Bolivian Huayño

Bolivian huayño is the Bolivian branch of the pan-Andean huayño, a song and dance form in duple meter built on pentatonic melodies and a short-short-long rhythmic cell. In Bolivia it is centred on the Quechua and Aymara highlands of Potosí, Cochabamba, Oruro and Chuquisaca, performed by ensembles of charango, guitar, quena, zampoña and bombo, often with violin and accordion in valley variants. Sung in Quechua, Aymara or Spanish, its texts treat love, migration, harvest and carnival festivity, and its stamping zapateo dance steps anchor it to the agricultural and carnival calendar of the altiplano and inter-Andean valleys.