Andean Music - Modern History

Modern History

The twentieth century saw drastic changes in Andean society and culture. Bolivia, for example, saw a nationalistic revolution in 1952, leading to increased rights and social awareness for natives. The new government established a folklore department in the Bolivian Ministry of Education and radio stations began broadcasting in Aymara and Quechua.

By 1965, an influential group called Los Jairas formed in La Paz, Bolivia; the quartet fused native sounds into forms suitable for urban Europeans and the middle class. One member of Los Jairas, Gilbert Favre (a Swiss-French flautist) had previously been an acquaintance of the Parras (Ángel, Isabel, and their mother Violeta) in Paris. The Parras eventually began promoting indigenous music in Santiago, Chile.

The late 1960s released native groups such as Ruphay, Grupo Aymara, and the emblematic quechua singer, Luzmila Carpio. Later Chilean groups such as Inti-Illimani and Los Curacas took the fusion work of Los Jairas and the Parras to invent nueva canción, which returned to Bolivia in the 1980s in the form of canto nuevo artists such as Emma Junaro and Matilde Casazola.

The 1970s was a decade in which Andean music saw its biggest growth. Different groups sprang out of the different villages throughout the Andes Region. Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia, Colombia and Argentina.

Many musicians made their way to the big cities forming different bands and groups. One of the most legendary was Los Kjarkas, from Bolivia. Singing and composing songs that became huge hits in Bolivia and would later become Andean standards.

They would later take Andean music to the rest of the world.