Llanera Music Instruments
Harp - Cuatro - Capachos - Bandola
Harp
Used by the Jesuits in their missions during the 18th century. It has 32 or 33 nylon strings of different gauges and organized in the musical scale. Regularly made of cedar, although there are manufacturers that use pine and other durable woods. Transparent lacquer is used in his painting so that it does not lose sound.
Cuatro
Its name is derived from the strings it has and it is a modification of the "Quinto" (Five strings), and it appears at the end of the 16th century. At first, it was made with pieces of wood and very hard vegetable fiber ropes and then with animal viscera (guts).
Capachos, Maracas or Chuchas
Made of little calabashes, in some of the regions a maraca was bigger and its sound was more serious and it was called "macho" (Male); the other was called "Cascabel" (Rattlebell) or "Cascabelina" (Smooth rattlebell). Capacho seeds (Canna indica seeds) are deposited in it and hence its name "maracas capachos", or "capachas". They were also called "chuchas".
Bandola
Harmonic instrument, brought by Spaniards and slightly modified. It consists of a sound box, smaller than a guitar and has 4 strings. It has very few frets and is played with a nib. In Venezuela, it is not considered as a basic instrument of llanera music; On the other hand, in Colombia the bandola replaces the harp in some typical ensambles. There are several modifications such as the "Bandolina" which consists of 8 strings.
Bandolon
The Bandolon is a stringed instrument, which is played with the technique of plucking, with a nib or spike. Its shape is similar to that of a "Bandola", but the size of a guitar, like the "Tiple" in the Colombian central region; its strings are made of steel or copper.
Furruco y Cirrampla
The Furruco, instrument of the natives to mark the basses of the tunes. It is composed of a hollow wooden cylinder at both ends, with one of them lined with leather; It has a piece of wood in its center. To play the instrument, the palms of the hand are joined with the wand between the two and slides downward, producing a low-pitched vibration.
In El Zulia (Venezuela), it is also called "Furro".
In the 60's, the bass was introduced to llanera music by the Venezuelan maestro Juan Vicente Torrealba, using the double bass, a symphonic instrument. Torrealba was the first of his generation to incorporate this instrument and to record llanera music with it; then the bass began to be marked with the electric guitar.
Today, the furruco is not used in the interpretation of llanera music, although it still accompanies the tunes of Colombian Andean folklore, where it is given the name "marrano" or "marranito", "Puerca" or "Zambumbia".
In Venezuela, the furruco is used in the interpretation of the Bagpipe Zuliana, the Central Parranda (Popular Christmas Aguinaldos) that are interpreted in Carabobo, Aragua and areas of Cojedes, as well as in the regions where the Wakes of the Cross are held, generally in the Venezuelan coasts.
The Cirrampla is an instrument that consists of a wooden stick which has a string tied along it, and the mouth is used as a sounding board, making the string vibrate with the fingers of the hand. Today it is not used.
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