtones,
like a
celestial
tonic,
which
gradually
shifted to the
fifth and
then back
again.
I
listened
to
the
charango
for some
time,
oc-
casionally bringing it close to my ear to hear it better. The wind was
blowing very
hard off
the
lake,
and
I
immediately
assumed that the
wind
in
the
strings
was
creating
the sound. On the
way
back to town
I
began
thinking
that this must
be an
explanation
for
all
of the
sirena
stories
in
which
stringed
instruments
are
said
to
play by
themselves. Once back
at
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108 :
Thomas
Turino
Serenitay
erenitay
serenitay erenitay
tuta
purikuqtiy
mancharichiwan
nisiawanki
tuta
purikuqtiy
nisiawanki
Tuta
purikuqtiy
yana taparaku
tuta
purikuqtiy
yana taparaku
mancharichiwankimantaq
supaypa
retraton
mancharichiwankimantaq
supaypa
retraton
hakucho
puriramusiasun
hakucho
pasearamusiasun
Haqay lomaq qhepachanta anachay
Mancharichiwankimantaq
serenitay
mancharichiwankimantaq
serenitay
tuta
purikuq taparakito
supaypa
retraton
tuta
purikuq taparakito
supaypa
retraton
supayparetraton
My
sirena,
my
sirena
My
sirena,
my
sirena,
When I walk out in the
night,
You make
me
afraid,
You are
speaking
to
me,
When
I
walk
out
in
the
night,
You
are
speaking
to me.
When
I
walk
out
in
the
night-
Butterfly
nocturnal,
When
I
walk
out
in
the
night-
Butterfly nocturnal.
Be
careful,
you
cause fear-
Portrait
of
the
devil,
Be
careful,
you
cause terror-
Portrait of the
devil.
Let
us
go
walking,
Let us
go strolling,
Behind that
hill,
sister.
Be
careful,
you
cause fear-
My
sirena,
Be
careful,
you
cause terror-
My
sirena,
Butterfly
that
goes
by
night,
Portrait
of the
devil,
Butterfly
that
goes by
night,
Portrait
of the
devil,
Portrait of the devil.
Appendix
2:
Background
Information about the
Andean
Sirena
In
addition to the
prominence
of
the
sirena in
legends
and
magical prac-
tices
connected
with the
southern
Peruvian
string
traditions,
she is
fea-
tured as an
important
motif
in
decorative colonial church art
throughout
southern Peru and in Bolivia
(a
region
that has as its center Lake Titi-
caca: see
photo
4).
It
is
in the latter context that the motif has
received
the most
attention
from
scholars.
For
our
present
purposes,
however
(i.e.,
to
explain
the wide diffusion and
importance
of
the
sirena
among
string
musicians),
we
must
consider
the sirena as a
motif
in
colonial art
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The
Charango
and the
Sirena : 109
Photo
4.
Sirena
with
charango.
On the
acade
of
the
Puno
Cathedral,
completed
1755
(Photo. author).
as well as in the musical
lore
for
several reasons.
First,
the Greco-Roman
image
of the mermaid
was
obviously
introduced into
the
Andes as an
art
motif.
Second,
and
more
significant,
the
importance
of
the
sirena
both as
a motif in colonial art and in musical lore
probably
has a similar under-
lying
syncretistic
basis.
The
well-known
ancient
European
mermaid
figure
in
the
typical
Greco-
Roman form
that she assumes
in
Andean art
(see
photo
4)
has
led
scholars to assume a
purely European origin
for this
motif
in
the
Andes
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110 :
Thomas
Turino
(Luks
1979:109-114;
Rowe
1961:317).
There
are a
number of
problems
with
this
conclusion.
Consider,
for
example,
that
sirenas
are
much more
abundant in Andean colonial church art than in the
European
art of the
same
period
and function. This indicates
that
the Andean artists
opted
for this motif
more often than did
their
European
counterparts.
Note
also
that
the
sirena
appears
in
Andean
church
art in the same
locations
(for
example,
on
the
facade above the cathedral
door)
where
angels
would
typically
be
featured in
Europe.
Furthermore,
50
percent
of the
thirty-two
sirena
pairs
that
I
surveyed
in Andean
church art
held
stringed
instruments,
and those
that
did not most
frequently
were shield bearers.
Therefore,
we
find
the
Andean
sirena
in
roles
usually
filled
by
angels
in
European
church art of the same
period
(i.e.,
as shield bearers or musi-
cians
in
the
"angel
band").
