el Charango de Bolivia

This is a musical instrument known as the Charango. It is a member of the lute family. The Charango was invented in the city of Potosi, Bolivia. Rumor has it that the Charango was the result of the Spanish invasion, wherein the local people were not allowed to openly play their native music, thus they invented an instrument that could easily be hidden inside a coat.

The Charango is made like a small guitar from either wood or the shell of an armadillo. It has ten strings arranged in five pairs. These strings made of nylon, starting at the top pair closest to the player, are tuned thusly: G C E A E. There are other tunings, but this one is the most common.

The sound of the Charango is one octave above unison and all the strings are tuned inside a single octave with the highest note open on the middle pair. The tone is sparkling and clear, somewhat like a cross between a mandolin and an ukelele. It is played with the fingers as one would play a classical guitar.

This image was drawn on standard vellum with a number two pencil. It was scanned into the computer using Paint Shop Pro 7 twain import from a Canon Canoscan 860 USB flatbed scanner. No retouching was done. Text was added after the picture was cropped to remove excess white space around the Charango image.

I dedicate this artwork to all the fine folks of Bolivia. Viva Potosi. Viva Bolivia!