"Toro Mata," an Afro-Peruvian classic

Toro Mata is one of those performance numbers that nearly disappeared forever from the world, but was saved from oblivion just in time.  And I am so glad.

It has great rhythm, tells a great story, has really interesting costumes and the story of its background is so intimately tied to Afro-Peruvian history that you realize it is a treasure.

Now, where do I start?

Caitro Soto, recently deceased, was a leading figure in reviving Afro-Peruvian music and dance, and bringing it to a wider public.  He was able to do so in part because his grandmother and great-grandmother taught him many of the old, old songs when he was a boy.  And he was a boy who loved to sing, loved to play the cajón, and was proud of his culture.


Here, Caitro Soto sings Toro Mata, not long before he passed away.

Toro Mata is one of the music and dance selections that he learned from his grandmother and great-grandmother.  The great-grandmother in particular was only one generation away from the days of slavery, and knew many of the old songs dating from that time.

Toro Mata tells the story of two friends, both Afro-Peruvians at the time of slavery, who belonged to a man who raised bulls for bull-fights.  One of the friends had been drinking, and decided in his slightly inebriated state, that he´d like to try his hand at bull-fighting.

 
Here is a version of Toro Mata by Susana Baca.  There is a short commercial before she starts...SORRY!

The other people present agreed to this and gave him a bull, but his friend urged him to be cautious.

When he tried to fight the bull, the bull went after his black skin and not the red bull-fighter´s cape.  He couldn´t get away from the bull.  His friend tried to get him to stop, but it was no use.

We don´t hear the final outcome, but after all, the song´s title is Toro Mata, which means "the bull kills."  I think it´s fair to assume that this is what happened to him.

 
Gabriel Alegría´s interpretation of Toro Mata, 2009...all instrumental.  (He´s a jazz musician.)

The costumes for the dance, and the steps and movements in the first part of the dance, are a caricature of the minuet.   The Spanish slave-holders, at the time the song was created, loved the minuet, and Toro Mata not only tells the sad story of the would-be bull-fighter, but also makes fun of those slave holders.  This was one way that Afro-Peruvians found the courage to deal with their harsh lot...a resilient people.

The rhythm of Toro Mata is called the lando.  It´s close to what, when I was growing up in New Orleans, was referred to as "bump and grind" music.  It´s very compelling.  Great stuff to dance to.

Eva Allyón´s Toro Mata, performed a year ago.

We have one version of Toro Mata in our documentary, A Zest for Life, and also on our CD, Afro-Peruvian Rhythms.  But it is such an evocative and popular number that as we´ve seen above, many famous artists have their own version.

A couple of comments I´d like to make about these several artists and their versions of Toro Mata:  the one person among these that seems genuinely interested in pointing to this song as part of Afro-Peruvian history and the Afro-Peruvian tradition is Caitro Soto.  In addition, none of the versions I have here show the dance, which in my opinion is a shame.  (The version in our documentary includes the dance as well as the song.)

Want a free download of our version of the music?  Go to www.AZestforLifeCD.com.

And to see the dance as well, as performed by our artists, you have to wait until October when we release the DVD.  Again, SORRY!

OUR NEXT POST will be about the Hatajo de Negritos in Peru.

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.)

OUR NEXT POST will be about the song "el negrito Chinchivi" and its composer, José Alberto (Pepe) Villalobos Cavero.