It seems as if lots of Peruvian music listed as what we in the U.S. would recognize as a "song" is in fact a family of songs. So it is with the Zamacueca.
We have a performance of a Zamacueca in our documentary, and also have the music on our CD. In our version....it's lively, it's fun, and the words, well...it's about farm workers (and originally, slaves) working in the fields in the sun all day, cutting sugar cane, which is back-breaking work, to make money for the boss. The song makes it clear that the boss is not a nice person, and mostly, the workers are thinking about how much hard work they have to do.
Below, you have "our" version of the Zamacueca.
But in the performance, it looks and sounds like everyone is having a good time. And I'm sure they are. Not only are they seeming to be having fun, they are choosing partners. It's a pretty sexy dance.
The singing in the fields reminds me of flamenco, and yes, there is a real connection. Bear with me.
Many of the current generation of flamenco singers, dancers, palmeros, etc....many of the current generation of middle-aged people in southern Spain, including gitanos (Gypsies) and payos, come from parents who were farm workers. Not all, of course, but an awful lot.
And they tell me that their parents (and in some cases, older brothers and sisters), when working in the fields, sang. This is where a lot of flamenco comes from. They sang in order to make the time pass faster, in order to take their minds off the hard work they were doing, with their backs hurting, with not having enough to eat, with the hardships they were enduring.
I think this is pretty common for people who work in the fields. It is not easy work.
So that's where at least one branch of the Zamacueca, comes from.
And if you wonder about my wandering off into field work in Spain, and gitanos...well, according to Wikipedia, the entire zamacueca group of dances is a mix of influence from Angolan slaves, gitanos, and the criollos and mulatos of 18th century Peru. Got that? Gitanos....from Andalucia, no less.
Just for the record, here's another Zamacueca...very different. It's all about flirting, but not so sexy. And no back-breaking work here.
OUR NEXT POST will be about our acceptance into a festival in Berlin, Germany, and other exciting news.
Wednesday, February 29, 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.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Zapateo
One of the things that our documentary A Zest for Life illustrates is Afro-Peruvian zapateo footwork. Here is an example of Caitro Soto (who you will remember from an earlier blog) doing zapateo along with Eusevio Sirio "Pititi." Zapateo was formerly done only in dances like the "hatajo de negritos" and the "son de los diablos" -- things you can see and enjoy in A Zest for Life.
But currently, zapateo is also done for show, and when two dancers or Afro-Peruvians guys get together, kind of as a form of friendly competition.
In the largely Afro-Peruvian town of el Carmen, in southern coastal Peru, boys do zapateo in the town plaza for tourists (who I assume give them tips). The people of that town are very poor, and I've noticed in some of the early photos and videos of these kids, some of them are barefooted but in later photos, they are all wearing pretty new looking shoes. Tips can serve a very good purpose.
The photo of the boys above is copyrighted (and here used with permission). It comes from Hugo R. Miller, aka Hugeaux Photography and can be found on YouTube in his "Hugeaux Photography, el Carment, Peru part 3 FINAL 'The beautiful people of el Carmen-Chincha-Ica. Peru" (LINK).
Lots of people in the predominantly Afro-Peruvian town of el Carmen, in southern, coastal Peru, learn zapateo, not just little boys looking for spending money. And the reason is because this town is a center for the preservation and performance of the "hatajo de negritos," which is done for religious purposes--namely, the celebration of the birth of baby Jesus.
El Carmen the town is predominantly Catholic, and December 24 and 25 are very important holidays. The "hatajo de negritos" is an integral part of the celebration, in which organized groups that have rehearsed together for months in advance dance for hours to honor Jesus. In the past, it was only boys and men who were part of these dancing groups, but girls are now welcomed as well, at least in some of the groups.
In A Zest for Life, we see zapateo of both kinds--as part of the religious celebration, and as a staged performance. In the studio, Lalo Izquierdo and two performers from de Rompe y Raja (Gabriela Shiroma and Pedro Rosales) did a version, while the documentary also contains zapateo performed in el Carmen. Here's what we videotaped in the studio:
You will notice that in the top video, the zapateo is done as a kind of friendly competition--"here´s what I can do, let´s see if you can top it." In our studio, however, it was presented as a master (Lalo Izquierdo) teaching two very apt pupils.
OUR NEXT POST will be about Afro-Peruvian jazz, Latin jazz, and what´s in a name.
