Dance of the Devils (Son de los Diablos) part 2 of 2

If you´re like me, you´re interested in where things come from.  Well, one of the people most knowledgeable about the Afro-Peruvian tradition is Nicomedes Santa Cruz, and he says the Son de los Diablos really didn´t come out of African tradition as most people assume, and instead, it´s very much a transplanted Spanish celebration.  Of course, African descendants have given it their own particular stamp, but, says Santa Cruz, its origins are in fact European.

Since the Son de los Diablos was originally part of the Corpus Cristi celebration, I checked out Corpus Cristi celebrations in Spain, and found that there are several in which there are special dances performed as part of the celebration.   Since the Son de los Diablos is a dance, and is supposed to have in part been something the Spanish Catholic slave owners used in order to convert Africans to Catholicism, I figured I should find out more about these dances to see if they resembled the Son de los Diablos.

 
This verison of the son de los diablos is by Perú Multicolor.  I like the dance, but the sound is not so good.  There´s some good zapateo about halfway through the video.

One of the most interesting celebrations in Spain for Corpus Cristi reminds me a good deal of the Son de los Diablos.  It takes place in a small town in central Spain called Camuñas (population 1,772).  In addition to a more standard religious procession, it includes two groups that parade and dance, one representing sin and sinful activities while the other represents virtue, and the virtuous.  It´s called the Pecados y Danzantes (Sins and Dancers).

Both groups, the one for the sins and the one for the virtues, dance wearing masks.  The costumes resemble somewhat the costumes worn by the dancers in the Son de los Diablos, but I think it´s mostly the masks and the parading of evil and evil beings that provide the link to the Afro-Peruvian celebration.  In addition, the sinful figures include the Demon/Devil (ah, ha!), the World, and the Flesh.

Image of the (sinful) World in Camuñas´ Corpus Cristi celebration.

 Best guesses are that the tradition of these dancing groups in Camuñas began in the 17th and 18th centuries.  The Son de los Diablos began no later than the 19th century, and probably started 100 or more years earlier, so it would have been very possible for the Camuñas celebration to have been brought over to Peru.

There are other places in Spain, larger places such as Toledo where the procession for Corpus Cristi includes figures of giants and, until recently, a monster called la Tarasca.  (The monster is in bad repair now, and so has not been taken out for the past several years.)  Again, the tradition in Toledo dates back several centuries. 

La Tarasca is also part of the Corpus Cristi celebration in Valencia (in southern Spain).  She´s part of a tradition that entered Spain from southern France.

It is said that la Tarasca was used by a saint to convert the local inhabitants (in Spain) to Christianity in the 17th century.  It´s not clear what religion they followed prior to their conversion.  This reminds me of how the Son de los Diablos was used in Peru.

One image of la Tarasca -- said to be part lion, part dragon, part turtle, part..... and very fierce.

In other words, although it´s certainly possible that the Son de los Diablos came from West African traditions of masquerade dancing, there is also plenty in the Spanish tradition that could have produced it.

I leave it to you to make a decision.

Want a free download of some Afro-Peruvian music?  Go to LINK.

OUR NEXT POST will be about the checo and the angara:  preserving traditional musical instruments.