Afro-Peruvian dances

The Afro-Peruvian dances are those created by peoples of African descent in Peru.

In the viceregal era, the peoples of African descent gradually adapted to the new customs, although they tried to preserve their cultural heritage, mainly musical, the same that little by little became Creole and developed into a culture Afro-Peruvian own. From this original mix of European, indigenous and African cultures, dances of black expression were born in Peru and in the world.

The best expression of joy or sadness of this Afro-Peruvian culture is to dance to the rhythm of the drums of their African ancestors. A well-known dance would be the Tondero.

Rhythmic language

The blacks in Peru, with their ingenious joy and rich culture, used everything that could suggest rhythm to create their music and dances with the combination of ritual sensuality, body language being very important in their movements, with coplas and proclamations, those who with their deep voices, their hands and bodies, intelligently introduced themselves into the society of the colonial era. At present there is a typical Peruvian black folklore.

Afro-Peruvian dances

Snow Water

Competitive tap dance between independent dancers of both sexes accompanied by guitar, with twists of clear Spanish origin. It was practiced in the small north of the central coast, province of Huaral. The main promoter of this genre was Porfirio Vásquez, a native of Aucallama, together with the guitar teacher Vicente Vásquez. Porfirio recorded this melody, which was recorded on the album "Cumanana", directed by Nicomedes Santa Cruz in the 1970s.

Fine love

Sung competition musical genre in which an indeterminate number of people participate. It is not danced It was practiced in Lima and in the small north, especially in Aucallama. Accompanied by a guitarist. In the Lima neighborhood of Malambo, Mateo Sancho Dávila, a member and visible head of decimistas known as "the twelve pairs of France", stood out in its cultivation. A melody spread by Augusto Ascuez is remembered, who said that Fine Love is very happy. It was usually sung at the end of a family or social dance in a circle of eight singers and with the guitarist in the center. The rule forbade repeating the verse that had already been sung. The competition ends with only one of the singers remaining.

Alcatraz

Dance of the Festejo genre, in force especially in Lima and Ica. It is a festive erotic dance, for a loose couple. Man and woman carry a rag, a piece of paper or something similar on the back of their waists; the man with a lit candle tries to light the "cone" while the woman dances moving her hips. Currently in the choreography the woman also tries to burn the man. The music is performed by a soloist and a choir of singers, guitars and percussion, the best-known songs belong to Porfirio Vásquez and his son Abelardo as "Al son de la tambora" and "Negrita ven" respectively.

It owed its name to an outfit made of gannet feathers that the woman wore tied behind her back, to which the man had to set fire with a lighted candle, but without any of the dancers missing a beat. She is danced with her bare feet, a custom of many Peruvian dances.

Front or navel dance

Festive erotic dance, now extinct. Man and woman danced in clear allusion to fertility. Nicomedes Santa Cruz alludes to this dance as one of the original sources of the Zamacueca and/or Marinera Limeña. Observing similarity with the sexual initiation dances of other countries such as Cuba or Brazil, where the "vacunao" was practiced. A reference to this dance was found by A. Hesse in Moro in Chimbote in 1979. In this dance the navel is used a lot.

Dance'land or Strike'land

Current in Saña, Lambayeque. In several South American countries there is talk of "ground dances", (especially in Chile) which according to some are called that way to differentiate them from those that are danced on a tabladillo or stage. The song "Los negros del Combo", sung by Mr. Tana Medina in Saña, is a hit, with marked similarities to the tondero.

Fits

The cabe was a kind of dance and ritual, where two participants entered a circle formed by people to the sound of drums, intertwined their legs as a hand-to-hand confrontation and as a physical training. Currently this art has been maicreado.

Song of revelry

The Lima sailor is known as "canto de jarana", in which singers individually or in duo establish a literary and musical competition, respecting a structure.

Congorito

Form of Festejo whose fundamental characteristic is the repetition of the chorus that says: "congorito digo yo, congorito" alternating with various quartets. It is one of the oldest festivities in memory, whose lyrics were compiled in 1938 by Rosa Mercedes Ayarza Morales. It can also be said of this that it has been spread in 1988 by Alma Marcela Gozo.

Couple

Quartet of Spanish origin, which is sung or recited. It is generally built in eight syllables (the most popular verse in the Peruvian and Latin American songbook). It must have been the one that originates the so-called Cumanana. Copla is called the quatrain recited in the middle of the northern sailor. Example. What a miserable cholo, he had to be from the north, he sleeps with his sister-in-law, so as not to waste his wife. Author. Miguel Risco Casaro

Cumanana

Musical literary genre. It is not danceable. Sometimes it is sung in competition. The Cumanana is in force on the northern Peruvian coast (Piura, Lambayeque and Tumbes), having variants between the Lambayecana (Saña, Batán Grande, Ferreñafe), with the Piuranas (Morropón) or the Tumbesinas. Cumanana is also sung in the Andean zone of Piura (Huancabamba) with an indigenous style melody. As a literary genre, it allows dealing with all kinds of themes: religious, loving, political, etc., being important material in the reconstruction of regional history and the popular point of view.

Recently, musicologist Chalena Vásquez spoke about the Kikongo origin of the word Kumanana, whose meaning corresponds to a reciprocal verb: to know, to have knowledge. The word is analyzed as follows: Ku (beginning of the verb) man (verb root: to know, to have knowledge) an (means the verb in reciprocity) - a (it is the end of the verb in Kikongo ya letà)

Havana Dance

Cuban musical genre. Its rhythmic cell, tango congo, receives it from the Cuban contradanza, which is in turn a variation of the European contradanzas that arrived on the island in the second half of the century XVIII. The variation that the contradanzas from Europe receive when played by Creole black and mulatto musicians is the assimilation of the African rhythmic cells found in the Afro-Cuban liturgy. Anchored in the Habanera, a sung variation of the Habanera Dance that takes place from 1841 in the capital of the island, it returns to Spain to join the Zarzuela, being very popular in Hispanic America. The tango congo, present in the habanera of the opera Carmen by the French George Bizet, traveled back to America and is at the base of the milonga, of the Brazilian maxixe and in Tango. Its theme is free, dedicated especially to the theme of love. It is generally a slow rhythm, but it speeds up its dynamics according to the theme of the text.

Pallas Bunch

Collective female dance that is danced at Christmas and the Three Kings Festival in the Ica Region. Las Pallas (Quechua word that refers to maidens) or shepherdesses, is danced mainly in the El Carmen area, the district and its hamlets in Chincha. The female choir and the female soloist sing Christmas carols alternating with stomping. Accompanied by guitar. The dancers carry rhythm sticks, called "azucenas".

Tenths

Literary form that is intensely practiced among the black population throughout the Peruvian coast, allows to treat all kinds of topics with subtle humor, showing literary skill and wit. When they are sung, according to Nicomedes Santa Cruz, they were called Socabón. The tenth, generally worked in eight syllables, rhymes its verses as follows:

This type of tenth is in force in various northern towns: Brando Briones in Saña, Fernando Barrenzuela in Chulucanas (Morropón) and Juan Urcariegui in Lima stood out.

Forced tenths of a foot

They are the tenths that begin with a Quartet or Copla whose verses will end each of the tenths in a mandatory manner. Nicomedes Santa Cruz talks extensively about the subject in the book "La décima en el Perú" (1982). Luis Rocca in his book & # 34; The other story & # 34; records a large number of tenths, particularly from the town of Saña.

Bundle of Negritos

Cuadrilla, comparsa or masculine dance group made up of interdependent couples that is popularly organized to adore the Child Jesus at Christmas and is based on the dynamics of Spanish Christmas carols. It is in force in the towns south of Lima, especially in the province of Cañete (department of Lima) and in the department of Ica, especially in the Chincha, Pisco, Ica and Nazca areas, where it is practiced by children and young people in command of a foreman It is sung and danced to the accompaniment of the violin and bells carried by the dancers in their hands.

Landó

Musical and choreographic genre whose origin is not yet clearly elucidated. Some researchers assert that the word comes from the Lundú voice. According to Vicente Vásquez (in an interview in 1978), the first news he received from the Landó was a fragmented version of a proclamation that read "Zamba malató landó". This song was recorded by Nicomedes Santa Cruz on the album "Socabón", to which Vicente Vásquez provides guitar accompaniment.

Professional music groups usually consider Toro mata as belonging to the Landó genre. It should be remembered that Cecilia Barraza recorded a compilation made by Caitro Soto of a traditional song from the Cañete area called Toro mata. However, in the Cañete area, the inhabitants identify it as a genus with its own name: "Toro Mata" (attested to in a 1978 field investigation conducted by musicologist Chalena Vásquez).

These two themes: Toro Mata and Zamba malató, are taken as the basis for the elaboration or consolidation of the genre currently known as Lando, through successful compositions by authors such as Chabuca Granda and Andrés Soto.

The current Landó is a rhythm made in a cajón of 12/8 that has the particularity of accentuating only the first of the four quarter notes of the measure. The other accents come after each remaining quarter note.

Moors and Christians

Theatrical representation of the battle between Moors and Christians, as a sacramental play that was taught by the Spanish in their eagerness to catechize. In some places the meaning totally changed making "the Moors win over the Christians". They remember her in the area of Cañete, Chincha, as well as in Chulucanas. A description of this show of popular theater can be found in Erasmo (Mar and Carbajal, 1974)

Mozamala

The mozama is a typical dance of the Lima carnival, it was organized in gangs of devils that danced, making extraordinary jumps, in the carnival parties around the streets of Lima. This dance was also practiced in other places along the coast. José Durand, following the indications of Arturo Jiménez Borja, found it, for example, in Virú in the 1970s; Similar dances are practiced or practiced in some provinces of the department of Ica (Nasca, Chincha and Pisco)

The blacks of Huánuco

Dance that is danced in a group called a quadrille and is represented in lines or 2 rows and directed by two foremen. This dance is one of the complete ones because it is religious and ceremonial and today it is a cultural heritage of the city of Huánuco, Peru. It is danced from December 24 to January 20 throughout the city, which is why it has become a tradition and custom.

One step

This American rhythm broadcast on the radio and in the movies is accepted and practiced in Creole environments in Peru, with the character of a fast polka in which you can sing about various themes. It is known that Felipe Pinglo has several compositions of this genre in his repertoire.

Obliged

Or n#34;Golpe de frente#34;, ritual-festive dance alluding to fertility. (Inf. Axel Hesse, l978)

Honeycomb

With the same name we know two types of songs especially practiced by black sectors. One of them is a move from the group of blacks, with Amador Ballumbrosio and his sons being the best cultivators. It accompanies itself with the violin and counterpoint is performed by tapping. The other version of Panalivio is like a slow lament -similar to the Havana dance- as is the song "A la Molina no voy más".

Kettle

Extinct dance, of possible indigenous origin. It is said that in the north of Peru there was a dance that imitated the mating of the White-winged Guan of pre-Hispanic origin. Some scholars such as Guillermo Riofrío (composer from Piura) see in this choreography the background of the Tondero from Piura. The northern sailor adopts steps of this genre, the skirt with which the mimetisa sailor is danced a la Pava.

Proclamation

Song whose function is to publicize various products for sale, have been musically developed by various authors such as Rosa Mercedes Ayarza de Morales. With a free rhythm, the Proclamation is characterized by elongated notes and register changes in the voice; Effects that seek to attract the attention of potential customers. One especially remembers the proclamation that announced "Revolución caliente";"they dont call me a thief when I steal hearts"

Slippery

Part of the Marinera Limeña or Canto de Jarana. It is said that it bears that name because of the type of step when dancing, the typical "escobilleo" which is like "slipping" the feet. However, in other places it is called Refalosa, which possibly comes from the verb "refalar" which means "take off a garment, get rid of something" in old Castilian It is likely that its original name was Refalosa and that it was later changed. The Refalosa or Slippery was an independent dance, currently in Peru it is always found following the Marinera Limeña. Due to the movements of a more festive-erotic nature and other references, the choreography would have been more similar to the Zamacueca. (see Romero, 1988: 231)

Viciously

Song from the town of the same name performed by soloist and choir. It is characterized by its anticlericalism according to the historian Luis Rocca. It is made up of three very differentiated parts, a slow first part, which is the Zaña or Saña itself (the choral version made by R. Alarco spreading), a second also called gloss and a third or fugue. This same structure would give rise to the Tondero as we know it today. (Rocca, Luis, 1985:120)

Knockout

According to Nicomedes Santa Cruz, this is the name given to the sung tenth. (Santa Cruz, l974) Fernando Romero says that it is a dance performed by black Peruvians, which was performed only in the sheds where they used to live, without instrumental accompaniment and accompanied only by a wordless melopea.

"It was banned due to the lasciviousness of the choreography but it continues to be danced clandestinely (...) The guitar playing was the so-called Socavón (sic), a slightly monotonous rhythm that was the same for all tenths&# 3. 4; (quotes Erasmo Muñoz in: F. Romero, l988:245)

They are from the devils

Dance that originates in Lima, in Corpus Christi, and later becomes a Carnival dance. It represents the devil (with masks, tails, tridents) and it went out through the streets as a Comparsa under the command of the Caporal until the 1940s (Vicente Vásquez. Interview. 1978). The choreography included stomping and acrobatic movements as well as shouting to scare passersby. It was accompanied by guitars, a box and a donkey's jaw.

Tondero

Dance for independent couples in force in Tumbes, Piura and Lambayeque. Morropón (Piura) and Saña (Lambayeque) dispute over being the original source of the Tondero. Both places are important settlements of the black population. In Saña it is said that the Tondero comes from the voice "Lundero", which would be to name those who played or practiced the Lundu, since one of the most important songs -Zaña or Saña- repeatedly contains and as a refrain "Al lundero gives it", or "a lundero gives it" It hits Lundero, Saña!, it hits Lundero"

Thus, a first part -slow- of this song ironically sings various facets of Saña's daily life - this part is called Saña- and then Tondero's beat enters with an accelerated and syncopated rhythm -in Cajón or in Checo- who is called Tondero. Some scholars associate the choreography of the tondero with an indigenous dance that imitated mating movements of the White-winged Guan of pre-Hispanic origin. The tondero definitely has rhythm, melody and choreography that has very little to do with the marinera. The tondero is more than sensual and you have to see the Alto Piura peasants dance on the so-called hot coast located in the extensive and populated plains of the province of Morropón where it originates from, according to all indications, although it is cultivated throughout the coast north.

Sad with fuga de tondero

Musical form composed of a slow part very similar to the yaraví and which in the north is called Triste, with melodic twists of Andean origin, apparently it is a variant that comes from Harawi and another fast part -with a characteristic entry into strings and obligatory - that could come from a drumbeat or a marímbula (this hypothesis has not yet been proven). As a musical genre, it is one of the clearest samples of Hispanic-Afro-indigenous miscegenation.

It is important to observe comparatively the bimodal harmony of the Tondero (major-minor) and the pentatonic turns that may be in its melodies, elements that emphasize the indigenous character of this musical form.

Bull kills

Song compiled in Cañete and El Guayabo (Chincha) (see: Tompkins, 1981). Disseminated commercially as belonging to the landó genre (although in Cañete it is considered as its own genre). There are several versions of Toro Mata, compiled by Tompkins between 1975 and 1976. This researcher dedicates a chapter of his thesis (chapter 10) to this musical genre, recording five versions, and an analytical commentary on them.

Yunza

This is the name given to one of the Carnival events in which a tree is decorated and couples take turns cutting it down with an ax until it falls (practiced throughout Peru). Yunza's song is "Huanchihualito" which is performed in various towns in the south of Lima, with various coplas that are improvised alternating with the refrain of "huanchihualito, huanchihualó/ para amante solo yo"... chanted by the dancers en rueda.

Zamba landó

It is a piece of the Landó genre whose chorus reads "Zamba-malató-landó", which was reconstructed for a recording in the 1960s. Vicente Vásquez created the guitar accompaniment.

Zamacueca

Musical genre prior to the Marinera, apparently it was a dance widely spread from the capital of Peru, to Bolivia, Argentina and Chile. Fernando Romero (1939) shows that it is this same dance that gives rise to the Marinera, as well as gives an etymological approximation in his work on Afronegrismos. (Romero, 1988:274). It was danced at the Amancaes festival at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.

It is an erotic-festive dance that was censored for its "daring" (Toledo, 1990). Victoria Santa Cruz reconstructs it in the 1970s, taking as a model the costumes that appear in Pancho Fierro's watercolors and with the references of the Argentine musicologist Carlos Vega. At present some Zamacuecas created especially for the show are known, but it is not found in spontaneous popular practice.

Zapateo

The Afro-Peruvian zapateo is a competition between dancers to the beat of the Afro-Peruvian cajón and the guitar of Arab origin. The Afro-Peruvian zapateo has its origin in dances from Africa. It is divided into Zapateo in Major and in Minor, defined thanks to the guitarist Vicente Vásquez, who, following his father, Porfirio Vásquez, recorded the main melodies of this musical form. The shoe passes have a regulation, as a competition game. The Afro-Peruvian zapateo requires training and skill, and is usually limited to groups or people who practice music and dance professionally, but it is important to note that this musical and dancing form is practiced in the festivities of El Hatajo de Negritos in southern Peru. Lima as well as in La Danza de las Pallas in the department of Ica. In flamenco dancing, it refers to the rhythmic percussion that dancers perform with their feet, using flamenco shoes.

Zambapalo

In Tompkins' work on Afro-Peruvian music there is a series of dances that were spread in some way in Latin America. Many of them were only in the appointments of chroniclers, one of them is the Zambapalo.

And also

• Cañete
• Chincha
• Peruvian Danzas
• Black Art Festival
• Creole and Afro-Peruvian music
• Black Summer