This
suggests
that
the
sirena
was
being
used
as a
substitute
for the
angel
motif
by
a number of Andean artists.
We
cannot look to
a
European
source to
explain
this
phenomenon,
since
nothing
similar occurred there.
Rather,
we must look
to traditional An-
dean culture to
explain why
Andean
artists
would
prefer
the
figure
of
the mermaid to
the more dominant
European angel
motif.
Harold
Wethey
(1971)
moves
in
the
right
direction
when he
classifies
the motif of the
Andean sirena
as
typical
of "mestizo art"
and
thus
sug-
gests,
at least, that the motif is a
product
of
syncretism
on some level.
He
is
inaccurate,
however,
in
indicating
that
all
of the musical
sirenas are
playing charangos.
Rather,
the
majority
of them
play
vihuela or
guitar-
sized
instruments,
and
therefore the
presence
of
a
"charango"
cannot be
used to
strengthen
the claim
that
the sirena is
a
mestizo
motif,
as
Wethey
intimates.
Taking
a view
more
radical
than
those
mentioned
above,
Gisbert
(1980:46-48)
argues
for
the
existence
of
a
pre-Hispanic
Andean mer-
maid tradition
in
the Lake
Titicaca
region.
She reasons that certain
European artistic motifs,
including
the sirena, flowered in the Andes
pre-
cisely
because there was a
preconquest
myth, legend,
or
idea
that matched
the
European
motif-thus
aiding
the
process
of
syncretism.
Although
I
agree
with
her
basic
premise,
I
find her
documentation
lacking.
Using
the
early
Andean
lexicographer
Bertonio
as her main
source,
Gisbert
cites the
following
evidence:
(1)
Bertonio
writes
that
"Quesintuu
and
Umantuu
are
two sisters with
whom
Tunupa
[a
pre-Columbian
die-
ty]
sinned";
(2)
Umantuu and
Quesintuu
are the names of
fish in
Lake
Titicaca;
(3)
therefore
(she concludes)
the two sisters were
women-fish
(or sirenas) that were temptresses causing Tunupa to sin and thus close-
ly
resembled the
European
mermaid.
Unfortunately,
in
his brief
descrip-
tion
of
Umantuu and
Quesintuu,
Bertonio mentions
nothing
about
Lake
Titicaca, mermaids,
fish
tails,
or even
fish.
Thus her
evidence,
although
suggestive,
is far
from
conclusive.
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The
Charango
and the Sirena :
111
Although
they
do not
resemble the Greco-Roman mermaid
in
form,
we
do find
anthropomorphized
fish in
the textiles of the
early
coastal
culture of Paracas
(Sawyer
1961:296-297;
Baumann
1963:123).
Whereas
their existence
proves nothing
in
regard
to the later Inca sierra
culture,
these
figures
indicate
that the
idea
of
a
being-part
human and
part
fish
-did
exist in
pre-Columbian
Peru. Such an idea
could,
obviously,
be
amalgated easily
with
the
image
of the
European
sirena.
Regarding
the
sierra
culture of
the
Inca
period specifically,
we
know
that there were
a
number of
pre-Columbian
water
spirits
associated with
specific
lakes,
springs,
and rivers
(Guaman
Poma
1956,1:188);
and
Guaman
Poma de
Ayala
specifically
mentions the
great
huaca
(spirits
or
dieties associated with
places
or
objects
of
nature)
of Lake Titicaca. It is
easy
to
understand
how the Andean
people might
have
adopted
the
European representation
of
the mermaid
as a
logical
physical
representa-
tion
for their
traditional water
spirits.
Interestingly enough,
in an in-
digenous community
in
Pisac,
Cusco
(about
80
percent monolingual
Quechua
speakers),
the
people
still
speak
of
a
sirena
(using
the
Spanish
word)
who
is
a female
consort to
the
local
Apu
(mountain
spirit
or
diety).
It is said
that
the
Apu
calls
on the
sirena
to
entertain
him
with
her
sing-
ing (she
plays
no
instrument).
Why
the
people
should
use the
Spanish
term sirena for what
appears
to be
basically
an
indigenous
water
spirit
in
a
religious
context
that
is
primarily Quechua
remains a
mystery.
The
use
of
the
Spanish
term indicates
that
syncretism
on some level has
oc-
curred. The fact
that
she is
consort
to the
Apu
indicates
an
indigenous
base;
her musical
role remains
open
to
question.
