Who, what, or where am I? #47

Question

This man is a charanguista: a charango player.

A charango is a small stringed lute, invented in the early 18th century in Bolivia. It is primarily used in traditional Andean music.
Nowadays charangos are made with different types of wood, but traditionally the back or body was made from something else.
Can you guess what material the back or body was traditionally made of?

Please, do NOT use Google or any other source of information. If you do not know the answer, you can ask me yes/no-questions (questions that I can answer with either 'yes' or 'no').

Good post! - francobollo, Dec 3, 2012

Answer 1

armadillos - dead ones.

Yes. And some charangos have hair inside the shell (a bit spooky for an instrument). - francobollo, Dec 3, 2012

Not the whole corpse of the animal; but yes! They used the back shell of the armadillo. - mcl020, Dec 3, 2012

Answer 2

Canta charango

que te ayude la pena al cantar

que se callen los enamorados

y el río se lleve la pena al mar.

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Sing away charango

Let your heartache help you sing

Love birds be quiet

And let the river drag the heartache to the sea.

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This is one of my Mom's favorite songs from Mocedades, a great Spanish group from the 80s. She used to play it all the time. It is still stuck in my head.

Think of an armadillo. I won't give away any more clues, but I will share this link to this beautiful song's video.

Oh yeah, possum on the halfshell: ) Beautiful song - Ranman, Dec 3, 2012

Ehhh .,.... are there any more clues to give away then? ;-) - mcl020, Dec 3, 2012

What a wild song (it's 02.26 over here). - mcl020, Dec 3, 2012

It doesn't seem nice. The armadillo is endangered in my country owing to the excessive hunting. - -cae-, Dec 3, 2012

Hopefully nobody makes those instruments here and the manufactures breed their own armadillos. - -cae-, Dec 3, 2012

They no longer use them, as they use wood nowadays! - mcl020, Dec 3, 2012

I seen a family of about six or seven armadillos on the side of the hill eating the other day: ) - Ranman, Dec 3, 2012

Answer 3

Please don't say that it is tortoiseshell...

I find them in the woods, might as well make something out of em: ) - Ranman, Dec 3, 2012

No, no tortoiseshell. Pffffff ...... - mcl020, Dec 3, 2012

Answer 4

¿1]Son hechos de pisantes de caballos?

No. - mcl020, Dec 3, 2012

Answer 5

Cácara de tortuga?

No. - mcl020, Dec 3, 2012

Answer 6

Did they use nut shells?

No. Please (re)read Francobollo's answer. There's the golden hint! - mcl020, Dec 3, 2012

Sorry, I just read your response - pmikan-pam, Dec 3, 2012

Answer 7

Did they use rubber?

No. - mcl020, Dec 3, 2012

Answer 8

Charangos were originally made with the back shells of armadillos.