PERU NEGRO
Peru Negro - The Cultural Ambassadors of Black-Peruvian Music In 1969 founded by Ronaldo Campos to preserve the culture of black Peruvians. Nowadays more than 30 people are involved in the Asociacíon Perú. In Lima the company runs their own school and junior troupe, Peru Negrito from which they recruit new members. Peru Negro has performed all over the world with their show in which they combine music with tradional Peruvian dancing. Ronaldo Campos died in 2001, but his works continues through his family and members of the Peru Negro family.
The slave trade touched nearly every corner of the Americas. From the United States, throughout the Caribbean, and South America Still, it is often associated as a history of the Atlantic and Caribbean coasts. However, this horrific legacy reached the Pacific coast as well, and lasted in Peru until 1845. Today, descendants of these African slaves live in villages and cities along Peru's Pacific coast while their music, rhythms and dances all trace their roots back to West Africa.
It was in one of these villages, El Carmen, where the group Peru Negro was formed on the 26th of February, 1969 by Ronaldo Campos de la Colina. El Carmen is a village approximately 2 hours south of Lima. The town looks much as it did nearly a century ago, an old colonial town, a park in the centre, a large Spanish church facing this square, and about 20 blocks of pastel pained stone houses divided by dusty dirt roads. Today, as always, music in the village of El Carmen is something that you won't find in concert halls. Instead, you'll find people in this predominately Black village singing and dancing in the streets and in corner bars. Campos' mission was to both preserve and develop Afro-Peruvian music and dance.
Three decades later, the group is recognized around the world as one of the leading exponents of Black Peruvian culture. They are no longer based in El Carmen, having moved to the megalopolis of Lima. It is a city almost bursting at the seams, full of traffic, shopping malls, slums, old Spanish architecture, picturesque balconies, and spectacular ocean vistas. It is the new centre for Afro-Peruvian music. In this city of contrasts, amidst the trendy neighborhood of Barranco is the upscale night-club Manos Morenos. On most weekends, it is where you can find the legendary Peru Negro.
While Peruvians have known for decades about Peru Negro's music, many in North America and Europe only first heard it five years ago when David Byrne and Yale Evelev of Luaka Bop released the landmark compilation, "The Soul of Black Peru". The album featured many of Peru's legends, including Susana Baca, Lucila Campos, and of course Peru Negro. It is an incredible pleasure for all of us involved in this World Connection project to present the first international release from this landmark ensemble, Peru Negro: "Sangre de un Don". Jawbones, wooden boxes, and the sexually tinged Alcatraz: A brief history of Afro-Peruvian music. The Instruments A blind listener might think that Afro-Peruvian music sounds a bit like its cousins in Venezuela, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, a mix of Spanish and West African: percussion, scrapers, acoustic guitars, bass and vocals. Without the visuals, one would regrettably miss the spectacular Afro-Peruvian dances and its unusual set of musical instruments.
During colonial times, the Spanish actually banned drums throughout Peru. Percussionist and documentarian Manongo Mujica explains that there is evidence in old drawings by French and British travelers, as well as some Spanish muralists that African drums and marimbas once existed in Peru. Fearing its use in communication on one hand, and its overpowering effect on its audience, transforming participants into trance-like states, something not very popular with the Catholic Church, the authorities were paralyzed. They were no longer able to preach their Christian dogmas. They thought, "Maybe the music, the rhythm and the religion are connected. Maybe it is a signal from the devil." So they decided to ban these instruments. The prohibition was for drums with skins, marimbas and other traditional instruments. While the Spanish were able to ban these specific instruments, they couldn't eliminate human creativity. The slaves began playing chairs, tables, and the wooden boxes used to carry agricultural products. These wooden boxes were soon developed into the "cajon", large wooden boxes that today are the national instrument of Peru. Flamenco fans have also seen legendary guitarist Paco de Lucia with a cajon player in his ensemble.
When Paco de Lucia visited Peru nearly 20 years ago, the Spanish ambassador threw a party. Among those present was Caitro Soto, one of Peru's top percussionists. Soto gave Paco de Lucia a cajon as a present. He then started showing Paco de Lucia basic tips on the instrument, an instrument that is now an essential part of Paco de Lucia's flamenco ensemble. Ironically, today, many people think that the instrument is Spanish. It is 100% Peruvian. Another one of Peru's famous musical instrument boxes is the cajita. Imagine a trapezoidal shaped box about the size of a child's jack-in-a-box. The lid is opened and closed with one hand and while the other hits the box with a wooden stick. The cajita also had Catholic origins. It was adapted from the wooden boxes used every Sunday in church that the priests would use to pass around for its weekly collection. The result wasn't exactly what those priests had in mind. In much of Africa and the Americas, scrapers and shakers are frequently made by cutting ridges into gourds, or by attaching shells to them. Black Peruvians, of course have a different tradition. They use the quijada de burro. The jawbone of a donkey. They take an old jawbone from a dead donkey, let it dry out, and loosen the teeth. Then, when it is struck with the palm, it produces a wonderful shhhhh-tshhhhhh sound. Running a stick along the teeth allows it to double as a scraper. While Peru isn't the only place that uses the quijada, it is the place most associated with one of the most unusual scrapers and shakers (unusual for non-Peruvians that is). It is something not to be missed during a live Peru Negro show.