A
hint
about
water
spirits
and
music, however,
may
be
found
in a
par-
ticularly
intriguing drawing by
Guaman
Poma
(writing
between 1587
and
1615;
1956,1:234;
also see
fig.
5)
entitled
[Inca]
"canciones
y
musi-
ca"
(songs
and
music).
Here we
have
a
picture
of
two
male
flute
players
overlooking a river. In the river, in a waterfall, sit two
enigmatic
women
who
are
naked
and
clearly depicted
as
singing.
Throughout
Guaman
Poma's work
very
little occurs
pictorially
without
intended
significance.
The
prominence
of the
river,
the
waterfall,
and
the
singing
female
figures may
indicate a
pre-Columbian
myth
or
legend
associating
water
spirits
(the
two
women)
with
singing
and music.
Significantly,
contem-
porary
sirenas are often said
to
live in
waterfalls or
in
the
fast-moving
parts
of rivers.
This
interpretation
would
help
us
explain
the contem-
porary
case in Pisac
mentioned
above.
In the European tradition, the figure of the mermaid, which originally
was
nonmusical,
was
blended
with the
image
of
the
very
seductive,
and
very
musical
siren
(originally depicted
as a
huge
bird with
a
human
head-Pollard
1965:137-144). Baring-Gould
(1901:494)
concludes that
the
pre-Homeric
mermaids
(mermen)
were
often solar
cult
dieties.
The
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CAMCiOMES
MVIICA
k
VIPOJV
Cinca urco
queancalla
Pingollonapata
corro
Nombru
de
lugares
Uaca
punco
Puerta
de
Ia
H
uaca
Canciones
y
musica.
Figure
5.
"Cancionesy
Misica"
(Guaman
Poma
1956,1.234)
CANCIONES Y
MUSICA
ARAUI
PINCO-
LLO
-
UAN
CA
Canciones
populares
-
Pingollo
Ba le de las
chacras
Uiroy paccha
Ca;da
de
agua
Col,que
ma-
chaCuay
-
P'atJ
serpen.
tear, tt
Cantoc
uno.
-
O-ilia del
rio
Uatanay
mayo-
Rio de
Hua-
tanay
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The
Charango
and
the
Sirena
: 113
merman in the
Greek
pantheon
was Triton. These
figures
were not
orig-
inally associated with music, whereas the pre-Homeric sirens (bird-human)
were
depicted
in
sculptures
from the sixth
century
B.C. with musical
in-
struments
and in musical contexts
(Pollard
1965:137).
The
Homeric
sirens were
strongly
associated with the seductive
power
of
song,
and
their
power
was
considered
particularly
dangerous
much like the
con-
temporary
Andean
sirena.
Mermaids feature
largely
in
European
folklore
(see
Thompson
1955,1:
370-372;
Baring-Gould
1901:504-523;
Carrington
1957:
chap.
1),
and
by
the
frequent
sightings
of them
by
mariners
during
the
sixteenth,
seven-
teenth, and eighteenth centuries spurred the actual belief in these beings.
In
many
of the
folklore
legends
and
stories
of
"actual"
sightings,
the
association
of
the
mermaid and
music
is
practically
nonexistent
(more
common
is
the
mermaid
with
her
mirror
and
comb).
Of central
impor-
tance
to
the
present paper,
however,
is
the
European
folkloric
tradition,
which fused
the
physical
image
of the mermaid
with the musical and
seductive
qualities
of
the siren. This
process
had
taken
place
by
the
Peruvian colonial
period,
and
in
the
Spanish
language
there is
only
the
single
term-sirena-which
is translated as
both
siren,
woman
who
sings
charmingly;
and
mermaid, sea-nymph (Velazquez
de la
Cadena
1973:
588;
Navarro
1965:142).
Because of
this
synthesis,
the
Spanish
mermaid became
closely
associat-
ed
with
music. If I am
correct
in
my interpretation
of Guaman
Poma's
drawing,
then there also
may
have
been
an
association of
pre-Columbian
Peruvian
water
spirits
with music.
Thus in
addition to
the
natural
syn-
thesis
of two
supernatural
figures,
both associated with
water,
the
possi-
bility
that
both also
had a
preassociation
with
music would have
greatly
influenced
syncretism.
Furthermore,
the latter
fact
would
adequately
ex-
plain
the sirena's
appeal
to Andean
musicians.
The
predominant
associa-
tion
of
the Andean sirenawith
stringed
instruments
specfically
(and
thus,
with
string musicians)
is
discussed on
pages
94 and 95
of this
paper.
