Cha|rango [ˈtʃaːraɳɡoː] m f d
Five-string small guitar
Bolivia's national instrument
Double strings, shape and playing technique like the baroque guitar
Origin from the Spanish lute instrument "Vihuela de Mano", which came to South America during the colonial rule
Sound Body & Armadillo
Indios of the Andean highlands had to improvise when making their own instruments: they replaced the wood of the sound box – for lack of trees – with the hollowed-out shell of the native armadillo and made the strings out of animal gut
The charango found its way into the culture of the mountain peoples
Accompanying or solo instrument
The small Andean guitar is mainly used as an accompanying instrument
Popular instrument in Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Ecuador and northern Argentina
With Diego, the harp-like sounding charango gets a solo stage
DIEGOS CHARANGOS
In the course of his more than 50 years of musical life, Diego has been accompanied by around 20 different charangos – each one unique, each with its own personal and individual instrument history:
Beginning with Diego's Numero Uno, his first professionally crafted charango, made for the young Argentinian aged 12, to Diego's developed and commissioned "Gitarango," which includes guitar and Charango combined and enables a quick change.
