Modern Ecuadorian Street Music

Title: Unknown
Performers: A group of artist from Ecuador performing in South Korea.

Culture: Ecuador/Andean Music

Orchestration: Aerophones (Flutes, Recorders, panpipes) with pre-recorded track of Membraphones, Chordophones and Idiophones.

I ran into this video a few weeks back when looking for “music of the Andes.” I originally dismissed it because there is no information about the music or the performers, except where they were performing. I also dismissed it because this street performance appears to be a staged version of Andean music geared toward an audience. It also appears to be a more modern take on Andean music instead of a recreation of traditional Ecuadorian folk music. Since this week we are discussing “authenticity” I thought it was a good time to utilize this video.

When thinking about how best to include cultural music in the music classroom the issue of authenticity, or how best to stay true to the original music, quickly becomes the main focus. In her article, “Can’t We Just Change the Words,” Lisa H. Koops gives four models for dealing with authenticity when teaching cultural music. The first model places music on a continuum whereby the teacher strives to be as authentic as possible within the context and limitations of their classroom. The second model places historical and personal authenticity as the absolute goal when teaching. Authentic instruments, contexts and cultural understanding is paramount in this model. Another model is the Reproduction/Reality/Relevance model. In this model focus is placed on the students understanding of the authentic music. The teacher music understand the original context, attempt to reproduce the music within the classroom setting and generate meaning within the student making the music. The final model, Beyond Authenticity, is getting down to brass tacks and making music. The questions about authenticity are important, but they should not bog down the teacher. Instead, making music, no matter the constraints, limitations or lack of cultural understanding, should be the focus of the educational process.

When considering the performance of the video it is clear that there is both a great deal of authenticity happening but also a great deal that is inauthentic. These performers are more interested in making music that is enjoyable for their contemporary audience than worrying about if an original audience would recognize it as their music. Each of these models has to account for teacher and classroom limitations. Each of them recognizes that the more authentic you can be at reproducing the music, the more engaged and motivated students are in the process. All of them understand that there is no hope for a 100% authentic reproduction. With that in mind, I feel like we need to do our best to teach authentic cultural music, but not limit ourselves based on the constraints of instruments or lack of resources. Exposing our students to cultural music, having them gain critical listening and musical skills and giving them opportunity to reproduce musically what they have learned in the best way possible will create a better, more well rounded, music student than if we simply reject and do not attempt because we don’t have the resources to be authentic. This is exactly what these musicians have done and we should take a note from their book.