Traditional music
Long under Spanish domination - like most of its neighbors - Bolivia's artistic expression was largely fuelled by Europe. It wasn't until the Revolution of 1952 - a working-class revolution, but also a revival of nationalism and a desire to highlight indigenous cultures - that traditional music really took off. It was at this time that a wave of neo-folkloric groups began to make their mark on the country. Starting with Los Jairas, the emblematic group formed in 1965 by Edgar "Yayo" Jofré, Gilbert Favre (a jazz clarinettist from Geneva), Julio Godoy and, above all, Ernesto Cavour. The latter, a great charango player, is still remembered as the Bolivian musician par excellence. In addition to founding Los Jairas, he is also famous for inventing various instruments that have enriched the country's folklore, such as the star-shaped charango, the double-armed guitar and an improved version of the zampoña, popularized throughout the country thanks to Los Kjarkas. Los Kjarkas is the other big band in the folk revival. Made up of 3 brothers, they play mainly huayño, or more rarely, sayas, both dance music influenced both by indigenous forms and by African music imported into Bolivia with slavery. Without knowing it, you're probably familiar with one of Los Kjarkas' greatest classics, Llorando se fue, because the Lambada is in fact a plagiarism.
The group Kala Marka was founded later in 1984 by Hugo Gutierrez and Rodolfo Choque. The duo fuse folk and modern instruments to traverse a wide range of traditional sounds such as the carnavalito, a dance with pre-Hispanic origins, the taquirari, inspired by nature, or the huayño and saya.
Also known internationally, Savia Andina and Rumillajta are two good names to keep in mind. The former, Savia Andina, was founded in 1975 and was one of the first to export Andean music beyond Bolivian borders. The second, Rumillajta, was active between 1980 and 2001, taking Andean music to numerous festivals around the world and singing about nature, coca and indigenous rights. Let's not forget to mention the great national voice, Luzmila Carpio, an emblematic mezzo-soprano whose intoxicating singing in Quechua has dazzled stages the world over, including those in France, where she was Bolivia's ambassador between 2006 and 2011.
The charango, the star instrument of Bolivian music, is rarely absent from any of the above-mentioned groups and/or styles. Also widely played in Peru, northern Chile and Argentina, the charango has travelled far and wide, but remains the undisputed star of Bolivian music. Its history dates back to the Spanish era, when the guitar was introduced to the country. The charango was born in the city of Potosí, the richest and most cosmopolitan city in South America during the two centuries of the colony. The charango has three, four or five double strings (or more, and even triple strings), all separated by an octave. Once played only as a musical accompaniment, the instrument acquired its letters of nobility as it passed through the hands of masters such as Mauro Nuñez Caceres, Ernesto Cavour and William Centellas, and today can lay claim to a role as an original soloist. Although omnipresent, the charango is not the only traditional Bolivian instrument. Alongside it are the sikus (panpipes), the quena (flute), the tarkas (wooden recorder), the hualaycho (lute), the bombo (large drum), the huancara (drum), the reco reco (scraped idiophone), the pinquillo (another flute), the pututu (conch shell) and the chajchas (rattles).
If there's one place - or rather places - in the whole country to listen to Bolivian music, it's the peñas. These are the halls where Andean musicians perform, in all the main towns. They put on sometimes mediocre, often superb and festive performances of indigenous music and dance. A must for a true taste of Bolivia's artistic soul, especially as these stages have been and often still are a breeding ground for talented artists. In the past, illustrious musicians (Savia Andina, Los Kjarkas, Rumillajta and Luis Rico, among others) got their start in a peña. And often in the same one, the peña Naira, created in the 1960s (and sadly since closed) by the pioneers of Bolivian music: Los Jairas. In addition to the peñas, the country offers a number of events featuring traditional music, such as the carnivals of Oruro (one of the biggest in South America in terms of attendance) and La Paz. Less well known, the Chapaco carnival in Tarija, held on the second weekend of February, is one of the most boisterous in the country. There's lots of dancing, singing and music. The carnival in Valle Grande, a village in the province of Santa Cruz, is also well worth a visit, with its four days of music and dance off the beaten track. Other celebrations include the Fiesta de Jesús del Gran Poder Barrio Chijini, a religious festival in La Paz, and the anniversary of the independence of the department of Santa Cruz, which is packed with concerts. In addition to these events, there are a number of places throughout the country that are highly recommended for a folk concert, such as Pan de Oro in La Paz, a rustic-chic restaurant that hosts them from time to time, Apekua in Santa Cruz, an establishment run by a French-Swiss couple with a bohemian atmosphere, or Lacacharpaya in Tarija, a peña that's ideal for a good evening out.
