MUS- SIL 00001 WHISTLE_ Andean Music of Incas

Detailed accounts written by Spanish chroniclers of the sixteenth century emphasize the importance of music and dance in Inca celebrations and festivals. They describe musical instruments such as flutes and panpipes made of bone, reed, and fired clay, shell trumpets called pututos, ceramic whistles, ocarinas, trumpets, and drums, as well as rattles made with a variety of materials. These objects are sometimes portrayed as delicate instruments played with solemnity and virtuosity, sometimes as instruments generating meaningless sounds during pagan or diabolic rituals. The Incas and their predecessors used music to communicate with the ancestors, heal the sick, and bury the dead. Music followed them in war and pilgrimages, perhaps providing them with supernatural power.