The sirens of Sarhua

Abstract

This article is product of an investigation on one of the most striking and recurrent motifs in the Sarhua Tables: the mermaid. We make an approach to this motive, which originally appears in the western classic literature, with the purpose of explaining the reasons of its presence in the Andean art. For this effect, we transcribe some testimonies that, from a clearly Andean worldview, give an account of a series of beliefs linked to the musical field, in which the sirens play a central role.