Peruvian virtuoso Jorge Choquehuillca was dressed in vibrant primary colors of his homeland. His music was even more colorful.

Moving seamlessly through an array of exotic indigenous instruments, Choquehuillca proved to be as skillful a teacher as he is a musician. Dressed in a poncho with horizontal stripe, his vivid pallet resembled a woven rainbow. He had a stocking cap that resembled a tepee with his long braided hair resting on the right side of his shoulder. He was a compelling figure.

Choquehuillca said he builds his own instruments from ceramic, bone and metal. He played a pan flute he calls a kuku and a drum called the tinya. He looked like a magician and his music was other-worldly.

His next surprise was a charango. It looked like a guitar with the body of a lute and the neck of a sitar with 16 strings. Choquehuillca’s charango is sounded very similar to a ukulele. He played it like a guitar, but the sound that came out was unexpected. It was compare able to a DJ mixing a set.

A chungai looked like a ceramic squash mixed with a kazoo.

Most Peruvian instruments are named after the sound the instrument creates. Kuku, chungai and chacha were well named.

Choquehuillca brought out a conch shell called the medapocha. He said this instrument was very popular during a festival that takes place in July that celebrates the animals of Peru.

The harpa was flipped upside down and set it on his shoulders to show how Peruvian musicians would walk down the street playing it.

Choquehuillica took students on a stroll through the heaven-scraping heights of the Andes where soaring condors and soaring melodies drift through the azure skies.