los instrumentos

The melodies of these songs were first performed with the reed or reed millet, open at both ends with four holes in a length and a tongue that forms the mouth and steps on a thread held by the teeth, to modulate the sound ; her box, small drum handcrafted hollow trees dried and sealed in one end with a piece of hardened leather trunk, and guacharaca Indigenous ancestral instrument is manufactured using a piece of cañabrava which joined you make small successive grooves to produce a sound when rubbed raspativo with a bone (originally).

In the late nineteenth century, decades after its invention, the accordion arrived in Colombia through the port of Riohacha; cowboys and peasants joined their musical expressions, and gradually replacing the reed was to become the main instrument of the typical set of vallenato music.

Besides these three instruments box guacharaca and accordion, representing trietnia that led to the race and culture of the Colombian Caribbean Coast, the typical vallenato has a fourth basic element is the singer, more or less recent addition following the vallenato festivals, because until the 1960s it was customary for the accordion ruled the roost and he interpreted the lyrics of the songs they played.

Diatonic accordion: Instrument of Austrian origin, invented in its present form by Kiril Demian in Vienna in 1829 and was smuggled by German immigrants from Curacao to Riohacha (off the coast of the Guajira) by 1885 The vallenato musicians changed. to produce its caraterístico sonido.7
Case: percussion instrument of African origin. It is a small drum patch which was manufactured from crop alligator after marimonda black skin and goat leather now, deer or sheep. The glass is made from a hollow tree trunk 40 cm high and 30 cm in diameter. The tree should be fibrous stem, as mucurutú, Canahuate or matarratón.8
Guacharaca: concave friction Instrument 40 cm long stem is made of tin uvita. Its name comes from the guacharaca or wild turkey, mountain bird whose song is similar to the sound the instrumento.8 is also used gouache instead.