The difference between a vihuela and a charango (I own one, which still has the animal's ears on...) is the same as that between a piano and an organ transplant: they sort of look the same, kind of have the same purpose, and are just as related to each other as we all are on this planet: 7 degrees of separation only. The Cuban lute (or laud) however - as heard in the Buena Vista Club group recording - is only loosely related to the real lute. See http://www.lafi.org/magazine/interviews/barbarito.html and http://www.geocities.com/homecorbett/Barbarito.html Interestingly enough, Cuban lute players are referred to as "Tocador de Laud" - same root as "toccata", I suppose, and the French "toucher", with a hint at improvisation -
On the second page cited above, there is the following paragraph with a reference to the "Spanish laud": Anyone knows what that would be? "The Cuban Laud was originally from Arabia," Barbarito explains from a Virginia hotel room. "It was then taken to Spain, and the Spaniards brought it to Cuba. With each change of culture, it went through a metamorphosis. The Spanish Laud has a longer neck with a lower tuning. The Cuban Laud, on the other hand, has two less frets and the sound box is smaller. Everywhere we play, people are intrigued by the Laud. It's a traditional instrument, but not a typical one. So people are always curious about it." (Note the Cuban laud is tuned in fifths: D, A, E, B, F#, C#. ) Alain At 07:14 PM 9/13/2004, Vance Wood wrote: >I always thought is was a joint conspiracy between the people of Atlantis >and Space Aliens. > >Vance Wood. >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Roman Turovsky" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: "LUTE-LIST" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Sent: Monday, September 13, 2004 4:24 PM >Subject: Re: charango as vihuela > > > > > Hi, > > > the theory I have heard about affirms a small group of chinese monks > > > were in America c. 450, not c. 1430. Is that another theory? > > Why do you think there is such a proliferation of Cuban-Chinese >restaurants > > in NYC, and the main dish is SECO DE CHARANGO? > > RT > > > > > > > > saludos from Barcelona > > > > > > Manolo Laguillo > > > > > > > > > > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > > > >> With the theory out there that the Chinese visited the Americas c. >1430, > > >> including the Pacific coasts, perhaps the Pipa is the ancestor of the > > >> charango! :^) > > >> > > >> Leonard Williams > > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > > > > > > -- > > > > > >
