Chinchivi the song-and José Alberto (Pepe) Villalobos Cavero

One of the songs on our documentary (and also on our CD de Rompe y Raja:  A Zest for Life...Afro-Peruvian Rhythms) is called le Negrito Chinchivi, or more popularly, just Chinchivi.  It's written by José Alberto (Pepe) Villalobos Cavero of Peru....




One of the pleasures of writing this blog is that I get to introduce new people -- songwriters, dancers, singers, poets and painters -- and new traditions to the north American public.

José Alberto (Pepe) Villalobos Cavero is certainly one of them who deserves to be known.  Born in  1930, he began his musical career as a child.  At the present time, he has his own musical group in Peru, called Tradición Limeña, for which he sings, and plays the cajón and the guitar.

Villalobos Cavero with his guitar.

\ Often referred to as the "king of the festejo," he is a three-time winner of the Festival of Black Music of Cañete (Peru).  Note that a festejo is a song of celebration, a party song, a lively, kick-up-your-feet and dance song.  We have several festejos on our CD and DVD, including Villalobos Cavero´s el Negrito Chinchivi, and Ritmo Negro del Perú written and performed for us by Jorge Luis Jasso.

Fiesta in the home of Jose Alberto (Pepe) Villalobos Cavero.

Villalobos Cavero is another of the major figures in Afro-Peruvian music.  He has received so many honors, we can only list a few.  He was honored in 2002 with a National Prize in Folklore.  He was honored by the city of Lima  in 2006 with a trophy for  his work in maintaining and passing on creole culture.  In 2007, he was recognized as a Master of Afro-Peruvian music.  And in 2011, the National Ministry of Culture recognized him as a "Leader in Peruvian Culture."

His song el Negrito Chinchivi is one of his most famous.  We have it on our CD de Rompe y Raja and Lalo Izquierdo:  A Zest for Life..Afro-Peruvian Rhythms LINK.  You can see it performed in the DVD of our documentary, A Zest for Life:  Afro-Peruvian Rhythms, a Source of Latin Jazz.  It´s a great song.

Villalobos Cavero singing

OUR NEXT BLOG will be about the music and dance that are called Zamacueca.