Andean Music Ensemble integrates community and Latin American tradition into performance

Audra Incledon
Thu, 30 Apr 2026 01:12:04 +0000
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Credit: Courtesy of Michelle Wibbelsman

Once a week, Michelle Wibbelsman, professor of Latin American Indigenous Cultures, and her group of students can be found in the Timashev Family Music Building at Ohio State, brandishing their traditional instruments while singing songs from Chile, Peru and Bolivia, to name a few.

The Andean Music Ensemble was created in 2014, with the goal of connecting people to new cultures, according to Wibbelsman.

“I think that music kind of provides a bridge or a passage for that,” Wibbelsman said. “That allows us to introduce a variety of students from all different types of backgrounds … whether it’s cultural values, languages, practices, things like that, but through this really unique lens of music and music practice,” Wibbelsman said.

They learn these pieces purely by ear as is customary in the Andes, she said, learning aspects of foreign languages by replication and lip reading instead of notation or written lyrics.

“We try to follow some of the methods that people actually practice on the ground in the Andes. And by way of this, connecting our music to alternative pedagogies and Andean epistemologies or meaning-making practices,” Wibbelsman said.

She said the music ensemble sees this through by remaining an audition free group, encouraging anyone to join as long as they have an open mind and a curiosity for traditional music.

“We have students that come in and begin experimenting with instruments, and that just breaks the barrier where people are reluctant to touch an instrument that they don’t already master,” Wibbelsman said.

Wibbelsman said she emphasizes the openness of all levels, and the freedom to make mistakes in the classroom.

“Here is an invitation to participate,” Wibbelsman said. “Even if you can only get one note out of [the instrument], [if] you’re enjoying the heck out of it, then you’re doing great, right?”

This is an important mindset to have for this ensemble, as Wibbelsman said players within it often switch instruments and learn multiple throughout the semester.

She said players this semester are carrying sikuris (andean panpipes), the bombo (a bass drum made from cowhide), and charangos (a traditional string instrument, similar to a guitar).

But those are just a few instruments that the class has to offer, Wibbelsman said. Sometimes, the instruments are incredibly unique, like the tarka, a Bolivian festival flute.

“You’re going to hear the festival flutes and they’re kind of very weird sounding, sometimes abrasive to the Western ear,” Wibbelsman said. “So, we use those to talk about listening aesthetics or stretching our ears.”

Wibbelsman said she is adamant that the unique sounding instruments that may seem the most foreign are an important part to the culture and the study of musical traditions.

Each semester, a person can sign up for this course for an interdisciplinary approach to Andean culture and music. But this comes with some challenges, Wibbelsman said.

“Even though I kind of have an idea for the repertoire each semester, it changes every semester,” Wibbelsman said. “We’ll then adapt it to the abilities and the number of the people who are participating.”

This is why the range of music performed in this group is so vast, often connecting it to languages including Spanish as well as indigenous languages of the Andes like Quechua, Kichwa, and Aymara.

Wibbelsman said she makes it a goal to do outreach programs and performances wherever the ensemble can. Whether it be at schools, parades or performances, the group is never too far from their next community engagement.

She said one of the group’s most notable acts takes place in a natural state.

“There’s a connection between playing Andean music and growing crops,” Wibbelsman said.
“There are several urban farms in Clintonville that have heard about us and know a little bit about it, so, when they were planting their potatoes, they invited the Andean music ensemble to play the music while people were planting.”

Wibbelsman said this performance did not go unpaid, to the group’s delight.

“They rewarded us with some produce, so we all walked away with lovely (heads) of lettuce and tomatoes and all kinds of things,” Wibbelsman said.

Wibbelsman said the Andean Music Ensemble is often spotted around campus, giving informal performances and encouraging passerbys to join in their joyous singing and celebration of culture.