The
blending
of
the
European "angel
band"
motif
and
the Andean
sirena,
already
discussed,
may
have been another
source for the
sirena/strings
association.
The
predominance
of
the
sirena
motif both
in
Andean
colonial art and
in
the musical lore
suggests
that
a
pre-Columbian mythical
or
religious
figure predisposed
the
indigenous
people
to the
rapid
and
widespread
ac-
ceptance
of the Greco-Roman mermaid.
I
have
suggested
several
possi-
bilities for
how the
syncretism
between
the mermaid and an
indigenous
water
spirit
might
have
occurred
following
Gisbert's basic
premise,
al-
though
I
have
rejected
the
specificity
of
her
case.
Further
research
is
needed
before
a
more definite
explanation
can
be
proposed.
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114
: Thomas Turino
Appendix
3:
Notes on the
"Charango
en
Sirena"
In the
charango
en sirena variant of the instrument, the sound box is
constructed
in the
shape
of
a
mermaid
with a
female human head and
a
fish tail
(see
photo
3).
The sound box has a
flat,
wooden back and re-
sembles
typical charangos
in all
other
respects.
To
my
knowledge,
cha-
rangos
en sirena have
not been mentioned
previously
in
the literature.
For
example,
even the
recent
Mapa
de los
instrumentosmusicalesde uso
po-
pular
en
el
Pert,
which
has
seventeen
separate listings
for
charango-chillador
types
(Instituto
Nacional de Cultura
1978:136-141),
neglects
to
mention
this
interesting
variant. The reason is not
clear,
nor
is the
history
of
the
charango en sirena itself. Rather than
offering
any definitive conclusions
about
the
origin
and
background
of
this
charango type,
I
shall
merely
summarize
my
findings,
arrived at
through
observation
and
interviews
in
southern
Peru,
with the
understanding
that further research
is
necessary.
The
charango
en sirena
(as
well as
guitars
and
bandurrias
in sirena
form)
are said
to
have
existed at least
by
the
beginning
of
this
century.
Several residents from
the central
part
of
the
Department
of
Cusco
claimed
that
instruments
in sirena
form
(including
charangos,
bandurrias,
and
guitars)
were built
by
a maker
in
Urubamba
beginning
in
the
first
decade of the 1900s. Makers and musicians in the southern provinces of
Cusco
(Canas,
Espinar,
Canchis)
stated that
instruments
in sirena
form
were
made
in
their
region
around the
same
time.
The
contemporary
diffusion-area
of the
charango
en
sirena seems
to
be
centered
in the
Department
of
Cusco,
and
particularly
in
the
southern
provinces.
The
instrument
was and
is
produced
predominantly
by
rural instrument-makers
for
campesino
musicians,
although
in recent
years
urban
instrument-makers
in
the cities
of Cusco
and
Ayacucho
have
begun
to build
instruments
in sirena
form for
the tourist
market. It
should be stressed, however, that the playing of charangos en sirena is
not
particularly
common
in
normal
contexts
of
charango
use.
During
a
year
of research
in
southern
Peru,
I
saw
the
sirena
variant
used twice
by
campesinos
during
a
weekly
market in
Espinar,
and
by
one
campesino
musician from Canas who now lives
in
Cusco.
This fact seems inconsis-
tent with the
relatively
large
number of sirena
charangos
that
I
witnessed
in
the
shops
of
instrument
makers who
I
know
sell to
a
campesino
lientele.
Instrument
builders
tailor what
they
make
to their markets.
Clearly,
if
there were
not
a
demand for
these instruments
they
would
not
keep
making them. Therefore, this inconsistency raises interesting questions
for future
research;
that
is,
where do these instruments
go
and
what
are
they
used for
after
they
leave
the maker's
shop?
In a
number
of interviews with instrument builders
who
produce
the
charangos
en
sirena,
I
was
told
that
they
make this variant
because
their
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The
Charango
and
the
Sirena
: 115
(campesino)
customers
simply
"like the
shape."
When asked
why
certain
people prefer
the
sirena
shape,
some
builders
replied
that
it was
purely
for ornamental reasons and others confirmed the idea that
people
"think" that the
sirena
variant has a
better or more
powerful
voice.
In
this
context,
powerful
often refers
to
the instrument's
potential
for
attract-
ing
women.
In
regard
to
the makers
themselves,
I
could discover no
special
magical practices
or beliefs
that
accompany
the
construction
of
charangos
en
sirena,
but this
point
should be
pursued
further.
