Instrumental Formats in the City of Huánuco: Dismantling the Essence of Huanuqueñan Traditional Music

Desmontando la esencia de la música tradicional huanuqueña

Abstract

The so-called “traditional music of Huánuco” and the limited body of scholarship devoted to it have frequently been grounded in the assumption that this music possesses a singular, immutable sonic essence and identity; that is, an essentialist perspective, which the present study seeks to challenge. This article examines the formation and evolution of four emblematic instrumental ensembles in the musical history of the city of Huánuco, categorized for the purposes of this study as follows: the Regional Music Ensemble, the Wind and Percussion Band, the Peruvian Creole Waltz Ensemble, and the Latin American Music Ensemble. Drawing upon the study of local archives, interviews, historical-organological analysis, and a critical examination of processes of urban hybridization, the author argues that these instrumental formats reveal a dynamic and evolving tradition, devoid of a single defining element capable of establishing fixed and immutable characteristics. The findings demonstrate that the identity of Huánuco’s music undergoes constant transformation, wherein the coexistence of Andean and European instruments, together with broader Latin American aesthetics, challenges the very notion of a stable regional sonic identity. Consequently, the music of the city of Huánuco should be understood as a plural and continually changing cultural construction, one that calls for a critical reevaluation of concepts such as essence, tradition, and authenticity.