[MUSIC - LOS HERMANOS DE LOS ANDES, "SILENT NIGHT,
AWAY IN A MANGER" MEDLEY]
Merry Christmas, and welcome back to Mormon Channel.
I'm your host, Nadia Khristean.
And we just heard a medley of "Silent Night" and "Away
in a Manger" by Los Hermanos de los Andes.
Aren't they amazing?
You guys are fantastic.
I loved it.
That was beautiful.
Thank you.
What I would love to hear is, will you introduce yourselves?
Tell us your names.
Tell us where you're from.
We'd love to hear that.
My name is Gonzalo Zurita, and I'm from Bolivia.
I am Edgar Zurita, and I'm also from Bolivia.
And we're brothers.
Oh, that's fantastic.
My name is Victor Soto from Concepcion, Chile.
Alvaro Salazar from Santiago, Chile.
Juan Soto from Concepcion, Chile.
By the way, we are brothers.
You guys are brothers as well?
That's so awesome.
Oh, you two are brothers?
Yes.
Exclude him out, right?
Push him away.
That's fantastic.
So I'm curious, how did you guys get together?
How did you guys meet each other and start playing together?
Well, we've been together for 27 years.
27 years.
Oh, my word!
We started when we were babies.
You were babies.
[LAUGHING]
Actually, a group of students were
studying at Brigham Young University, where
we were studying engineering in the Clyde Building
many years ago.
Engineering.
Out of all groups.
Engineering.
I'm so sorry.
I'm just surprised.
That's really cool.
So we've been playing together ever since.
We're really brothers in our music and sharing the culture.
That's so neat.
That's incredible.
That's amazing.
I'm still--I can't believe, 27 years.
And you guys met through an engineering group at BYU.
Who would have thought?
So what I would love to hear is, I'd
love to hear more about the instruments
that you're playing.
These instruments look like they are native to your countries.
I'd love to hear more about what they are, what they mean.
Just tell me a little more about these instruments.
Yes.
Let me start with the flute instruments, the wind
instruments.
They are instruments that date back to the Incan civilization,
so way, way back.
And they're made out of bamboo.
It's actually a family of flutes.
This family is called the zampona family.
And the bamboo reeds are cut to a precise length,
to the desired tunes that we want to play with our music.
So we have the sanka, which is the largest and the lowest.
And then we have the malta, which is a little smaller one.
And then we have the little one, which is called the ika.
And so it's a lot higher.
Our next song--we're going to play a song featuring that
soon.
But anyway, that's a family of instruments
that we use in the Andes.
We have a second family of instruments,
and this is the family of the quena.
And the quena's pretty much like a recorder.
It's also made out of bamboo, different sizes.
And the only difference is, it doesn't have a mouthpiece.
So it's just the notch in the front.
It makes it a little bit harder to sing it that way.
Or, I mean, to play it.
Yes.
And your lips are what really makes the mouthpiece on it.
So it's a little bit different.
But we love it.
Wow.
So anyway, when we're performing, you know,
we show everybody the zamponas.
And we say, "That's a Papa Zampona, Mama Zampona,
and the baby Zampona."
Oh, little baby Zampona.
That's cute.
That's so awesome.
So I'd love to hear more about this drum.
I mean, it looks like you have a piece
of fur on the top of the drum.
I'm curious.
Tell me a little bit more about it.
Well, the drum is made out of goatskin.
Goatskin?
Really?
Yeah.
The base and the bottom of it, it's made out of goat.
And then we have wood for the outer,
and it gives that thumping sound.
It gives the body.
It's a great accompaniment for the flutes.
And back in the Incan civilization,
you only had the percussion and the flute instruments,
and that was a great companion of it.
Wow.
That's neat.
I really liked when that drum came in
because it does feel like it just
embodies and adds so much depth to the song, you know.
You're a great player.
All of you are great players.
I loved it.
It's a very neat instrument.
So I'd love to hear more about your instrument.
So this one is called charango.
And since we're sharing this with our English-speaking
friends and families, I always tell people
when we're playing, "This is cha cha cha, run run run, go go go.
Cha, run, go."
So this instrument was actually made out of an armadillo
back many years ago, and now it's made out of wood.
And it's a beautiful 10-string instrument
that gives a lot of happiness to the melodies.
And I just love playing with my friends and brothers, Los
Hermanos.
It feels like it just adds so much vibrance.
I can't believe that there's 10 strings on that.
That's crazy.
You've got to have small fingers.
And long nails.
And a small musician, too.
[LAUGHING] And a small musician.
And it looks like there's carvings on the back as well.
Oh, yes.
This one is a beautiful work of art.
Oh, my word.
That's incredible.
What's carved on the back there?
What would you say it is?
It's a llama.
And a couple.
You know, probably a father and a mother.
Wow.
That's neat.
That's very, very cool.
Let's hear more about your instrument.
Well, this one is a beautiful piece of art from--
Japan.
--Japan.
You know, and of course, it's a beautiful accompanying--he
gives us the rhythm.
And I always tell everybody, Juan plays amazing.
He gives us the rhythm.
I paid $20 for that.
You just paid him to say that, right?
I think it's important for you to know,
and for everybody who's watching this,
we're not professional musicians.
We don't even read music.
We just watch each other.
And we've been playing together for so long
that we understand now, you know, where we need to be.
But I think that says a little bit about--when you do things
together with passion, with love,
the things that you can accomplish.
Oh, I love that.
Thank you so much for sharing that.
I love that.
Well, it's Christmastime, speaking of love and unity
and being together.
It's Christmastime, and I feel like those types of feelings
are just all around the world during this season.
Can you share with us a little bit more
about this next Christmas song that you're
going to play for us?
Yes, our next Christmas tune is called "Mama Criso."
It means "the Mother of Christ."
It's a beautiful composition of a great Bolivian
author, Ernesto Cavour.
And this song, it just embodies the view--from the point
of view of a woman, of the mother of the Christ.
It reflects the softness.
It reflects the power, the strength, you know,
that a woman has and that influence
that has into our lives.
And as a Christmas tune, it really
reflects well that power, that strength
that brings into our lives, into this Christmas season.
That is beautiful.
I'm very excited to hear it.
Very excited.
Let's hear it.
[MUSIC - LOS HERMANOS DE LOS ANDES, "MAMA CRISO"]