Although
not an
adequate
explanation
in and of
itself,
the ornamental
or
decorative function of
the sirena
design
should
not
be dismissed
light-
ly.
In
the southern Peruvian
sierra,
the
charango,
other
necked
lutes,
and harps are decorated
frequently
with
inlays
or
carvings utilizing
various
motifs,
including
birds, fish, flowers,
women,
and
the
sirena.
Note,
for
example,
a
photograph
on the record
jacket
of
The Inca
Harp
(Lyrichord
LLST
7359),
which features a diatonic
harp
from
Ayacucho
decorated
with an
elaborately
carved sirena.
Whether instruments con-
structed
in
the
form of
a sirena
are to be
judged
as
having
a
magical,
or
merely
a
decorative,
significance
(or both),
must
rely
on the beliefs
and
interpretation
of
the owner/musician
himself.
A
whole
range
of
meaning,
suggested
in
the
present
article,
is
possible.
Notes
1. It
is
a
well-accepted
fact that before the arrival of the
Spanish,
only
winds and
percussion
instruments
were
used
by
the
indigenous
people
of
the
Peruvian sierra.
After the
conquest,
a
variety
of
European
stringed
instruments
were diffused
throughout
the
Andes,
and the
charango,
the
only hybrid
stringed
instrument of
the central Andean
region,
was
born.
The
charango
was created as an imitation of the
Spanish guitar,
but its
small size and
unique, high-pitched
sound
quality
resulted from
the
demands
of
the
indigenous
aesthetic
that
has
favored
high
pitch
from the
pre-Columbian
period
through
the
present
and
to considerations of
easy
transport.
My
research on
the
charango
was
conducted
in
southern
Peru,
June
1981
to
May
1982.
The fieldwork
was
supported by
a
fellowship
from
the
Inter-American
Foundation,
which
I
gratefully
acknowledge.
2.
The
age
of
campesinos
nvolved in
courtship may range
from fifteen
to the early twenties. The number participating on any given market
day
may vary
from about
two
to
fifteen.
3.
Another common version holds
that,
when one holds
a
mirror
up
to
someone's
face,
their reflection
in
the
glass
strikes
them
as
handsome or
friendly,
and
they
are
thereby
attracted
to the
mirror.
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116
:
Thomas Turino
4.
Saturnino Mamani Pillco transcribed
and
translated
the
song
texts
from
Quechua
to
Spanish.
His
notation of
the
Quechua
is
retained. I
am
responsible
for the
English
translations, for which I used both the
original Quechua
and Saturnino's
Spanish
translations. The texts
pro-
vided here were recorded in
Descanso,
Canas,
20
March
1982.
5.
In
Peircian
terms,
an index
may
be defined as
a
type
of
sign
that
comes to
represent
a
particular
idea or
object
through
the
process
of
association
or
co-occurence.
Hence,
the
wedding
march
might
be
con-
sidered
a
musical index for
marriage
or
the
marriage ceremony.
For
a
discussion
of musical
symbols,
indexes,
and
icons,
see Turino
1982.
6.
I
have
witnessed
this
same
type
of
choreography
being
used
in a
noncourting
context in the
neighboring province
of Canchis.
7. In
his
discussion of the uses of
music
in
various
courtship
and
marriage
rituals,
Boiles discusses
examples
of
song
duels
between
the
sexes
and
musical
taunting,
which is
used to lead to
premarital
sexual
relations. These
examples parallel
the
song
duels
of
the
punchay
and
tuta
kashwa,
which also
may
lead to
premarital
sexual
relations
(see
Boiles
1978:120-121).
8.
The
reciprocal
relationship
between humans
and the
supernatural
is
an
important
feature of Andean
religion,
in
which the
worshiper gives
the deity gifts in return for the supernatural aid received. The most
common cases
are a
series
of rituals
performed
for
Pachamama
(earth
mother)
in
which she
is fed
coca, chunu,
corn chicha
(corn beer)
in
return
for
her
gift
of earth and animal
fertility
(one
campesino
remarked,
"If we
do not feed the
earth,
our
crops
and our animals will
die").
The
offer-
ings
made to the
sirena
during
the
charango
initiation
ceremony closely
resemble those
given
to
Pachamama,
and, indeed,
this
aspect
of the
ceremony
seems
to be
part
of
this
larger indigenous
tradition.
9.
E
minor
tuning,
or the
sirena
tuning (also
sometimes called
the
Diablo [devil] tuning):
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The
Charango
and the Sirena
:
117
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