Festejo As its name suggests it is a festive music (from "fiesta", Spanish for party). The festejo is the most joyous of Afro-Peruvian music. Vocalist Susana Baca's research traces the festejo back to the era of slavery in Peru. "After independence in Peru and the abolition of slavery," she explains, "people who were slaves only wanted to forget that part of their lives, to erase all memory of that stage of history. Anyone who has lived through that type of experience could understand why. Erasing memory signified erasing melodies, erasing songs, erasing dances, and erasing traditions. There were times in the early part of the 20th Century when an African descendant would be asked if he or she could remember a slave song. This person would say that they could not remember, but they remembered. This is all an answer, a way of confronting slavery." Baca explains that Agusto Asquez, (born in the 19th century and lived until the early 1990s) traced many of the traditional aspect of the festejo in an interview with music research Don Jose Duran. Asquez explained that the festejo was a competition of men, a male circular confrontation, a series of fighting rhythms. The men carried the cajones in this musical competition reminiscent of Brazilian capoeira. Today, the festejo dances more closely resembles its festive name. The movements are extremely sensual and undulating. The body talks, dancing exactly with the rhythm. Every sound is taken by the body, triggering a movement. The dancers follow each strike of the cajon and other instruments in this sensual communication..
Lando Nicomedes Santa Cruz, one of Peru's leading musicians has done a great deal of research into the origins of the lando. He explains that its origins are from a dance in Angola called "londu" that came with the slaves when the arrived in Brazil from Angola. Even today, the "londo" exists in Brazil. The Peruvian lando has become so closely associated with Black Peruvian music (such as the "son" to Cuba and the "samba" to Brazil) that it has almost become "the" sound of Black Peru. The lando is a mix of both Spanish and African rhythms. Many of these slower and mid-tempo ballads like "Samba Malato" have become Peruvian anthems. Toro Mata Toro Mata, "The Bull Kills". If there was a national anthem of Afro-Peruvian music, it would be Toro Mata. Carlos "Caitro" Soto de la Colina (part of Peru Negro's legendary line-up in the early 1970s that included cajonero Chocolate and vocalist Lucila Campos) remembers hearing elements of "Toro Mata" in his infancy. His version, originally recorded by Peru Negro in 1973 swept the country. Today, it is almost impossible to go to an Afro-Peruvian concert without hearing this song. Singer and researcher Susana Baca has found different Toro Matas sung by elderly musicians from all across Peru, including one about an old conflict between Peru and Chile warning not about the bull that kills, but about the war with the Chileans. Another version warns about a Spanish General who "kills". Baca explains that there are even old versions of Toro Mata sung in verse that mirror a competition accompanied by the harmonica. Toro Mata isn't just a song; it is an anthem, and an entire genre of Peruvian music.
The Alacatraz is simply one of the most flirtatious and erotic dances in the world, and a dance with a remarkable sense of humor. This is a couple's dance. Traditionally woman has a piece of tissue on her behind while the man dances with a lit candle. If the man can light the woman's fire, which means that she is his. It is one of the most spectacular parts of Peru Negro's live shows. They perform most weekends at the upscale night-club, Manos Morenos (In Lima, Peru). For their Alcatraz, Peru Negro has six dancers (three couples). Each dancer has a piece of red tissue paper attached between their legs, and of course the lit candle. The dancers are dressed in white, the women in short white skirts. They proceed to gyrate wildly swinging and swaying their hips to avoid being lit. Eventually, one of the dancers succeeds and the "burning dancer" gyrates uncontrollably until finally collapsing and grinding against the floor to put out the flames. Needless to say, the Alcatraz was forbidden during the slavery period for being "immoral" by the colonial authorities. In a way, it sums up the true Peruvian experience-full of energy and excitement, with a touch of controlled danger. -Dan Rosenberg
To catch Peru Negro in concert in Lima, visit the club Manos Morenos: Ave. Pedro de Osma 409, Barranco, Lima. For international booking, contact.... Dan Rosenberg hosts and produces the travel/world music radio program Cafe International on WCBN-FM Ann Arbor. His reports are also regularly featured on Afropop Worldwide, plus Rhythm, Folk Roots, Songlines, Dirty Linen, The Detroit Metro Times, Outpost and other publications. For more information, visit the website www.cafeint.com, send email to cafeint@aol.com or call (734) 769-7580. Dan Rosenberg would like to thank Ronaldo Campos, Manongo Mujica, Olga Milla, Cecilia Barraza, Annemarie Schulz, and Martin Morales. Special thanks to David Byrne and Yale Evelev for everything they have done to bring Afro-Peruvian music to the world and to Susana Baca and Ricardo Pereira for their immeasurable help and dedication to their music, the cultural center Centro Experimental de Musca Negrocontinuo, their incredible friendship, for everything they taught me about Peruvian music and for making my first trip to Peru the most wonderful experience of my life.
Dan Rosenberg
Country
PE
URL
http://www.worldconnection.nl
