the world ofmusic41 (1) -1999:53-58

Aesthetics of Sound and Listening in the Andes: The

Case of the Mantaro Valley
Raul R. Romero

Abstract
Peoples and cultures ascribe to the same acoustic sounds different social-related
qualities, sentimental references and aesthetic values./n the central Peruvian Andes,
for example, people perceive and value the sounds of the saxophone and clarinet in a
different way from those living in other ports of the Andes. This article briefly describes haw both instruments became popularized in the region during the present
century and displaced older pre-Hispanic and colonial instruments.lt also attempts to
explain the social conditions which make possible the acceptance of"new" over "older" and local sounds.

Why do different cultures favor specific attributes of sound over others? This question is inexorably linked to the distinctive listening practices and acoustic perceptive
patterns that characterize all particular social groups. The buildup of these aesthetic
preferences gradually gives shape to distinct musical and cultural styles. The way the
people of the Man taro valley of Central Peru listen to the sound of the saxophone, for
example, is invariably different from how it is listened, perceived and ultimately valued in other regions of the Andes. Sound is, therefore, not a "universal value," as
popular belief is prone to sanction. Peoples and cultures ascribe to the same acoustic
sound different formal and social qualities, sentimental references, and aesthetic
worth.
This certainly seems to be illustrated in the case of the incorporation of clarinets
and saxophones in the Man taro valley. In this region, these instruments were subject
to a rapid process of popularization during the present century, and their acoustic
sounds were considered in the local discourse as a beneficial progression from the
sounds of "<Older" pre-Hispanic or colonial musical instruments which had been
eventually displaced or forgotten. Why did these instruments become so rapidly accepted in the Mantaro valley, unlike in other parts of the Andes? What is being
"heard" by the inhabitants of the valley when a saxopoone is performed? To what extent are the listening processes of a group of people determined by their social and
cultural history? 1

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In order to understand why the clarinet and saxophone displaced previous local
sounds (or why they were thought to "sound" better than others) in the Mantaro valley, it is necessary to describe the social conditions which made possible the acceptance of "new" over "older" sounds. The region is one of the largest intermontane
valleys in the central Andes of Peru, rich in agricultural resources and unique in its
patterns of land tenure. Due to the valley's proximity to the nation's capital, its produce has found internal and external markets with relative ease since colonial times,
and as a result its peasantry became one of the most prosperous in the nation. The
valley is unique as well because of the absence of the hacienda system of large landholdings. The colonial administration decided that it would not establish the encomienda (a program by which land and peasants were governed by Spanish landlords), allowing the peasantry to maintain their property rights over land. As a result,
the peasantry of the Mantaro valley avoided the servile existence that characterized
other Andean regions, where the Spanish landlord assumed a patriarchal role and instituted a regime based on harsh exploitation and cultural repression. 2
Given this state of affairs, the area under scrutiny seemed better prepared than
others to absorb "modernity" around the tum of the century. "Modernity" hit theregion in various ways: the construction of a railroad which linked the Mantaro valley
with the nation's capital in a 12-hour journey; the subsequent construction of a central highway which even shortened this journey to 6 to 8 hours; and the establishment
of large transnational mining companies in the area which attracted thousands of
peasants looking for seasonal jobs and constituted a source for hard currency. All of
these events accelerated social and economic change around the tum of the century,
bringing increased integration of the peasantry into national society.
Ethnic and cultural transmutation also marked this period in definitive directions.
A process of mestizaje developed rapidly, by which Indian population and culture
began a process of transformation in view of the new state of affairs. The use of the
Spanish language began to spread as widely as that of Quechua, and many of the
traits that had previously separated Indians from mestizos disappeared. Cultural homogenization did occur in the Mantaro valley, but actually benefited the mestizaje
process, which mixed local culture with the tools of modernity and the global market.
On the one hand, Spanish became the lingua franca among peasants, the cash economy a requirement of subsistence, and the frocess of integration to the internal and
even external markets proved successfuL But Quechua was never forgotten, nor
were traditional dress, music, customs, the festival, and other cultural symbols and
performances, all of which form a system that constitutes one of the most dynamic
regional cultures in the Peruvian Andes. The concept of a "Wanka identity" -after
the name of the pre-Hispanic ethnic group that inhabited the valley - is a paragon
constantly present in the popular and official discourses of the valley as a permanent
reminder of the continuing struggle to maintain a distinct temperament.
It was in the 1910s, during this period of intense change and redefinition, that the
clarinet was introduced in the valley and incorporated into the conjunto, the most
popular musical ensemble at that time. This ensemble was built around the harp and

