some charangos are made like this but mine is not - it's a "critterless" charango carved from solid wood.
i believe it was derived from the vihuela but i've never heard it called "vihuela of the conquistadores" before (fabulous name!) i'm sure it's predecessor looked very much as it does today. regards - bill de leon kilpatrick On Venerd́, giu 11, 2004, at 20:00 Europe/Rome, Thomas Schall wrote: > Isn't a charango mage out of the armour of an armadillo? > I've read it would have been build after the model of the vihuela of > the > "conquistadores" > > Best wishes > Thomas > > Am Fre, 2004-06-11 um 19.15 schrieb bill: > >> dear stewart - >> >> to complicate matters further, i've seen the charango referred to as >> "the lute of the andes." >> >> i had a slightly larger, pear-shaped charango made for me recently and >> with this "g-bead" tuning it sounds like something halfway between a >> lute and a mandolin. delightful. >> >> everything is not everything...but it's hard to be precise about the >> distinctions sometimes. >> >> thanks for your reply - bill >> >> On Venerd́, giu 11, 2004, at 12:51 Europe/Rome, Stewart McCoy wrote: >> >>> Dear Bill, >>> >>> You ask an interesting question. Does turning the 3rd string of a >>> guitar from g to f# turn the guitar into a lute? I would say no, >>> because of the shape of the instrument. Although changing the tuning >>> may give a guitarist access to lute music, it doesn't turn his >>> instrument into a lute. >>> >>> Similarly, if you tuned the 3rd course of your renaissance lute up a >>> semitone, you may try having a crack at a Villa Lobos Prelude, but >>> it wouldn't turn your lute into a guitar. >>> >>> So changing the tuning won't of itself change the instrument. Yet >>> what if I buy a large archlute in g', and retune it a tone higher, >>> but with the first course or two down an octave? Does my archlute >>> become a theorbo? >>> >>> If I have a common or garden bass viol, and play consort music, is >>> it a consort bass? If, on the other hand, I happen to use it to play >>> a viol solo (reading from tablature), does it become a lyra viol? >>> There is some evidence to suggest that a so-called consort bass was >>> larger than a lyra viol, but applying the term "lyra viol" to an >>> instrument is generally determined more by its function (playing >>> chordal music written in tablature), than a specific size. >>> >>> I have often been surprised at how important the word for something >>> is. The word may even become more important than the thing it >>> represents. From time to time I play my theorbo in a concert. >>> Sometimes people ask me what the instrument is called. When I say, >>> "It's a theorbo", they walk away. The word is all they need to know. >>> It is almost as if by knowing the word, they fully understand >>> whatever is represented by that word. >>> >>> Best wishes, >>> >>> Stewart McCoy. >>> >>> >>> ----- Original Message ----- >>> From: "bill" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>> To: "lute society" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>> Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2004 11:15 PM >>> Subject: a rose by any other name >>> >>> >>>> i've just been given a tuning for my charango that makes it >>> possible to >>>> play music written for the mandola (g-b-e-a-d.) it's also a banjo >>>> tuning, i note. >>>> >>>> it's wonderful. >>>> >>>> at what point, however, does my charango stop being that and >>> become a >>>> mandola or a banjo? if i were to use a renaissance tuning on my >>> oud, >>>> would that make it a fretless, renaissance lute? >>>> >>>> does an instrument get its name from the sum of its parts or is it >>>> tuning or contours and shape that makes it what it is? >>>> >>>> - bill >>>> >>>> >>> >>> >>> > > > > -- >
