The Global Charango

This thesis builds itself on the collected ethnographies of charango players living primarily in central European locations in the fall of 2018. Framed by discourses in new organology on the meaning of instruments, these accounts provide points of reference through which to examine the charango's contemporary presence and activity, and meaning in diasporic (European) fields. The written work of this thesis will tie together relevant historical developments, discourses, and vernacular associations of the charango to provide a textured backdrop to the ethnographic narratives. Together they will enable the reader to better understand the meaning and trajectory of the charango and the music being made on it in the global intersections presented in this study as a kind of collectively assembled snapshot of a "global charango" as it presents in modern, foreign contexts.