BOLIVIA: Bolivian artisan and carpenter, Adrian Villanueva, crafts functioning folk instruments with old newspapers and magazines

Record ID: 601562

  • Title: BOLIVIA: Bolivian artisan and carpenter, Adrian Villanueva, crafts functioning folk instruments with old newspapers and magazines
  • Date: 10th February 2011
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF VILLANUEVA PLAYING THE CHARANGO NEXT TO HIS MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
  • Embargoed: 25th February 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Bolivia, Plurinational State Of
  • Country: Bolivia
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz,Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVAAO1SWIQD98IT6AK7N0G8XLZA6
  • Story Text: Old newspapers, magazines and pieces of old furniture are no longer destined for the garbage dump if Bolivian artisan Adrian Villanueva has anything to do with it.
    The 55-year-old musician-craftsman- carpenter uses what many consider to be junk to create unique Bolivian musical instruments like charango, a folk guitar that was originally made with the shell of the back of an armadillo, and quena, a traditional Andean flute.
    The passion for recycled materials runs in the family. Son of an indigenous weaver and a carpenter, Villanueva always saw his parents collecting leftovers of wool and wood to use it in their works.
    He picked up the habit and began to stroll around flea markets in the Bolivian city of El Alto, searching for pieces of reclaimed wood from old furniture and buildings.
    While walking by stands filled with old books, newspapers and magazines, Villanueva realized that he could also benefit from recycled paper to create his musical instruments.
    He said that on the eve of a music festival last year he decided to take a shot in crafting a paper-made guitar.
    "This idea of crafting charangos with paper has been challenging me for some 40 years, but I could never fully accomplish it. Each year I would try, but I couldn't do it. However, last year, three weeks away from the International Festival of Charango on November 1st, in Aiquile, I said to myself: it's now or never. I found paper, glue... The first ones didn't come out right. I did the first prototype and it was still fresh when I took it to the festival," he said.
    Villanueva uses a special glue that he obtains by cooking cow leather and says that crafting a charango with paper or wood takes about the same time.
    He has to wait three months for the paper and glue to be completely dried or for the piece of ebony, cedar or pine to be ready to be played.
    At first, other musicians made little of his paper-mache guitars, saying that its sound would not be the same.
    He said that the sound was different indeed, yet it was very pleasant to the ears.
    "My fellow musical instrument artisans said this charango would not sound well because it was made of paper. But I told them: it's made of paper; it has to have a particular paper-sound. It's not wood, it's not metal, it's not plastic -- it's paper. So, it has its characteristics and the sound it's not bad at all," he said.
    Professional charango player and sound technician Juan Carlos Cordero agreed that the sound from Villanueva's instrument was unusual, but said it reached lower tones than regular charangos.
    "The sound of the charango made of paper is very sweet, smooth. It's a charango that has a complete sound that you can't find in other charango. The others have high-pitched and even shrill sounds. Few (instruments) have a sound so deep, which sometimes I have been looking for as a musical producer, like this instrument," he said.
    Villanueva has received positive reviews on his paper-made charango and decided to make a quena as well, an instrument which he has been playing for over 30 years.
    He played the Bolivian flute in folk groups like Rummillajta and Kallawaya and travelled around the world, bringing the Andean music to international audiences.
    Now, Villanueva dreams of taking his paper-made guitars to foreign lands as well. He is crafting a charango with magazines filled with pictures of The Beatles, which he hopes one day he can give it to Britain's Queen Elizabeth.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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