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55

Fig. 1. Modem orquesta t(pica (typical orchestra) in the Mantaro Valley/Peru. With
violin, harp, two clarinets, seven saxophones. The Mantaro people have learned to
"hear" the sound ofsaxophone since 1940 as the representative sound of their
regional culture.

the violin, which were its basic instruments. Both instruments had been introduced in
the Andes during colonial times and became widely accepted among Indians and
mestizos alike. After the introduction of the clarinet to the Mantaro valley, it swiftly
displaced the quena, a pre-Hispanic wind instrument that had also been a part of the
conjunto. Why were the people of the valley so eager to replace an ancient instrument reminiscent of their Andean past for a newcomer? Musicians whom I interviewed have explained that the sound of the clarinet is "better" than the quena, "softer,'' and capable of richer tones than the noble, but limited, quena. In all cases, I
found a well-thought out justification for such a displacement and a latent emphasis
on the "progress" that the use of the clarinet implied over that of the quena. This emphasis was in aJI cases put on the sound itself, which embodied the qualities perceived as desirable in a musical instrument.
When the saxophone found its way to the conjunto in the 1940s (now called
"orquesta tfpica," or typical orchestra), a similar process of validation took place.
The sound of the saxophone was considered "brilliant" and "vigorous," and, although the saxophones did not displace the clarinets, they relegated them to a second
place within the orchestra. Around this decade the Typical Orchestra became consol-

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ida1ed into a harp, two violins, two clarinets and two saxophones. But gradually more
saxophones were added, and today a Typical Orchestra may feature as much as
twelve saxophones, while there are still only two clarinets. 4
There are many perspectives and possible explanations as to why the sounds of
these instruments were perceived as "ideal" timbres and considered as a sign of
"progress" compared to the earlier ones. The facile rationalization that traditional societies tend to be easily invaded by foreign products, which brings to mind outmoded
notions of "acculturation," "deculturation," or even "alienation," should be disregarded. As Sullivan well notes, it is absurd to assume that the subjects of anthropological (or ethnomusicological) inquiry do not have a native anthropology themselves (Sullivan 1986: IS). Those who are not aware of this fact will tend to think that
adaptations and displacements are unreflective acts by unconscious peoples who do
not deliberate on these issues at aU. In the Mantaro valley, the sounds of the clarinet
and saxophone were considered superior and more appropriate to the times than preHispan-ic ones. They ascribed to those sounds superior values, virtues and advantages. They listened to the clarinet and concluded that they had found a better way of expressing themselves, and they heard the saxophone as an echo of their own vigorous
regional culture. That sound expressed much better what a quena could not. Today
the Typical Orchestra is a cultural symbol and the main performance ensemble
throughout the Mantaro valley. 5
The previous account, however, is only germane to the issue of listening in culture if we consider that the clarinet and the saxophone are not appraised in similar
ways in other cultural regions of the South American Andes. Most of the European
instruments that are considered "Indian" or "mestizo" were introduced or developed
during the colonial domination. The harp and the violin, to cite just a few examples,
were taught and disseminated by the missionaries in their evangelizing efforts. The
brass band and the instruments that comprise it are als~;> a recent phenomenon, but
these instruments were accepted as a group and as a result of the republican military
practice of recruiting soldiers from the rural areas. In fact, the sound of the Typical
Orchestra-mainly consisting of the sound of the saxophones-is not esteemed
much in the southern and northern regions of Andean Peru. The timbre of the saxophone (the most notorious sound producer of the orchestra) is considered by nonWankas to be too blaring, a harsh and violent sound which would be highly inappropriate for performing southern Andean music, for example. At any rate, as one of my
informants related to me, it does reflects admirably the personality of the W anka:
vigorous, self-confident, loud and flashy.
The performance contexts of the Typical Orchestra also should be considered in
the way the Wanka "hear" the sound of the saxophone. The ensemble is a festival
group which performs in an atmosphere in which musicians and many participants
are stimulated by various extra-musical factors. As opposed to the way European audiences hear academic music, festival music does not require a strict separation between audience and performers, nor the abstinence of emotion. Participant observation, active participation, emotional involvement, state of ritual drunkenness,

