Chordophones are musical instruments that produce their sound through the vibration of strings stretched from one point to another. Scholarship related to Vélez music practices include work by music scholar Liliana Uribe, who writes “todos los cordofonos utilizados en el torbellino se clasifican en la categoría de laúd de mástil largo y cuerdas punteadas” (2012, 49). [all chordophones used in the torbellino are classified in the category of long neck lute and plucked strings. The strings of these instruments can be plugged with the fingers, with a pick or with a razor blade.] David Puerta Zuluaga, Colombian engineer and music scholar, states that “en algunas regiones como Santander, el plectro más utilizado es la cuchilla de afeitar”. [In some regions like Santander, the most widely used plectrum is the razor blade.] In Vélez traditional music, the two main chordophones are the requinto and the tiple. More recently the acoustic guitar has been introduced playing the bass part.

The requinto is the primary chordophone instrument in Vélez traditional music and one of the most representative instruments of the region. This instrument is the smallest chordophone in the Vélez chordophone ensemble followed by the tiple and the guitar. This instrument is used in other traditional Colombian genres such as carranga (from the Cundi-Boyacense plateau) and rajaleñas (from the Tolima and Huila departments).

Musical role

The requinto has a soloist role in the Vélez music, especially in the performance of the torbellino[1] (Uribe, 50). The melodies, which are interpreted by the requintistas (requinto players), often have an improvisatory character, that follow a harmonic ostinato of I, IV, V. This instrument has a dual role as it plays the melody as well as the rhythmic-harmonic accompaniment. The sonority of the requinto is the brighter and higher one of the group and replicates the higher ranges of female voices.

Instrument specificities

The traditional requinto has 21 frets and consists of 10 to 12 metallic strings grouped in four orders; each order has two or three strings (see photo n 2). In his PhD dissertation “Folk Music of the Colombian Andes,” Dirk Koorn argues that Andean chordophones in Colombia (notably the requinto and tiple) originally had four strings and that the requinto paralleled the evolution of the tiple “with some minor differences: The first and fourth courses were doubled, not trebled, the neck was made longer, and the body made smaller” (1977, 41).

Each order of strings is tuned to the same note: the first order has two or three strings tuned to the note mi (E); the second order has three strings tunned in the note si (B) and has a special characteristic as it is tuned one octave higher than the others. This means that the second order will be in a register an octave higher than the other three orders. The third order has three strings tuned to sol (G) and the last order can have two or three strings tuned to the note re (D).

The tiple is a Colombian adaptation of the Spanish guitar of the Renaissance period (Puerta 1988) and one of the most representative instruments in Colombian Andean music. This instrument is bigger than the requinto but smaller than a guitar (see picture n 6). It has between 17 and 19 frets and 12 strings. The tiple is widely used in the Andean region as a solo instrument as well as a melodic instrument.

Tiple Role

In the Vélez music, the tiple plays a secondary role as the accompanying instrument following the harmonic progression of I, IV, V while the requintista (requinto player) improvises different melodies. In some cases when there is no requinto, the tiple can take the role of soloist and be accompanied by another tiple.

Tiple specificities

The tiple consists of 12 strings grouped in four orders (each order has three strings). Its first order consists of three steel strings tuned in unison on the note mi (E). The second, third and fourth orders are tuned in the following order: si (B), sol (G), re (D). These three orders each have three strings, two steel strings on the extremes and one steel-wound copper string in the middle. The steel-wound copper string sounds an octave below the two steel strings. This order produces a series of overlapping harmonic sounds that gives a unique color to this instrument.

David Puerta Zuluaga, Colombian engineer, and music scholar affirms that although tiples are tuned in C/do in current practice, some tiples can be tuned a half tone (B/si) or a whole tone (Bb/ sib) lower (1985, 179). Tiple player Nestor Caceres Aponte affirms that historically the tiple had a longer neck which did not allow the instrument to be tuned in C, as the strings did not reach the length and would break if tuned in C. Caceres Aponte comments that the tuning in Bb makes the strings softer and looser allowing the tiple to play a more harmonic role than melodic.

The guitar was brought to Colombia with the discovery of the Americas (Guevara 2009). However this instrument had developed locally with time. Koorn argues that the four-string guitar was popular with conquistadores in the 16^th century in the “New World”. The addition of the fifth string was credited to Vicente Martinez Espinal in 1570, however this guitar was already in circulation, so this person received the credits for publicizing it (Koorn 1977, 41). In the 18^th century the sixth string was added and in “the early 19^th century the standard guitar had six strings and has stayed that way ever since” (Koorn 1977, 42).

Guitar specificities

The guitar used in Vélez traditional music is the same Spanish guitar that has 6 strings tuned in the following order: mi, si, sol, re, la, mi (E, B, G, D, A, E). The guitar can follow the same cyclic harmonic progression (I, IV, V) as the tiple or it can play complementary melodies using the bass register.

Guitar role

Although most traditional groups only use tiple and requinto, the guitar has been slowly incorporated into the Vélez instrumental ensemble. Although this chordophone is not representative of the region, it is now common in the various music ensembles; Koorn clearly states that “in the case of the guabinas veleñas, where the guitar is not used, the tiple player will strum the accompaniment while the other plucks the melody” (1977, 43, emphasis added).

Additionally Koorn comments that “for the guabina festival in Vélez guitars are not permitted because they are not considered typical of the region by the Folklore Committee” (208). Nowadays the guitar is seen more often in the ensembles, and it is permitted in the festival. However, the records allows us to conclude that this instrument has been recently added to the tradition and at one point it became part of the ensemble.

The guitar does not have an accompanying couplet as it is not presented in the Presentación de Instrumentos Tipicos. The guitar usually starts to play with the tiple and can double the harmonic accompaniment of the tiple as well as include some melodies drawing on the harmonic progression.