page_title: Colombian tiple
section_title: Culture
hierarchical_section_title: Colombian tiple / Culture
caption_attribution_description: Español: El Maestro Pedro Nel Martínez, El Tiple de Oro de Colombia
context_page_description: The Colombian tiple, is a plucked string instrument of the guitar family, common in Colombia where it is considered one of the national instruments. About three-fourths the size of a classical guitar, it has twelve strings set in four triple-strung courses. It is played as a main instrument or as an accompanying instrument to the guitar.
context_section_description: The tiple is used for many traditional Colombian musics including bambucos and pasillos, where it serves both as an accompanying instrument and for soloing.  One of the prominent composer of tiple music is Pacho Benavides.
  Today the tiple is seen as an instrument linked to the folklore of rural Colombia where it remains popular, although it has been used by modern players for other genres such as jazz. The tiple had humble beginnings as an instrument of people from lower economic classes. It became more important over time, and eventually was accepted as an instrument on the level of the guitar. Demographically, the tiple was rooted to the mestizo population of the Viceroyalty of New Granada where it was looked down upon by the whites of unmixed heritage.
  In reference to the social difference between the tiple and the guitar, Antonio Jose Restrepo wrote:
  "But [the tiple] was pervasive among the bronze-colored people, the ones with working cloth and ruana, [with] a bag plentiful of gossip, [and with] a machete tied to the waist,[with] stick of guasco or verraquillo hanging on the arm, eye of the peasant, [who is] sometimes barefooted, sometimes with espadrilles, [with] a hat of cane of iraca that is maliciously tilted to one side, under the brim of a broken crown; it stayed always with them, I say, the fat bellied vihuela, tiple, always in company of the tambourine (in case a party were to take place)."
  In Santander, by 1840 the tiple was still played in "third class dances"—parties for people of lower stock. It was usually accompanied by a tambourine. It wasn't until Tomas Carrasquilla's novel Frutos de mi tierra (Fruits of My Land) that the tiple was first mentioned. In that novel, he writes that the tiple was played by every artist whereas the guitars were still played only at the jockey club in Medellin.
  At the southwestern of Antioquia a small municipality became the first one in the country to include a tiple in its coat of arms. This is the result of many artists from this region who saw the tiple with endearment and embrace it as a symbol of their cultural heritage.
caption: Artist Pedro Nel Martinez playing a Colombian tiple
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