Have you ever heard of Museo de Instrumentos Musicales de Bolivia? I discovered this small but lovely museum while strolling down Jaén Street in La Paz's colonial district.
I actually got lost in the narrow lanes and came across this courtyard. The place happened to be the house of Ernesto Cavour, a passionate Bolivian musician who founded this museum in 1962. The archives were eventually expanded with the assistance of local municipal authorities.
The museum has six rooms and displays a large collection of musical instruments from Bolivia and around the world. You can also try your hands on some of the instruments. It was a fun and eye-opening experience for me.
That was the first time I saw traditional charangos made with armadillo/quirquincho and turtle shells. This Andean stringed instrument originated in the Altiplano after the Spanish introduced European stringed instruments.
The charango is also a popular instrument throughout the Andean regions of Peru, Ecuador, northern Chile, and northwestern Argentina. Nowadays, charango is mostly made of wood which is thought to be a better resonator.
上次整理街头演奏照片时，看到玻利维亚乐器博物馆。那天我在首都拉巴斯晃悠，迷失在某条小巷子里，偶然看到一个小小的四合院，里面就是乐器博物馆。
结果是个意外惊喜，虽然看着有点简陋，展品却很丰富有趣。不仅有本国各地的传统乐器，还有整个美洲乃至全世界的。
其中展示了不少charango，是一种颇具玻利维亚本土特色的弦乐器，也见于其他安第斯山区的南美国家。这种貌似迷你琵琶的乐器基于西班牙殖民时期的欧洲弦乐器，在玻利维亚发展出自己的版本，传统上是用犰狳或乌龟的壳制成的， 而现代乐器中常用木材，还有好多儿童版的是用葫芦做成。
在馆里，我也看到了中国的古筝、日本的手鼓、非洲的笛子和欧洲的风琴等全球各地多种多样的乐器。
Los Kjarkas is a popular Bolivian band that plays and promotes Andean folk music. They use instruments such as the charango, bombo, quena, ronroco, zampoña, and guitar. Below is their famous song "Llorando Se Fue" from 1981 which inspired hits like Lambada.
Kaoma's Lambada was a mix cover of the 1986 hit "Chorando Se Foi" by Márcia Ferreira (both in Portuguese lyrics) and Cuarteto Continental's 1984 upbeat version of "Llorando Se Fue".
下面是来自玻利维亚传统乐队Los Kjarkas的经典老歌，启发了一众其他大火的改编。这个现场演奏里就用了之前提到的charango和安第斯排箫等乐器。
