Bolivian folk music is just as variable as the country’s geography: in the warm eastern llanos, the music tends to be faster and more festive, while in Western, or Andean Bolivia, where the average daytime temperature ranges between 15 to 20° C, it’s (understandably) a little more plaintive—though there are several notable exceptions.

What’s common to all regions is that these Bolivian tunes usually tell a story, one of the many folkloric legends of the Aymara or Quechua people, and are almost always accompanied by a dance. Musical instruments include zampoñas (pan pipes), flutes, drums, and our personal favorite, the charango—a tiny 10-string guitar made from an armadillo shell (Bolivia’s “Screaming Hairy Armadillo” (Chaetophractus vellerosus) has made it on to endangered species list in part thanks to the popularity of the charango). Especially famous musical styles/dances include the “Caporal,” which originated as a parody of the mulatto overseers on the old Spanish haciendas, and the “Saya,” which comes from the country’s small yet dynamic Afrobolivian community, and which any Bolivian will rush to tell you was stolen by the Brazilian singer Kaoma and turned into the “lamabada” of 1980s dance floor fame.