ENG: We received an overwhelming number of abstracts for our upcoming “Music Making Materials (MMM)” conference in October, and it was a pleasure to review such a diversity of interesting proposals. Selecting abstracts was a challenging task, but we are excited to announce those chosen for inclusion in the MMM conference. Below, you will find […]
SEM Newsletter Photo Story
ENG: I extend my heartfelt thanks to Sonia Gaind-Krishnan, the newsletter editor of the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM), for publishing my photo story, “The Musical Veins of the Zongo Valley and the Sound Voice of its Panpipe Bamboo.” I am delighted to share more images to complement this SEM-NL Photo Story here. ESP: Extiendo mi […]
Los Luriris (Photo Gallery)
ENG: These are photos of some of my highland flute maker friends. I will update the gallery with new images throughout the course of my project. ESP: Son fotos de algunos de mis amigos luriris. Actualizaré la galería con nuevas imágenes a lo largo del proyecto. Andrés Mamani (†) (El Alto) Antonio Mamani (La Paz) […]
Musical Bamboos in PN y ANMI Cotapata
ENG: We are making progress with the inclusion of musical bamboos and their sustainable use in the management plan for Cotapata National Park and Integrated Natural Management Area (PN y ANMI Cotapata). This is a significant step toward acknowledging the ancestral use of these bamboo species in a region where natural resources were historically accessed […]
Showcase about Musical Bamboos
ENG: I am very grateful that my wife Jesika Paredes, a Bolivian music anthropologist, educator, and activist, has dedicated part of her exhibition about Andean music and flutes to the Musical Bamboos of the Bolivian Andes. She designed the showcase in the Center for World Music at the Univeristy of Hildesheim in such a beautiful […]
A Trip to the Zongo Valley
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 […]
Returning to Chuspipata after Six Years
ENG: After six years I returned to Chuspipata, which is located at the higher parts of the Yungas of La Paz at 3000 meter above sea level. Chuspipata is one of the recognized sourcing regions of tuquru bamboos (Aulonemia hirtula) in the Central Yungas of the Department of La Paz. My flute maker friends used to tell […]
Presentation in the Ecology Institute of UMSA and Thesis Proposal
ENG: I am very fortunate to have been invited for a presentation in the Institute of Ecology of the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (UMSA). This presentation was meant for undergraduate biology students interested in working on a bio-cultural thesis between botany and music, which I would co-supervise. What is urgently needed is more taxonomic […]
¡El StoryMap ahora en Español!
ENG: Ready for tomorrow’s presentation at the Ecology Institute of the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés: The StoryMap now in Spanish! ESP: Listo para la presentación de mañana en el Instituto de Ecología de la Universidad Mayor de San Andrés: ¡El StoryMap ahora en Español! Haz click para ver el StoryMap
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 […]
The Musical Bamboos of the Bolivian Andes 