Romero. Aestetics ofSound and Listening in the Andes

57

physical fatigue, humorous i.nterludes, routine playing ~an these are factors that in"
fluence the act of hearing a festive musical ensemble. The sound has to be "dense,"
"thick," and certainly "loud" to impress the audience and festival sponsors and to
compete adequately with other orchestras.
I would conclude this brief account on sound and listening in a particular region
of the Andes with the affirmation of the obvious: sound and listening are culturally
determined. Musical sounds are perceived differently by people from different cultures. There is as well a hierarchy of sounds (some sounds are better than others), and
the listening process is a mechanism by which these culturally determined perceptions are put into action. The sound of the saxophone is a "beautiful" sound for the
Wanka but a dreadful one for the ''purist" and advocates of"cultural authenticity" in
the Andes. To close these notes with a short story,! recall one of my field trips to the
Mantaro valley in the mid-1980s, when I invited a collector of Andean "traditional"
music to join me and my team. During the first day of our visit a festival was being
performed in one small town and the Typical Orchestra suddenly appeared in the
main plaza. When my friend saw and heard the "blaring" saxophones, he became
perplexed. Later he told me that this was not Andean music, and certainly not "traditional" music, and that he was going south the next day (to Cusco) where "authentic"
Andean music could be found. No doubt, my friend would at some later time savor
the saxophone in a late-night bar in New York City, confirming that the listening
context has also a determining role in ascribing values to instrumental sounds.
The people of the Mantaro valley have learned to "hear" the sound of the saxophone since the 1940s as the representative sound of their regional culture. It undoubtedly epitomizes their energetic stand towards "modernity" (transnational capital, communications and the global economy) and the self-assurance of their cultural
identity achieved through a successful process of mestizaje. Sound and cultural identity in the valley have merged into one single set of meanings and symbols in a continuous and changing process which defies rigid associations.

Notes
My observations on the music of the Mantaro valley are the result of fieldwork undenaken in
the year 1985 and subsequent periods to the present.
2

For a detailed history of the Mantaro valley see Arguedas 1957; Mallon 1983; and Long &
Roberts 1978.

A thorough description of the process of mestizaje in the region can be found in Adams 1959
and Arguedas 1957.

For a survey of the musical practices of the valley and the development of the Orquesta Tipica.
see Romero 1990 and 1995.

The process is similar to Stoller's observation of the violin u sed by Songhay musicians, whose
sound "corresponds to deep themes in Songhay experience" (Stoller 1986: 108).

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References
Adams, Richard
1959 A Communiry in the Andes: Problems and Progress in Muquiyauyo. Seattle: University
of Washington Press.
Arguedas, Jose Maria
1957 "Evolucion de Ia Comunidades lndigenas. El valle del Mantaro y Ia Ciudad de Huancayo." Revista del Museo Nacional26: 105- 96.
Long, Norman & Brain Robens, eds.
1978 Peasant Cooperation and Capitalist Expansion in Central Peru. Austin: The University of Texas Press.
Mallon, Florencia E.
1983 The Defense ofCommuniry in Peru's Cemral Highlands. Princeton. NJ: Princeton University Press.
Romero, Raul
1990 "Musical Change and Cultural Resistance in the Central Andes of Peru." Larin American Music Review 11(1):1-35.
1995 CD Traditional Music of Peru: The Mantaro Valley. Recordings and notes by Raul R.
Romero. Washington: Smithsonian/Folkways SF CD 40467.
Stoller. Paul
1986 "Sound in Songhay Sorcery."ln The Taste of Ethnographic Things: The Senses in Anthropology. Paul Stoller, ed. Philadelphia: The University of Pennsylvania Press. 10122.

Sullivan, Lawrence
1986 "Sound and Senses: Toward a Hermeneutics of Performance". ln (reprint of] History of
Religions 26(1): 1-33.