The Session >> Discussions >> A fiddle, whistle and guitar with a few leaves at 3000 meters
Comments
A fiddle, whistle and guitar with a few leaves at 3000 meters
A fiddle, whistle and guitar with a few leaves at 3000 meters
A while back I had the rather interesting experience of meeting up with a street band in Cusco, Peru. During our exchange of broken Spanish and English I was handed a guitar to accompany a fiddle, quena (Andean whistle), and a panpipe - an impromptu Andean "session" as it were. In keeping with an eye-opening visit to that country, it seemed that my rudimentary knowledge of traditional Irish music applied at least somewhat to their Andean repertoire - duple (reel) and triple (jig) rhythms, song structure (AABB), keys (Em/G, Am/C), chord choices (though with more frequent use of dominant 7ths). When the table was turned and I played melody, it was a quite lovely and haunting sound to hear panpipes and Andean fiddle fall right into place with an Irish jig (Morrison's as I recall).
I don't reckon that Itrad would embrace Andean music as an influence, but it does strike me that so-called "folk" music (at least from Western cultures) seems to have much in common the world over no matter the time, culture, location, or elevation above sea level. Now I'm back home in North America working out Irish tunes on a Bolvian charango - a ten-string "turbo charged" mandolin as a friend put it. Its uncanny how much the melody of Nucallajta, a traditional Ecuadorian song, is remeniscent of Brian Boru's March.
On ther other hand, perhaps this all stems from the residual effects of chewing one too many coca leaves to ward off altitude sickness hign atop the Altiplano...
Re: A fiddle, whistle and guitar with a few leaves at 3000 meters
Aside from that chew... (whew!! ), I had a sort of similar experience in Ennis, Co. Clare, with a Peruvian street band. By the time the focus had shifted back from the New World to the Old, there were some other native Irish players to join in.
The sound was indeed most haunting with the Peruvians. Lovely.
Re: A fiddle, whistle and guitar with a few leaves at 3000 meters
Much of the music played in Latin America is of European origin - from the Iberian Peninsula in particular. Since anthropologists are now saying that the Irish have their closest relatives in the people of Portugal and Northwest Spain, should we be surprised that the music of The Andes and the music of The Paddies are not entirely incompatible?
A fiddle, whistle and guitar with a few leaves at 3000 meters
A fiddle, whistle and guitar with a few leaves at 3000 meters
A while back I had the rather interesting experience of meeting up with a street band in Cusco, Peru. During our exchange of broken Spanish and English I was handed a guitar to accompany a fiddle, quena (Andean whistle), and a panpipe - an impromptu Andean "session" as it were. In keeping with an eye-opening visit to that country, it seemed that my rudimentary knowledge of traditional Irish music applied at least somewhat to their Andean repertoire - duple (reel) and triple (jig) rhythms, song structure (AABB), keys (Em/G, Am/C), chord choices (though with more frequent use of dominant 7ths). When the table was turned and I played melody, it was a quite lovely and haunting sound to hear panpipes and Andean fiddle fall right into place with an Irish jig (Morrison's as I recall).
I don't reckon that Itrad would embrace Andean music as an influence, but it does strike me that so-called "folk" music (at least from Western cultures) seems to have much in common the world over no matter the time, culture, location, or elevation above sea level. Now I'm back home in North America working out Irish tunes on a Bolvian charango - a ten-string "turbo charged" mandolin as a friend put it. Its uncanny how much the melody of Nucallajta, a traditional Ecuadorian song, is remeniscent of Brian Boru's March.
On ther other hand, perhaps this all stems from the residual effects of chewing one too many coca leaves to ward off altitude sickness hign atop the Altiplano...
# Posted on November 7th 2004 by SteveM
Re: A fiddle, whistle and guitar with a few leaves at 3000 meters
Aside from that chew... (whew!! ), I had a sort of similar experience in Ennis, Co. Clare, with a Peruvian street band. By the time the focus had shifted back from the New World to the Old, there were some other native Irish players to join in.
The sound was indeed most haunting with the Peruvians. Lovely.
Thanks!
stv
# Posted on November 8th 2004 by stv culchie
Re: A fiddle, whistle and guitar with a few leaves at 3000 meters
Much of the music played in Latin America is of European origin - from the Iberian Peninsula in particular. Since anthropologists are now saying that the Irish have their closest relatives in the people of Portugal and Northwest Spain, should we be surprised that the music of The Andes and the music of The Paddies are not entirely incompatible?
# Posted on November 8th 2004 by CreadurMawnOrganig
Re: A fiddle, whistle and guitar with a few leaves at 3000 meters
At the other extreme you could have a Celtic Panpipes CD - for which 3000 metres is probably about the right distance for listening.
# Posted on November 8th 2004 by showaddydadito
Re: A fiddle, whistle and guitar with a few leaves at 3000 meters
Do those CDs feature any jigs or reels? There's the All Ireland Miscellaneous category - any volunteers.
# Posted on November 10th 2004 by CreadurMawnOrganig