But currently, zapateo is also done for show, and when two dancers or Afro-Peruvians guys get together, kind of as a form of friendly competition.
In the largely Afro-Peruvian town of el Carmen, in southern coastal Peru, boys do zapateo in the town plaza for tourists (who I assume give them tips). The people of that town are very poor, and I've noticed in some of the early photos and videos of these kids, some of them are barefooted but in later photos, they are all wearing pretty new looking shoes. Tips can serve a very good purpose.
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| Boys in el Carment doing zapateo. Copyrighted photo--don't try to download! |
Lots of people in the predominantly Afro-Peruvian town of el Carmen, in southern, coastal Peru, learn zapateo, not just little boys looking for spending money. And the reason is because this town is a center for the preservation and performance of the "hatajo de negritos," which is done for religious purposes--namely, the celebration of the birth of baby Jesus.
El Carmen the town is predominantly Catholic, and December 24 and 25 are very important holidays. The "hatajo de negritos" is an integral part of the celebration, in which organized groups that have rehearsed together for months in advance dance for hours to honor Jesus. In the past, it was only boys and men who were part of these dancing groups, but girls are now welcomed as well, at least in some of the groups.
In A Zest for Life, we see zapateo of both kinds--as part of the religious celebration, and as a staged performance. In the studio, Lalo Izquierdo and two performers from de Rompe y Raja (Gabriela Shiroma and Pedro Rosales) did a version, while the documentary also contains zapateo performed in el Carmen. Here's what we videotaped in the studio:
You will notice that in the top video, the zapateo is done as a kind of friendly competition--"here´s what I can do, let´s see if you can top it." In our studio, however, it was presented as a master (Lalo Izquierdo) teaching two very apt pupils.
OUR NEXT POST will be about Afro-Peruvian jazz, Latin jazz, and what´s in a name.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Caitro Soto
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| Caitro Soto playing the cajón. |
Caitro Soto (Carlos "Caitro" Soto de la Colina) was a well-known percussionist particularly well known for his mastery of the cajón. He was one of the founders of Peru Negro, one of the most important organizations dedicated to the preservation of Afro-Peruvian music, dance and culture.
Born in 1934 in the largely Afro-Peruvian town of San Luis (Cañete province), he died in 2004 at the age of 70 in Lima, Peru´s capitol. Cañete province is sometimes known as the "cradle of Afro-Peuvian arts" and between the time of the Spanish conquest and the 20th century, it was full of plantations dedicated to growing sugar cane, cotton and other products. Most of the labor to work these plantations, up until the mid-19th century, came from Africans who had been enslaved and brought to the area, and later, their descendants. Slavery wasn´t abolished in Peru until 1854.
Caitro Soto is best known for his unique version of the traditional Afro-Peruvian song, Toro Mata. He based his version on the song as taught to him by his grandmother and great-grandmother, and other family members.
I wanted to post a link here to a video with his biography, but it doesn't work and seems to have disappeared. Instead, here he is performing Toro Mata.
Toro Mata, which is also performed by our group on our documentary, A Zest for Life, isn´t the only song that Caitro Soto rescued. He collected songs from his ancestors and the elderly inhabitants of his native town, San Luis de Cañete, songs that recounted and illustrated the life of Afro-Peruvians during the time of slavery and the first few decades afterwards. These were country folk who did back-breaking work in the fields and their hardships are reflected in the songs they created.
For collectors of trivia, Caitro Soto had a role in the movie, The Motorcycle Diaries, about Che Guevara´s youth. He played one of the people in the leper colony.
OUR NEXT BLOG will be about Afro-Peruvian zapateo footwork, including some performed by Caitro Soto.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
That screening of A Zest for Life in la Peña -- looking back
I'd fully intended this blog to be about Caitro Soto, but since I got very, very busy with the screening party for A Zest for Life, and it's now taken place (leaving me with some great photos taken by Hershell West), I'm going to save Caitro Soto for NEXT time.
First of all, I want to thank everyone who helped and/or participated in the event: la Peña Cultural Center (our venue) including staff and volunteers, my daughter Lucy Armentrout (who manned the selling booth), Hershell West (our MC), Gabriela Shiroma (manager of the performing group) and de Rompe y Raja (the performers).
