I have been asked to publicize this, and think that´s a great idea: a 13-year old Peruvian-American kid playing jazz saxophone with Barbara Morrison as vocals. Well, why not? Barbara Morrison, his "adopted grandmother," is African American and it all fits in, in a weird way, with our documentary about Afro-Peruvian music and its connection to Latin jazz.
The jazz session took place in Fullerton, California. Morrison and the kid are backed up by the jazz group The Bu Crew. And who is this 13-year old? Christopher Astoquillca. Olé, tu.
Christopher´s idol is Sonny Rollins, and the video below starts with him meeting that great saxophonist. It then continues on to a fine performance by Christopher. A really fine performance.
So watch, and enjoy.
OUR NEXT POST will be about black Latinos.
Showing posts with label Afro Peruvian music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Afro Peruvian music. Show all posts
Friday, March 30, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
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.
\ 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.
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.
OUR NEXT BLOG will be about the music and dance that are called Zamacueca.
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.
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| Villalobos Cavero with his guitar. |
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| Fiesta in the home of Jose Alberto (Pepe) Villalobos Cavero. |
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.
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| Villalobos Cavero singing |
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Afro-Peruvian jazz, Latin jazz and what´s in a name
Afro-Peruvian jazz...the child of Afro-Peruvian traditional music and New York jazz. In a nutshell, it's what happens when a musician who plays Afro-Peruvian traditional music goes to New York and gets caught up in the jazz scene there. Or the other way around, when a New York jazz artist goes to Peru....
The best-known musician of Afro-Peruvian jazz is Daniel Alegria, who is not Afro-Peruvian (although he is Peruvian). Daniel Alegria currently spends his time going back and forth between New York and Peru, and plays in both countries with his sextet. He also has a night-club in New York which features not only his own sextet, but also other practitioners of Afro-Peruvian jazz, and sometimes of Afro-Peruvian traditional music.
Other musicians of the genre Afro-Peruvian jazz include the guitarist Richie Zellon and the singer-songwriter Corina Bartra.
What, then, IS Afro-Peruvian jazz. What's the mix?
Well, the text book definition is A "fusion of jazz with Afro-Peruvian rhythms."
Ok, so some of these artists really stick to the rhythms found in the music developed by the Afro-Peruvian community. Many even make some use of Afro-Peruvian percussion instruments, especially the cajón. But the sound? Well, it doesn't really have all that much to do with Afro-Peruvian music.
There is, first of all, a lot of brass in Afro-Peruvian jazz. There is NO brass in any Afro-Peruvian music that I´ve ever heard. Next, some of it uses big bands...again, not something you´d exactly expect to find in Afro-Peruvian traditional music.
The songs, if there´s singing, doesn´t normally relate to the Afro-Peruvian community or its history and traditions. Not all that surprising if the artists don´t in fact come out of the Afro-Peruvian tradition. These people are NOT black Latinos, which as it turns out, really makes a difference. So why are we calling this music "Afro-Peruvian jazz?"
Then, there´s Latin jazz. Afro-Peruvian jazz is said to be part of Latin jazz. Several people have pointed out that there really is no such animal as "Latin jazz." I agree.
Unfortunately, we´re in the misty realm of communication. "People" are familiar with the term "Latin jazz" and to a lesser extent, "Afro-Peruvian jazz." It may be that neither one means much, but people THINK they mean something. People THINK they understand what it means and that they either like, or don´t like what they think it means.
To get right down to the point, the term "classical music" doesn´t really mean anything, either.
So we´re left in the fog of non-communication, believing we´re saying something when really, all we´re doing is saying "hey, you might like this and since you won´t check it out unless it has a name you´re familiar with, the closest I can come is THIS name."
(Compare the "Afro-Peruvian jazz" musicians above with Afro-Peruvian traditional music from our CD and our documentary, below.)
Nothing new under the sun here.
(NOTE: if you like this rendition of Zamacueca, you might want to check out our CD on CDBaby LINK.)
The best-known musician of Afro-Peruvian jazz is Daniel Alegria, who is not Afro-Peruvian (although he is Peruvian). Daniel Alegria currently spends his time going back and forth between New York and Peru, and plays in both countries with his sextet. He also has a night-club in New York which features not only his own sextet, but also other practitioners of Afro-Peruvian jazz, and sometimes of Afro-Peruvian traditional music.
Other musicians of the genre Afro-Peruvian jazz include the guitarist Richie Zellon and the singer-songwriter Corina Bartra.
What, then, IS Afro-Peruvian jazz. What's the mix?
Well, the text book definition is A "fusion of jazz with Afro-Peruvian rhythms."
