Concheras or conchas are Mexican stringed-instruments, plucked by concheros dancers. The instruments were important to help preserve elements of native culture from Eurocentric-Catholic suppression. The instruments are used by Concheros dancers for singing at "velaciones" (nighttime rituals) and for dancing at "obligaciones" (dance obligations).

Types

The bodies of the

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can re ...

s were traditionally made from a concha (

armadillo Armadillos (meaning "little armored ones" in Spanish) are New World placental mammals in the order Cingulata. The Chlamyphoridae and Dasypodidae are the only surviving families in the order, which is part of the superorder Xenarthra, al ...

shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard o ...

). Today the bowls may be made of wood and the

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

have a flat back. *''mandolinos de concheros'' or ''mandolina conchera'': with 4 double

courses Course may refer to: Directions or navigation * Course (navigation), the path of travel * Course (orienteering), a series of control points visited by orienteers during a competition, marked with red/white flags in the terrain, and corresponding ...

(8 strings), tuned as mandolin (g-d-a-e). *''vihuelas de concheros'' or ''vihuela conchera'': with 5 double

(10 strings). Tuned as

vihuela The vihuela () is a 15th-century fretted plucked Spanish string instrument, shaped like a guitar (figure-of-eight form offering strength and portability) but tuned like a lute. It was used in 15th- and 16th-century Spain as the equivalent of t ...

, but in the 3rd, 4th and 5th courses, each string in a course tuned to an

octave In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...

of the other string. *''guitarras de concheros'' or ''guitarra conchera'': with 6 double

(12 strings). Tuned as

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

, but in the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th courses, each string in a course tuned to an octave of the other string.

History

After the arrival of the Spanish conquerors to Mexico in 1519, the indigenous musicians and instrument makers of central Mexico, took up European instruments. Tradition has it that the instruments were adopted by Native Americans in what is now modern Mexico in the 16th century. At least one person, not involved in the tradition, has speculated that the birth of the instrument might be closer to the mid-18th century. The Spanish church leaders had prohibited the use of drums to Native Americans, in an effort to eliminate their dancing, which was tied to the drum rhythms. However the Spanish did not object to the Native-Americans learning to play European instruments. The Native-Americans took their drum rhythms and incorporated then into music on the lutes to "preserve the original beats of Danza rhythms." They used the Spanish instruments to "preserve their own songs, rhythms and sacred knowledge." They copied the violin, the

chirimia Chirimía (sometimes chirisuya in Peru) is a Spanish term for a type of woodwind instrument similar to an oboe. The chirimía is a member of the shawm family of double-reed instruments, introduced to North, Central and South America in the sixtee ...

(a primitive version of the Oboe that came from the Muslims of North Africa), the

, and the mandolin (or its predecessors the vandola or

gittern The gittern was a relatively small gut-strung, round-backed instrument that first appears in literature and pictorial representation during the 13th century in Western Europe (Iberian Peninsula, Italy, France, England). It is usually depicted pl ...

). The native instrument makers were so adept at creating beautiful sounding instruments, that soon the Spanish crown forbid the locals from making instruments, because this was taking business from the Spanish instrument makers of Europe and colonial Mexico. The natives were unable to make the wooden parts for the belly, for lack of the small, thin, wooden strips that are glued together to make a lute's bowl. They substituted a natural bowl, made of an armadillo shell. The instrument took its name from the shell, and the dancers from the instrument. File:Danza de concheros.jpg, Children holding concheras; following the traditions of the shell dances, these children parade in the streets of

San Miguel de Allende San Miguel de Allende () is the principal city in the municipality of San Miguel de Allende, located in the far eastern part of Guanajuato, Mexico. A part of the Bajío region, the city lies from Mexico City, 86 km (53 mi) from Quer� ...

. File:AzDanceMusDoc.JPG, Concheros at a celebration of the Feast of the Virgin of San Juan de los Lagos in

Colonia Doctores Colonia Doctores (''English: Doctors' Colony'') is an official neighborhood just southwest of the historic center of Mexico City. It is bordered by Avenida Cuauhtémoc to the west, across from Belen Street to the north, Eje Central to the east a ...

, Mexico City. The man is holding a vihuela de conchera, with a clear view of the armadillo.

Other names for the Conchas

Some of the dancers who use the conchas call them "Mecahuehuetl" (from

Nahuatl Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have small ...

Meca(tl) = chord + Huehue(tl)= old one "drum", which was also the name for the vihuela and is used for the

today. This name reflects the fact that the early Conchero dancers were able to encrypt the precolumbian rhythms and steps of their agrarian rituals into the musical chords of the guitars and mandolins. A traditional conchero can tell which step should be carried out by how the melody is being strummed on the conchas. Another name used for the armadillo-shelled instruments is "Chihuanda." The etymology of this term is uncertain, with

Purépecha The Purépecha (endonym pua, P'urhepecha ) are a group of indigenous people centered in the northwestern region of Michoacán, Mexico, mainly in the area of the cities of Cherán and Pátzcuaro. They are also known by the pejorative " Tarascan ...

seen as the most commonly agreed to root.

References

External links

Video Youtube — Various styles of conchas, being played by dancing musicians.Video Youtube - Mandolinas de conchaVideo Youtube - Indigenous Dancer from Tierra Blanca Ejido, Xilitla, San Luis Potosi playing his armadillo mandolin and doing the Dance of the Cross.Photo of a mandolina de conchaPhoto of a conchero
{{DEFAULTSORT:Concheros String Instruments Guitar family instruments Mexican musical instruments