[ the history of charango ]

It would be hard -or rather impossible- to trace back the precise origin of the charango. However, we can make a fairly good approach to the time and place where the charango was born: obviously in the American Continent after the European invasion. Some time during the XVIth Century conquest, among other musical instruments, the Spaniards brought down to these lands the "hand-plucked vihuela"; a stringed instrument similar to the guitar in three different sizes: small, medium and large, with 5, 6, or 7 two-string courses tuned in different keys.

In colonial times, Potosi was a very important hub from the commercial and cultural points of view. Currently Potosi still boasts evidence of the existence of vihuela schools in those times.

The San Lorenzo Church façade in Potosí -which began to be built in 1547 and was completed in 1744- (see photograph) features an eloquent document: a couple of carved mermaids playing the charango. These mermaids are also to be found at the Yocalla Church (Potosi), sculpted in 1747 (Source: Musical Instruments of Bolivia, by Ernesto Cavour, pages 252 - 253). Summing up, we can state that by having been disseminated all throughout the region, the charango has become an American instrument which joins in brotherhood the peoples of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Peru, and Ecuador, even though its origin is to be found in Potosi a long time before these nations were born.