Sunday, February 21, 2010

The Colombian Gaita

 


Today I met a guy who plays “Colombian Gaita”

The Colombian Gaita is made from the tube that transports the juice of the heart of a cactus. And when is drained after boiling it gets really hard and is ready for the building of this special instrument.

There are two kinds of gaitas; “gaita macho” (male gaita) and “gaita hembra” (female gaita). The male gaita has only two openings and works as rhythm instrument while the gaita hembra who has 5 openings works as the melodic instrument.

The head of the instrument is made by wax and the small “reed” is in fact a piece of duck feather. I saw a video in witch I appreciated a special tuning F#, A, C, D, E… but in some other videos I found diverse ways of tuning. The two gaitas are played with a background of different drums. And the music from these instruments is used as integral part of the Colombian Caribbean culture.   

If you want to buy a Colombian Gaita go to: Gaitazo workshops 
Some people made some sophisticated gaitas: Clik here to chek a photo. 

If you want to watch a video: You tube Video here

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