An Indigenous Argentine quena, a traditional Andean instrument.

In northern Argentina, on the border with Bolivia and Chile, the music of the Andes reflects the spirit of the land with the sounds of local wind, percussion and string instruments. Jaime Torres is a famous Argentine charango player.

Wind Instruments

Perhaps the most recognisable instruments used in Andean music are the panpipes, called "siku" or "zampoñas". These come in a variety of sizes and arrangements and are usually made out of bamboo cane or a very strong but lightweight reed called "songo" which grows on the banks of Lake Titicaca. The common names for the different sizes are "malta" (very small), "ika" (small), "siku" (medium), "sanka" (medium-large), "semitoyo" (large), and "toyo" (very large). The most commonly used in the vast majority of Andean music are the siku and sanka for normal melodies, and the toyos for a mesmerising bass sound.

The Andean panpipes are generally played either with one player playing two rows of pipes, or they may also be played by two players, each with a separate row, in "dialogando". Each player plays alternating notes of the scale.

More recently, some panpipes have a third row added which allows chromatic scales to be played, thus allowing songs in any diatonic key to be played.

Other variations to the standard panpipes include the "antara" in which all the pipes are arranged in a single row, and the "rondador" which are arranged in a single row, but in alternating 3rd intervals, allowing two notes to be played together in harmony. The rondador is very often used in the "San Juanito", a processional form originating from Ecuador.

Other types of flutes traditionally used in Andean music include the quenilla, quena, and quenacho. These three flutes are of identical constructions, but in different sizes, consisting of a hollow tube with a notch at the mouthpiece, six fingerholes on the top and a thumbhole at the bottom. The usual range of each is about 2 and a half octaves (though some players can manage to get a wider range). The construction is generally of wood, usually bamboo, rosewood, or ebony, but occasionally other materials can be found, such as bone, or even glass. Some quenas are highly decorated with andean motifs, making them in and of themselves works of art.

Other traditional flutes include the tarkas, which are carved from a single block of wood, with an integrated "whistle". The tarkas (or tark-flutes) are roughtly tuned to a pentatonic scale, and are available in a variety of sizes, the tones being approximately a fourth apart. Very often the flutes are played together in the different sizes. The melodies of the tarkas, however, are usually not the usual "diatonic" tuning as is found in most western music, and thus some people may find the sound somewhat irritating. (to each his own, I guess...) Occasionally the tarkas are played together with another "integrated-whistle" type flute called a moceño, which provides a more mellow, and usually much lower pitch tone. It is played transversally into a shorter tube mounted on top of the longer main flute. Blowing into the hole circulates the air to the end and through the whistle section, and resonating through the main longer tube. Again, like the tarkas, the moceños come in a variety of sizes.

There are literally dozens of different types of flutes used in Andean music, all with different sounds, indeed there are far too many to list here. Those I have mentioned, however, are among the most common flutes heard in Andean music.