The "Toros de fuego" and "Torito Pinto" (part 1)

It’s a dark night, around 10pm.  The streets are full of people and everyone seems excited.  The crowd is mostly adults.  Some bars have set up tables outside, and many people are drinking – tinto de verano (red wine mixed with soda), beer, what have you.

There is a noise in the distance, and a faint glow.  Someone calls out, “it’s coming, it’s coming.”

Pretty soon, the noise becomes a surge of shouts, mingled with laughter and the sound of fireworks.

Then you see it:  a small, black bull shooting fireworks in all directions, running down the street then turning and heading towards the crowd, then running down the street again.  Most people clear the way in front of it, but a few hardy souls, mostly young men, stand their ground or run along with it, trying to get closer, trying to touch it without letting the fireworks touch them.

There are five bulls in this "Toros de fuego" in Arroyomolinos in Leon (in Spain).  It honors the Virgin de los Remedios.

This is a great example, accompanied by a musical track.

As the bull gets closer, you see it has only two legs, legs that look suspiciously like they belong to a human being.  And indeed, that is what it is:  the metal frame of a bull, with all kinds of fireworks attached to it, held up by a man running down the street.

This is the “toro de fuego,” the “fire-bull,” that you find in both Spain and Latin America to help celebrate certain saint’s days and other special occasions.

This one takes place in Igualala (Spain) in a central plaza, so brightly lit you hardly know it’s night.

Museo afropeurnao de Zaña, Peru

The final cultural organization I want to write about is the Museo afroperuano de Zaña.  Located in the city of Zaña, in the northern coastal region, it has been extremely active over the past several years in activities intended to preserve and publicize Afro-Peruvian culture, including the music and dance.

Founded in 2005, their first major effort was the reconstruction of one of the percussion instruments developed by Afro-Peruvians, a drum called the tambour de botija.  "Botija" means "treasure."  It´s a bit unclear to me if they mean these instruments are treasures, or if it refers to one specific kind of drum.

In any event, they made a video in which people, mostly youth, are playing various of the drums and other percussion instruments of the Afro-Peruvian community, plus there is some dance, including a long section of the Dance of the Devils (son de los diablos).  It´s pretty interesting.

More recently, the museum (which is also very much of a cultural organization) began promoting a come-back of the percussion instrument called the "checo," made out of a gourd which has the same name.  This included planting the vine on which the checo grows, turning the gourds into percussion instruments, giving classes in its use, making a video about it, and petitioning the Peruvian government to declare the checo a national, cultual treasure.

And even more recently, they have published a book about Afro-Peruvian musical instruments.  This organization is definitely doing a lot to maintain Afro-Peruvian culture, and rescue some elements that were about to disappear.

OUR NEXT POST will announce that for future information about Afro-Peruvian culture, and other aspects of cultural diversity on which we focus, you should go to the blog Palomino Productions.

Centro Cultural Afroperuano San Daniel Comboni de el Carmen, Peru

The Centro Cultural Afroperuano San Daniel Comboni de el Carmen, Peru (SEE ALSO this LINK) is located, not surprisingly, in the largely Afro-Peruvian town of El Carmen, in the southern coastal region of Peru.  Its focus is on maintaining the traditional Afro-Peruvian celebration of Christmas and the related celebration of the Virgin of Carmen, both of which include the groups of dancers referred to as the hatajos de negritos.

In addition, the center wants to promote pride of self in the Afro-Peruvian community, and support the educational and cultural needs of Afro-Peruvians.

The center offers music and dance classes.  Here, kids are learning some zapateo steps.  So this is how you do it!


And here´s a video of some more of their activities.  This was to celebrate Book Day, to promote reading, and includes children´s performing.  Cute.



The traditional Afro-Peruvian Christmas celebration, and the celebration of the presumed appearance of the Virgin of Carmen on Dec. 28, along with the participation in both of the celebrations of the hatajo de negritos, are among the most important expressions of Afro-Peruvian identity.  Firmly grounded in the Catholic religion, these celebrations are centuries old.

As our documentary film, A Zest for Life, explains, the hatajo de negritos were on the verge of disappearing.  A recently deceased master of the dances performed by the hatajos, Amador Ballumbrosio, deserves credit for being a major force in assuring their continued preservation.  His family, along with Margarita Cordoba and others such as Edith Maldonado and Carlos O. López Schmidt, have undertaken to continue his work in the present day.

OUR NEXT POST will be about the Museo Afroperuano de Zaña

National Afro-Peruvian Museum in Lima, Peru

After decades and decades of neglect, the government of Peru finally decided to recognize and salute the African descendants that form perhaps as high as 10 percent of its population.  An important element in this recognition was the creation of the Museo Nacional Afroperuanos (National Museum of the Afro-Peruvian Peoples) in the capitol city of Lima.