Why am I talking about performers in relation to the screening of the documentary? Because we made this a real PARTY. We screened the documentary. We gave a mini-lesson in Afro-Peruvian zapateo footwork to one brave and talented soul, and we had a live performance. The performers, de Rompe y Raja, are the people who performed in the documentary.
And in spite of the weather -- lots of rain, lots of wind, one of those evenings -- we had a very good audience. The audience also liked the documentary, they liked the performers, they liked the fellow learning zapateo (I forgot to get his name). They applauded at many moments, they purchased DVDs and CDs, they came up to talk to yours truly and to de Rompe y Raja's director, Gabriela Shiroma.
So if you missed this event, enjoy these photos. In addition, we will probably do another event of this kind in San Francisco, possibly as early as this summer. We'll keep you informed.
We'll end our series of photos with this one. Since the entire program was about Afro-Peruvian music and dance, even though Lalo Izquierdo wasn't present (he's in Peru), we should end with an Afro-Peruvian playing an Afro-Peruvian musical instrument.
OUR NEXT BLOG will be about Caitro Soto, another recently deceased great in Afro-Peruvian traditional music.
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| Audience preparing to go home after the show is over. |
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| MC Hershell West and filmmaker Eve A. Ma |
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| Some of the dancers from de Rompe y Raja. |
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| Mustn't forget the musicians! |
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| And the kids playing the cajon, singing, and dancing. |
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| Learning Afro-Peruvian zapateo on stage. |
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| My daughter Lucy Armentrout at the selling table during intermission. |
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| We'll end with our star, Lalo Izquierdo, playing the cajon. |
OUR NEXT BLOG will be about Caitro Soto, another recently deceased great in Afro-Peruvian traditional music.
Monday, January 16, 2012
RELEASE PARTY in La Peña, Fri. Jan. 20 at 8pm
Ok, you San Francisco Bay Area residents, it's time to mark your calendars and to set the evening of Friday, Jan. 20 starting at 8pm (THIS COMING FRIDAY) for our release party. The release party will be at la Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley (3105 Shattuck Ave.). Cost is $15 at the door, but $12 if you purchase in advance...students and seniors get a discount. And here's the LINK with information as to how to purchase in advance.
We've listed this event and posted photos and trailers in a number of places, including HERE. Of course, you can also go to our web site LINK and/or to the la Peña calendar page LINK to find out more about it.
Bottom line is just that you BE there when we start the program...which will consist of the screening of the documentary, a live performance by de Rompe y Raja, the performance group featured in the documentary, and for those so inclined, a mini-lesson in Afro-Peruvian zapateo footwork. Fun.
In the documentary, among other things you will learn about some of the percussion instruments that Afro-Peruvians have contributed to the musical world. You see four of these in the photo above, all of which figure in one way or another in the documentary. Those four are the Afro-Peruvian cajón, the quijada de burro, the cajita and the checo. Each one has a very distinctive sound and if you put them all together, it´s pretty cool.
The cajita is not restricted to Afro-Peruvian music, although that's where it comes from. Here's a percussion trio -- definitely not Afro-Peruvians (and no, the shekere is not Afro-Peruvian either, but the cajón in this video is). Looks like they are having a good time.
SO--come out to the release party, and join us.
OUR NEXT BLOG will be about the release party, after it occurs.
We've listed this event and posted photos and trailers in a number of places, including HERE. Of course, you can also go to our web site LINK and/or to the la Peña calendar page LINK to find out more about it.
Bottom line is just that you BE there when we start the program...which will consist of the screening of the documentary, a live performance by de Rompe y Raja, the performance group featured in the documentary, and for those so inclined, a mini-lesson in Afro-Peruvian zapateo footwork. Fun.
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| Juan Omar Medrano Cotito (PHOTO: Oscar Champi Echegaray) |
In the documentary, among other things you will learn about some of the percussion instruments that Afro-Peruvians have contributed to the musical world. You see four of these in the photo above, all of which figure in one way or another in the documentary. Those four are the Afro-Peruvian cajón, the quijada de burro, the cajita and the checo. Each one has a very distinctive sound and if you put them all together, it´s pretty cool.
The cajita is not restricted to Afro-Peruvian music, although that's where it comes from. Here's a percussion trio -- definitely not Afro-Peruvians (and no, the shekere is not Afro-Peruvian either, but the cajón in this video is). Looks like they are having a good time.
SO--come out to the release party, and join us.
OUR NEXT BLOG will be about the release party, after it occurs.
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