Mayupatapi (meaning “Riverside” in the Quechua language), also known as the UCR Latin American Music Ensemble (MUS 174), performs music primarily from the central and southern Andean countries of South America. The ensemble’s repertoire includes the indigenous sikuri (panpipe) and tarka (duct flute) music of the Peruvian and Bolivian highlands, the syncopated rhythms of Afro-Peruvian genres played on guitar and cajón (box drum), and tunes for the popular “Andean ensemble” of guitar, charango (10 string mini-lute), panpipes, and bombo (bass drum). UCR is also home to one of the only sets of Afro-Ecuadorian marimbas in the United States.

Though Mayupatapi is a performance ensemble with a regular concert schedule, a heavy emphasis is placed during rehearsals on the meaning and experience of playing this music, including discussions about the original social and cultural context(s) in which a given piece is played, as well as the manner in which it is created and learned. To that end, the collective and participatory ethos of much music-making in the Andes is stressed, and use of musical notation is kept to a minimum in favor of relying on oral tradition.

Members are not required to own an instrument or have any prior experience with performing Latin American music – only a desire and commitment to learn.

For more information, please contact:
Jonathan Ritter
Office: Arts 139
Phone: (951) 827-6097
Email: jonathan.ritter@ucr.edu