WE'RE TRYING TO FIND OUT:

Why do  Puerto Ricans love the cuatro?

How did the cuatro evolve: how did its form, stringing and use in different regions of the island vary over the centuries?

What is the best way to make a cuatro, and how did its craft techniques evolve?

What is the best way to learn to play the instrument and to learn the different genres that are typically played with the instrument?

Who were the greatest players and makers who evolved its form and playing styles?

How is the cuatro linked not only to our cultural history, but to our political history as well?

How did the cuatro get to be the  "national instrument" and a cultural icon?

What were the other native stringed instruments of Puerto Rico, why are they hardly heard today and how can they be brought back for our delight and inspiration?

Jack Delano

The cuatro has been for many Puerto Ricans far more than just a pastime: over the centuries the cuatro has served as crucial tool for emotional survival. Through the centuries, Its primordial importance as a vehicle for the expression of secular and religious themes of the countryside has made Puerto Ricans and their cuatros inseparable.

Hear a short sample of a religious aguinaldo accompanied by a cuatro as it was recorded in the field.

SO WE CAN CREATE:

A major textbook about the history of the cuatro and the native stringed instruments of Puerto Rico

A series of graded methods for the making and playing of the cuatro, tiple and bordonúa.

A series of documental and methods in video and CD ROM format about the history, craft and technique of the cuatro

Anthologies of traditional music for Puerto Rican stringed instruments in music and tablature.

School curricula; and graphic, textual and interactive materials for the classroom.

Traveling exhibits

Educational festivals

Radio programs

Public archives of photographs, recordings and documentation.

Audio recordings with recreated instruments

Plans and measured drawings for instrument makers.