One of the visiting group’s performances was at Davenport’s Perry Elementary School, where they had the students clapping and swaying. Grade schoolers studying about the rain forest were fascinated with anything South American and got into the act immediately.

The pipes are played as one would blow on a bottle, producing a haunting, breathy sound. Mr. Navia plays an instrument that may be the only one of its kind—a double-necked guitar that incorporates the tiny charango in the body of a regular guitar. The rhythm was blood stirring, and the general effect was high altitude passion. Ms. Howard says Eddy Navia is "One of the best composers of this music. In Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador, the ancient traditions have been kept alive by people in remote a regions. Young composers are bringing back the ancient traditions in new music." Our closest knowledge of what this is like is Paul Simon’s "El Condor Pasa," a hit of the 1970s, which Sukay played with great eloquence.

They demonstrated to the students how they played the pan pipes of different sizes, and Ms. Howard said, "In old times, the halves of the pipes were separated. You gave a half to a friend, and it took two of you to play a scale." This music is hypnotically repetitive, but Mr. Navia played a mixture of such a composition and Mozart. The effect was wonderful. The small charango had a terrific sound, throbbing and singing as his hand moved in a blur. They performed a song titled "From Far Away I have Come Here Just to Love You" and Ms. Howard’s Yma Sumac singing was up in the stratosphere.

How did they get started? Mr. Navia played electric guitar in a rock group, Mr. Mejia studied the cello at a conservatory, and Ms. Howard heard the music of the high Andes and fell in love with it. She got a flute and took it everywhere with her."The best thing a musician can do," she says, "is to become like an instrument. Be quiet and empty and let the music play through you."