ENG: Before returning to Germany for the next six months, I visited my friend Don Alejandro, a chhalla bamboo collector (chhallero) in Chirimoyani in the famous Zongo valley. This valley close to the city of La Paz is known for its unique chhalla panpipe bamboo. Aymara musicians say about this panpipe bamboo that it has […]
Category: Encuentros
Qina vs. Quena: A New Generation of Highland Flute Makers
ENG: A few days ago, I visited my friend Favío Mamani in his flute-making workshop in the popular neighborhood of Chijini on the western slope of the city of La Paz. I asked him to put a wooden (mahogony) embouchure support into a mama quena that I made and to tune it properly into a F natural […]
Juan Granier Street in the 2020s: Coronavirus pandemic and its aftermath
ENG: The last time I visited the Walateño flute makers of Juan Granier Street at the Garita de Lima in La Paz city was back in 2017. I visited urban-based flute makers at their street stands (ay. qhatu) and conversed with them about musical bamboos and the future of their flute making activities. Last week, I came back and was […]
Visiting the National Herbarium of La Paz
ENG: After six years I returned to the National Herbarium of La Paz (LPB) in order to meet some old and new friends, and supporters of my project. In the meanwhile, the National Herbarium of La Paz inaugurated new facilities with more space for collections, meeting rooms, and project working spaces. It was so lovely […]
The Musical Bamboos of the Bolivian Andes 