The Global Charango: Diasporic Perspectives on Cross-Cultural Intersections

This Globallink proposal is “stage 1” of my Master’s thesis. The subject is the charango– an iconic colonial era Indigenous/European hybrid instrument with roots in the Andes in South America, where it was an expression of cross-cultural encounter and musical innovation of indigenous people. Since then, it has spread, changed, and become central to musical culture in South America and beyond. This research concerns the interactions of the charango outside of its home terrains. In a study of cross-cultural musical intersections, this thesis will assert that the charango’s presence in the diaspora creates rich opportunity for re-examining issues of cross-cultural musical interaction, negotiation, and invention. Theoretical concepts from Diaspora studies and multiculturalism shall set the context for a research-creation ‘laboratory’ of cross-cultural musical collaboration. These field experiments will test and illustrate the charango’s versatility and importance in diaspora, and present the ‘global charango’ for the first time in musicological scholarship.

Faculty Supervisor:

James Deaville

Student:

Partner:

Universitat Wien

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Education

University:

Carleton University

Program: