Yaraví Arequipeno: music for the heart

Post by Karla

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The Peruvian music is a fusion of musical elements of several cultural currents that converged in our land. One of the best-known fusions is the yaraví, a type of melancholyc, sad, and popular song that has been diffused thanks to its beauty through Euador, Bolivia, Argentina and the mountains of Arequipa, Huánuco and Huamanga.

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It is sung in Spanish and it comes from the inca harawi, a song of farewell that was played in the ayllus – native communities settled in the Andean valleys –, to the compass of the Spanish guitar and flutes. It is especially connected with Arequipa by the poet and martyr Mariano Melgar, who was its main founder and who shaped it to what is played today.

To the moment of its performance, the yaraví establishes a melodic dialogue among the verses that are sung with the accompanying music. The oldest yaravíes speak of loving themes, but their sad character was introduced during the time of the Colonies, when the native artists suffered large shortages by the Spanish oppression.

In spite of having suffered a great change in its melody, the yaraví acquired a greater importance for the independence cause of Peru, since it gave testimony of the Inca past and is considered at present the saddest style of song of the world.

Where can we listen to it?

Being Mariano Melgar the maximum founder of the yaravíes musical, in Arequipa we can find diverse artists that in the local or religious holidays delight the audience with the more elaborated yaravíes.

Also, the popular quechua drama Ollantay, that narrates the story of the general of the army of the Inca Pachacútec, Ollanta, who falls in love with the Inca princess Ima Súmaq, a yaraví is included and sung by a chorus of the Virgins of the Sun. This production can be seasonally found in the cultural zones of Cuzco.