Siku (instrument)

The siku (Quechua: antara, Aymara: siku, also "sicu," "sicus," "zampolla" or Spanish zampoña), is a traditional Andean panpipe. This instrument is the main instrument used in a musical genre known as sikuri. It is traditionally found all across the Andes but is more typically associated with music from the Kollasuyo, or Aymara speaking regions around Lake Titicaca. Historically because of the complicated mountain geography of the region, and due to other factors, in some regions each community would develop its own type of siku, with its own special tuning, shape and size. Additionally each community developed its own style of playing. Today the siku has been standardized to fit in with modern western forms of music and has been transported from its traditional roots.

The siku (panpipe) is originally from the Aymaras of Perú and Bolivia, where a woman would play her siku as she came down from the mountains. Since the largest siku has every note (A-G), and was too big for the woman, they often got two sikus (usually smaller ones) that would be played together with someone else, so they could play them continuously after each other and thus the scales could fully be played. Once the women partnered, they then became musically bonded with each other, as part of their religion, and neither could play the pipes with any other for the rest of their life.

Women would also assemble into groups as they came down the mountains, each group would play different tunes, and as they got together, they would blend all the melodies together to create one complete melody. The woman also played the siku to attract wild goat that they would then harvest.

Sikus are typically made from bamboo shoots, but have also been made from condor feathers, bone, and many other materials. Additionally, different types of bamboo are employed to change the quality of the sound. Songo, or shallow-walled bamboo, gives a louder, more resonant sound than regular deep-walled bamboo, but is less common due to its fragility.

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