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Music and Dance

Ancient Andean inhabitants shared their experiences through singing and dancing with aqqa (chicha de jora), though these practices reflected social inequalities, as some dances and songs were reserved for nobles.

Incaic Andean music was pentatonic (using notes re, fa, sol, la, and do). They composed taki (songs) with wind and percussion instruments, lacking string instruments. Key wind instruments included the quena (made of cane and bone), zampoña, pututo or huayla quippa, cuyhui (a five-voice whistle), and pincullo (a long flute). Percussion instruments included tinya (a simple small drum), huankar (a large drum with a stick), silver rattles, and chilchile (bells).

Dances were categorized as nobiliary dances for the sapa inca and the panacas, such as uaricsa arawi and guayara, as well as guari for young nobles; masked men's war dances, such as wacon; and collective dances for laborers (haylli), shepherds (guayayturilla), and the ayllu in their tasks (kashua).