Years active 1981–present Genre World | Active from 1981 | |
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Past members Tony HinniganMike TaylorForbes HendersonSimon RogersChris SwithinbankClaudia FigueroraSergio AvilaMauricio Venegas Albums Cacharpaya - Panpipes Of The Andes Record labels Cooking Vinyl, Discovery, Coda Records, Music Club, Incantation, Hallmark Music & Entertainment Similar Tony Hinnigan, Jacqui Dankworth, Maggie Boyle, Inti‑Illimani | ||
Incantation are a musical group playing traditional tribal and other South American music. The band started in 1981 from a pool of musicians who were, at the time, playing all kinds of different types of music for the (then) Ballet Rambert, based in London. A new ballet was choreographed (called "Ghost Dances") about political oppression in South America, to the music of Inti-Illimani, the exiled Chilean folk group. The company preferred to use live musicians (rather than tapes) for performances, and six of the musicians volunteered.
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Authentic instruments were procured, and some time was spent perfecting how to play them.
The show was a hit and before long the band was offered a recording contract. Incantation was chosen as the band's name, based on the word "Inca".
Members of the various incarnations of the band include Tony Hinnigan (Scottish), Mike Taylor (Irish), Forbes Henderson (English), Simon Rogers (English), Chris Swithinbank, and Chileans Claudia Figuerora, Sergio Avila and Mauricio Venegas. They achieved chart success in the UK in 1982 with the top twenty hit "Cacharpaya", and later contributed the traditional instruments (including pan pipes) to the soundtracks of the films, The Mission (1986), scored by Ennio Morricone, and A Handful of Dust (1988), scored by George Fenton.
Albums
Compilation albums
Singles
Songs
SikuriadasCacharpaya - Panpipes Of The Andes · 1982
On The Wing Of A CondorCacharpaya - Panpipes Of The Andes · 1982
Friends Of The AndesCacharpaya - Panpipes Of The Andes · 1982