THE OTAVALEÑOS OF ECUADOR
THE OTAVALEÑOS OF ECUADOR

Summary/Abstract: Since their appearance at the end of the 1980s the Indian music groups have become a familiar sight in the streets of many European cities. Dressed in a poncho, white trousers, sandals, a hat and their long hair in a pony-tail these mainly young boys attract the attention of the shopping public. In Holland the music they play forms a welcome alternative to the street organ that traditionally occupies the shopping streets. Next to playing music these Indian youngsters also sell textile products from the Andes and music cassettes and cd’s. These music groups come mostly from Ecuador, to be more precise from a certain region of Ecuador of which the centre is formed by the little town of Otavalo. The Indians1 – or indígenas – of this region are generally known as the Otavaleños.

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