Instrumentos con Historia

Musical instruments in Chile have a long story, much of it still unrecorded. The first quality european musical instruments arrived to Chile mostly through the port of Valparaíso. Indeed there is even a street at the port, Clave keeping that name because of the number of piano and other keyboard shops set there through the earlier part of the XIX century. Kirsinger, Niemeyer, Brandt and later La Casa amarilla and Kohler were the main music shops where foreign and local made instruments were made and/or sold.
Through time many musical instruments have been left at the old houses, plus the efforts of private and public collections, and now, along with the Museo organológico de Valparaiso and the Instituto Chileno norteamericano associated with the FIMIV Festival we propose to exhibit a showcase of them along with their story as told by luthiers, collectors and performers.
Therefore, we make the official call for anybody who would like to help to show, play, or repair any musical instrument with a story linked to Chile and especially Valparaiso. Contact at festivalpo@gmail.com

Photos: above it shows the Kirsinger shop at Esmeralda street around 1905, and below on the left some vintage string instruments : a Martin OT-18 tenor guitar (USA, 1930) at the top, a Vicente Sanchis tenor laúd (Spain, 1980) in the middle, and a Vega Little Wonder tenor banjo (USA, 1929) on the bottom.