The erquencho and other "southern type" idioglottal clarinets without holes

Abstract

In his seminal work from 1935 on musical instruments among the indigenous peoples of South America, the Swedish musicologist Karl Gustav Izikowitz noted the existence of a group of clarinets without fingering holes and idioglottal that he called the "Southern type." Interestingly, he did not include in his list one of the few (if not the only) current survivors of that organological family: the erque or erquencho, an aerophone built and played in northwestern Argentina and southern Bolivia. Relatively simple in structure, it produces a hoarse, shrill, twangy sound over a limited range of notes, which does not prevent it from being very popular in its area of origin. Unfortunately, outside of that area it is, even today, quite unknown. The article offers a review of the main characteristics of an almost lost family, and of a sound artifact that is quite invisible and poorly executed outside of its more traditional contexts.