Classical music
Bolivia may be absent from the current geography of classical music, but it has a particularly interesting episode in its history. In the 18th century, Jesuit composers on mission - most notably Martin Schmid (1694-1772) - brought with them European music from the late Renaissance and Baroque periods (Spanish, Italian and Eastern European). It was in the plains of Amazonia, far from the splendor of Baroque churches and the mundane salons of Sucre and Potosí, that these Jesuit missionaries accomplished one of the most beautiful and laudable achievements in the country's history. Based in the "reductions" of Paraguay and those of Moxos and Chiquitos, the Jesuits, often outstanding musicians, taught Baroque music to the Moxetenes, Guaranis, Guarayos and Chiquitanos, the tribes of the Bolivian Amazon. In the space of half a century (1691-1767), the ancestors of the Bolivian Amazonians themselves became remarkable musicians, capable of composing vespers, sonatas and operas. The expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767 brought the process to a halt, but not the end. For some as yet unexplained reason, Bolivian Baroque music did not enjoy the popularity and recognition it deserved until the 1990s. Perhaps because these treasures of Baroque music were composed by what some still call " los indios". Preserved by the Chiquitos and Guarayos tribes for 200 years with a passion and love that were kept secret, and in the midst of general indifference, this music from the Amazon is finally enjoying the aura it deserves, and is being consecrated within a superb event: the Festival Internacional de Música Renacentista y Barroca Americana Misiones de Chiquitos. Held every two years since 1996, this festival aims to disseminate the musical heritage of the former Jesuit missions of Chiquitos (1691-1767) and Moxos (1681-1767) - including some 9,000 sheets of sacred music written in the 17th and 18th centuries by European and indigenous composers. Now one of the biggest musical events in South America, the festival features over 800 musicians from Europe and Latin America over more than ten days and nearly a hundred concerts. A must-see event. Apart from this event, music lovers will find some interesting concerts in La Paz at the Teatro Municipal Alberto Saavedra Pérez, the city's (and indeed the country's) main theater, where major classical music recitals, operas and ballets are performed.
Traditional dance
Dances in Bolivia have preserved this social and cultural aspect that is so lacking today in the West. It's an opportunity for a village, a community, to meet, to get together, to laugh together, to remember... or to forget a bitter and gray daily life. They also have a small influence on the local economy, as thousands of people pass through, encouraging small-scale sidewalk traders and informal businesses.
Among the most common dances are auqui auquis, a parody of the dandies of colonial times; callahuayas, which mimic the healers of the north of the country and their rites to ward off evil; cambas, which mimic the indigenous people of the tropical regions on the Altiplano; caporales, dances from the black communities of the Yungas that depict the black slaves who came from Africa; catripulis, in which dancers wear crowns and three suri feathers, as well as a silver costume, evoking the supposed clothing of angels; chiriguano, a pre-Columbian war dance in which dancers wear ponchos made of jaguar skin; chutas, featuring the country cholo, danced in couples; cullahuas, an Inca dance modified after the arrival of the Spaniards, involving both men and women, and featuring the ñustas or Virgins of the Sun; diablada, the most famous of all dances, recounting the battle between good and evil; kachua, an Aymara dance of fertility and abundance, performed by teenagers miming seduction; kusillos, where clowns and jesters have a field day; lecheras, where dancers dress up as milk deliverymen; morenada, a masked dance representing the morenos, the blacks brought by the Spaniards to the Yungas; pulipulis, where birdsong is imitated; takeadas, where, to the sound of the tarka, a house is consecrated when the roof is finally finished; tinku, war dances from the south of the Potosí region, very violent (it's not unusual for there to be deaths!); tobas, a dance depicting the struggle of the jungle ancestors against the Inca invader Yupanqui; Waca, featuring bullfights and expressing both love and hatred of bullfighting.