The museum was given a fine building -- a beautiful late 18th century edifice -- as well as a budget and a director.  Under the director, the museum built up a collection of artifacts and documents related to the history of Afro-Peruvians including the two and a half centuries in which they were enslaved in Peru.

The museum also engaged in a great deal of outreach, including classes in dance, cajón, history and culture.  These classes, some directed towards adults and some intended for children, were for the most part free.  They boasted good instructors, including Lalo Izquierdo, the star of our documentary A Zest for Life:  Afro-Peruvian Rhythms, a Source of Latin Jazz, who taught many of the cajón classes.

Then, a few months ago, something happened.  I am not very conversant with Peruvian politics, so I can´t really tell you what, but I can tell you the effects.

The museum´s director, Dr. Augusto Lavala, was terminated.  No new director was hired.  The budget was either cut drastically or completely eliminated.  All the classes had to be cancelled.  And then, the government turned the administration of the museum´s building over to a government organ unrelated to Afro-Peruvian culture (the Oficina de Participación, Proyección y Enlace con el Ciudadano).

I am very, very sad to see this happen.  In any event, if you want to see the museum´s still extant web site, which gives a virtual tour of the building it no longer occupies, go HERE.  If you want to see photos from the former classes, and other evidence of what the museum used to do, go to its Facebook page, which is HERE.

One happy note:  Lalo Izquierdo and others are continuing to give classes in cajón, Afro-Peruvian dance, and more in the town of San Luis de Cañete, to help maintain the tradition.

OUR NEXT POST will be about the Centro Cultural Afroperuano San Daniel de Carboni of the predominantly Afro-Peruvian town of el Carmen, Peru.

AND AS USUAL, if you want to sign up for our newsletter, go HERE.

More about "A Zest for Life," documentary about Afro-Peruvians

I've been thinking a lot recently about what I would say if someone asked me, "Why in the world would I be interested in watching a video about Afro-Peruvians?"

Well, because they are resourceful, resilient, and have a great sense of humor.  These are skills all of us could use.

Plus the music and dance are really cool:  great rhythms, music and dances that you've almost surely never seen before, and unique percussion instruments.  Then, there's the connection with the larger African diaspora, the parallels with African Americans, and the fact that this is a cross-over, a bridge if you will, between the Latino and the African American communities.

Some of those percussion instruments (and Lalo Izquierdo).

In other words, why WOULDN'T you be interested in watching a video about Afro-Peruvians.

To the best of my knowledge, my documentary film is the ONLY video about Afro-Peruvians to be found for an English-speaking public.  There are some good ones in Spanish, but they are not accessible to people who don't speak that language, which is one of the reasons I made mine.

So I hope you will forgive me for running on a bit about my documentary, A Zest for Life:  Afro-Peruvian Rhythms, a Source of Latin Jazz.  

On the DVD for Home Use, which is already available, we have the A Zest for Life documentary itself, plus a slide show.

For the Educational version (which will be out in late November or early December), we've added five Extras.  Three of these are interviews with Lalo Izquierdo, and he´s talking about Afro-Peruvian history.,  Lalo is a very charismatic man, and these interviews are great stuff!  Here is one of them.



One of the other two Extras is about the hatajo de negritos in el Carmen, Peru and the other, about Afro-Peruvian percussion instruments, especially the checo and the angara.  Here´s the one about the hatajo de negritos.


Due to time limitations on documentaries produced for television airing, in A Zest for Life I was only able to briefly mention the son de los diablos.  But just as the Centro Cultural Afroperuano San Daniel Carboni de el Carmen, Peru is doing wonderful work in keeping alive the tradition of the hatajos de negritos (SEE HERE), the Museo Afroperuano de Zaña is helping keep alive the son de los diablos, as THIS VIDEO makes clear.

And that´s it, about A Zest for Life.

OUR NEXT POST will be about Peru´s national museum dedicated to Afro-Peruvian history and culture.

A Zest for Life: documentary about Afro-Peruvians

Well, we've done it.  The final version of our documentary film about Afro-Peruvians is officially out on DVD.  As you may already know, it's called A Zest for Life:  Afro-Peruvian Rhythms, a Source of Latin Jazz.  and boy are we glad it's out.

Several months ago, we gave a party to celebrate its completion and afterwards, I located some new footage which I really wanted to include.  Getting it in the proper format and with the proper permissions was a long, involved task, but I did it.