Ok, so some of these artists really stick to the rhythms found in the music developed by the Afro-Peruvian community. Many even make some use of Afro-Peruvian percussion instruments, especially the cajón. But the sound? Well, it doesn't really have all that much to do with Afro-Peruvian music.
There is, first of all, a lot of brass in Afro-Peruvian jazz. There is NO brass in any Afro-Peruvian music that I´ve ever heard. Next, some of it uses big bands...again, not something you´d exactly expect to find in Afro-Peruvian traditional music.
The songs, if there´s singing, doesn´t normally relate to the Afro-Peruvian community or its history and traditions. Not all that surprising if the artists don´t in fact come out of the Afro-Peruvian tradition. These people are NOT black Latinos, which as it turns out, really makes a difference. So why are we calling this music "Afro-Peruvian jazz?"
Then, there´s Latin jazz. Afro-Peruvian jazz is said to be part of Latin jazz. Several people have pointed out that there really is no such animal as "Latin jazz." I agree.
Unfortunately, we´re in the misty realm of communication. "People" are familiar with the term "Latin jazz" and to a lesser extent, "Afro-Peruvian jazz." It may be that neither one means much, but people THINK they mean something. People THINK they understand what it means and that they either like, or don´t like what they think it means.
To get right down to the point, the term "classical music" doesn´t really mean anything, either.
So we´re left in the fog of non-communication, believing we´re saying something when really, all we´re doing is saying "hey, you might like this and since you won´t check it out unless it has a name you´re familiar with, the closest I can come is THIS name."
(Compare the "Afro-Peruvian jazz" musicians above with Afro-Peruvian traditional music from our CD and our documentary, below.)
Nothing new under the sun here.
(NOTE: if you like this rendition of Zamacueca, you might want to check out our CD on CDBaby LINK.)
OUR NEXT POST will be about the song "el negrito Chinchivi" and its composer, José Alberto (Pepe) Villalobos Cavero.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Gabriel Alegria, and my article about Afro-Peruvian jazz
Thought you might be interested in my recently published article about Afro-Peruvian jazz.
LINK. It's on EZines.
Afro-Peruvian jazz is the "new kid on the block" of Latin jazz. It's foundation is Afro-Peruvian traditional music and New York jazz. If you want to know more about Afro-Peruvian traditional music, one source is our documentary A Zest for Life: Afro-Peruvian Rhythms, a Source of Latin Jazz. We also have a CD of the sound track. We're in the process of placing the CD in Bay Area stores; more on this when we've done it.
As for Afro-Peruvian jazz, currently the most famous musician and group leader is Gabriel Alegria. He not only has a great combo but also a nightclub in New York called the Tutuma Social Club where he brings in all kinds of good performers. Here's a LINK.
He goes back and forth between New York and Peru, so he doesn't lose his roots by spending too much time in the U.S.. He´s got a nice web site as well as a great group. Check him out.
In addition, he played a concert in el Carmen, Peru, in 2009. Now, el Carmen is one of the centers of Afro-Peruvian traditional music and he put a lot of that music into the concert, especially by using Huevito Lobaton on the quintessential Afro-Peruvian instrument, the cajita. AND just to make the connection completely clear, there´s this number from the concert in which it starts and ends with Huevito playing the cajita while Gabriel Alegria plays the quijada de burro, another percussion instrument that Afro-Peruvians have given to the world. Check out the video below.
OUR NEXT BLOG will be about our CD and our release party at la Peña (Berkeley, CA).
LINK. It's on EZines.
Afro-Peruvian jazz is the "new kid on the block" of Latin jazz. It's foundation is Afro-Peruvian traditional music and New York jazz. If you want to know more about Afro-Peruvian traditional music, one source is our documentary A Zest for Life: Afro-Peruvian Rhythms, a Source of Latin Jazz. We also have a CD of the sound track. We're in the process of placing the CD in Bay Area stores; more on this when we've done it.
As for Afro-Peruvian jazz, currently the most famous musician and group leader is Gabriel Alegria. He not only has a great combo but also a nightclub in New York called the Tutuma Social Club where he brings in all kinds of good performers. Here's a LINK.
He goes back and forth between New York and Peru, so he doesn't lose his roots by spending too much time in the U.S.. He´s got a nice web site as well as a great group. Check him out.
In addition, he played a concert in el Carmen, Peru, in 2009. Now, el Carmen is one of the centers of Afro-Peruvian traditional music and he put a lot of that music into the concert, especially by using Huevito Lobaton on the quintessential Afro-Peruvian instrument, the cajita. AND just to make the connection completely clear, there´s this number from the concert in which it starts and ends with Huevito playing the cajita while Gabriel Alegria plays the quijada de burro, another percussion instrument that Afro-Peruvians have given to the world. Check out the video below.
OUR NEXT BLOG will be about our CD and our release party at la Peña (Berkeley, CA).
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