The new stuff is mainly a segment in which three famous Afro-Peruvian percussionists are sitting on the front steps of a building in the city of Zaña in Peru, improvising on the checo together.  The checo, as you surely know by now, is a percussion instrument made out of the checo gourd.

Who are these famous percussionists?  Well, there´s Hugo Bravo, who plays percussion for Susana Baca.  There´s Juan Medrano Cotito, who plays percussion for almost everyone, including Novalima.  He recently toured in the United States and I´m very, very sorry to say that I missed him.

And there´s Mangue (Manuel Vasquez Goyoneche) who, I am sad to say, recently passed away.  Below, you see him doing zapateo footwork (after the young lady, a relative, finishes), with Cotito behind him on cajón and Roberto Arguedas playing the guitar.


And when you see the three of them playing together, it is awesome.  I wish I could do that!
  
By the way, I do want to make it clear that what we´ve just brought out is the Home Use version.  We'll produce the Educational version in November.  The main difference between the two versions, other than price, is that the Educational version will have some different Extras, directed towards, well, education.

So if you want to check out our great new DVD, purchase it now at www.AZestforLifeDVD.com.  Or if you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, you can go watch it in the Berkeley Video & Film Festival.  The festival runs from Dec. 7-22.  I´ll let you know the day and time of the screening for A Zest for Life once we´ve been told.

OUR NEXT POST will be a few more details about A Zest for Life.

The checo and the angara: preserving traditional musical instruments

The checo and the angara are two percussion instruments made out of gourds that come out of the Afro-Peruvian tradition.  Both are big;  that is to say, the checo is very big.  The angara is huge.

The angara, both the vine which bears the gourd and the use of that gourd as a percussion instrument, seems to have disappeared.  Indeed, it is so little known today that National Geographic´s article on Afro-Peruvian music confuses it with the checo.  You can, however, still see it being played in a YouTube video taken from a Peruvian television show filmed in the 1970s.

 

This great video (above), with host Dr. José Durand and percussionists Abelardo Vasquez and Arturo Zambo Cavero, is the only one in which I´ve been able to find anyone playing the angara.

The checo, on the other hand, is staging something of a comeback, due largely to the efforts of the Museo afroperuano de Zaña, whose directors searched for its seeds, planted a field with those seeds, harvested and prepared the gourds, and started classes for local youth.  The organization also persuaded the Peruvian government to declare the checo to be a national cultural treasure.

This is lovely, and delightful.

But why should we bother to preserve traditional percussion instruments...or any traditional musical instrument, for that matter?

First, other than the checo and the angara, what are some of these instruments?  Well, think of all the different kinds of flutes made out of bamboo, or cane, or ceramics.  Think of drums made out of hollowed out logs, or giant jars, with their heads covered with animal skins (a specific animal favored for each specific drum).  Think of zithers made out of bamboo or sticks of wood.  Think of conch shells used in the islands of the Pacific as a musical instrument, and the shekere made of ceramic and shells used in West Africa.  Think of chimes, again made out of wood or bamboo.  Think of rattles made out of deer hooves and bells made out of ceramics or iron.  Think of musical instruments made out of animal bones.  Think of the viola de gamba, the tambourine, the bagpipe.


 

Above is some very good checo playing, although not typical--he isn´t singing in Spanish, and in addition, the sound hole is at the top instead of on the side, as is more usual.

For a larger list, which is very interesting but unfortunately restricts itself mostly to traditional instruments from Europe, see this LINK.

There are hundreds of traditional musical instruments in the world, and they bring an astounding richness to our collective musical heritage, in addition to their contributions to the culture of the specific community which developed them.

And why preserve them?  Well, if reading the list above doesn´t convince you that they are in fact essential to music including modern music, I´ll add a few more reasons:

Many of these instruments have beautiful and/or interesting sounds that you cannot produce by any other means.  No, a synthesizer won´t do it.  Doesn´t have the flexibility, the depth of sound, or the sweetness you find in some of these instruments.


More Afro-Peruvian musical instruments...all except the kalimba, which comes from West Africa (Ghana and nearby countries).


Many of these instruments are so deeply linked to the history and heritage of the community which produced them that to lose them is to damage that heritage.

And for a last reason, keeping these instruments alive helps preserve us from sameness, from monotony, from homogenized music in which one composition sounds depressingly like all the others.

Just to let you know that we have put our money where our mouth is:  in the home use version our documentary, A Zest for Life:  Afro-Peruvian Rhythms, a Source of Latin Jazz, we have a section in which master percussionists are playing the checo.  In addition, in the educational version of the documentary, not only do we have that checo segment but as one of the Extras we have the videoclip you see near the top of this post of someone playing the angara.

So there.

OUR NEXT POST will be news about our documentary, A Zest for Life.