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FOLK MUSIC
(See our PHOTO
GALLERY)
- Dances and musical instruments
- The marinera
- The huayno
- The vals criollo
- The sikuri
- The festejo
- Scissors dancers
- The cajon
- The quena
- The charango
- The guitar
- The quijada
DANCES
AND MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
The great creativity of the contemporary
Peruvian people, inherited from the incas, become apparent
in its music, it is varies from melancholy and soulful
to upbeat and festive. Perhaps the best known example
of Andean music is El Condor Pasa, adapted by Paul Simon.
Thanks to the recent archaelogical
discoveries of musical instruments, experts currently
know that in Peru, music has been played at least as
far back as 10,000 years ago.
This ancient tradition created quenas,
zampoñas, pututos (trumpets made from sea shell)
and a wide variety of other wind instruments crafted
from a range of materials such as cane, mud, bone, horns
and precious metals, as well as various percussion instruments.
Contact with the western world has
brought over a large number of instruments, creatively
adapted to the rhythmic and tonal needs of each region
of the country. The clearest evidence is the many transformations
that the harp, violin and guitar have undergone in the
Peruvian highlands.
The encounter between the Andes and
the Western World has given rise in Peru to 1,300 musical
genres. Two of them have crossed the country’s
borders and have become symbols of Peru’s identity:
the huayno and marinera.
Today, Peru continues to assimilate
new instruments such as synthesizers, electric guitars,
drums and harmonicas. Local musicians are also creating
new genres like chicha or Peruvian cumbia, enabling
Peru’s music to open up to new influences expanding
both at home and abroad, beyond native folk music.
This capacity for musical fusion
and innovation is a lively expression of the integrating
force and dynamic character of Peru’s culture.
THE
MARINERA
This dance is a spin-off from the zamacueca and the
mozamala. In 1893, Abelardo Gamarra “El Tunante”
dubbed the dance the “Marinera”, in homage
to Peru’s naval hero Admiral Miguel Grau, during
a piano concert performed by a Lima maiden who was to
become a major exponent of the genre, Rosa Mercedes
Ayarza de Morales. This encounter gave birth to Peru’s
best-known marinera, called “La Decana”
later rebaptized “La Concheperla”.The marinera
has steadily gained a foothold in the country’s
culture. In 1938, the genre was presented at the Independence
Day concert at Lima’s Teatro Municipal. Today,
there are marinera festivals held all over the country,
although the best-known is held in January in Trujillo.
The dance is performed in several styles, depending
on its place of origin: marinera costeña (the
south coast), marinera serrana (the highlands) and marinera
norteña (the north). The dance is energetic,
with elegant movements and a highly complex choreography
of coordinated and synchronized sequences. The couple
keeps time with a handkerchief clutched in one hand,
which is also part of the courting ritual, even though
the couple never comes into physical contact. Instruments
used to perform the marinera limeña include the
guitar and Cajón, a box-shaped drum, while a
full-blown marching band accompanies the Marinera Norteña.
THE
HUAYNO
 Held
to be the most representative dance of the Andes, its
pre-colombian origins blended early on with Western
influences, spreading into dozens of regional variations.
Its musical structure stems from a pentatonic scale
with a binary rhythm, a structural characteristic which
has made this genre the basis of a series of hybrid
rhythms, running from huayno to Andean rock. The dance
is performed by couples who perform turns and movements
featuring hops and a tap-like zapateo to mark time.
Instruments used to accompany the huayno include the
quena, charango, harp and violin. Some variations of
the huayno involve marching bands which have added trumpets,
saxophones and accordions. At the same time, although
they are different genres in popular thinking, huayno
is closer to the marinera than it appears, judging by
this refrain from a marinera serrana: “There’s
no marinera without huayno / nor huayno without marinera
/little Indian girl in the green skirt/the third part
of this song is for you”.
THE
VALS CRIOLLO
This dance has its participants
holding hands in a half-embrace, performing intertwined
steps in a style recreated by Lima inhabitants from
the Viennese waltzes. The Creole variation originated
in the nineteenth century and spread to the urban middle
class as a synthesis of the romantic nostalgia of the
criollo class in Lima. Instruments used to accompany
the dance include the guitar and the cajon.
THE
SIKURI
The martial rhythm of the dance
of the sikuris originated in the southern highland plain
known as the altiplano. It is danced in large groups,
forming troupes who join together in large circles around
musicians playing zampoña pan-pipes of varying
sizes. The choreography of the dance is symbolic of
the complementary nature and harmonious relationship
that human integration should involve, as one group
of flautists can only play half the notes, which means
the other group is indispensable to complete the melody.
THE
FESTEJO
This is a popular dance along the central coast. It
is performed by couples, both insinuating and at the
same time avoiding physical contact.
The dance movements, both joyful
and teasing, give off a corporal expression redolent
with sensuality. Backing instruments include guitar,
cajón and the quijada, plus a lead vocalist and
backing singers.
SCISSORS
DANCERS:
PHYSICAL DEXTERITY AND RITUAL CHALLENGE
 The
Danza de las Tijeras or scissors dance, is basically
seen as a major manifestation of art and physical dexterity
from a western viewpoint, while on the other hand Andean
folk or mestizo people who live in highland communities
see it as a complex ritual.
The danzaq, or dancers, are shrouded
in mystery. In a show of force and elasticity, these
men put their dexterity to the test with a series of
gymnastic leaps to the strains of harp and violin. Priests
in colonial times claimed the dancers had made a pact
with the Devil, because of the surprising feats they
performed. These fakir-like stunts, called atipanakuy,
include sword-swallowing, sticking pins through their
facial skin, eating insects, toads and snakes. The main
instruments played to accompany the dance is the pair
of scissors, made up of two independent sheets of metal
around 25 cm long and which together take the shape
of a round-blades scissors. The dance is performed at
its best in Ayacucho, Apurimac. Arequipa, the Ica highlands,
Huancavelica and Lima.
THE
CAJON
This percussion instrument, of Afro-Peruvian origins,
is used in most coastal variations of the marinera,
as well as musica criolla (Creole) and musica negra
(Afro-Peruvian) genres in general.
The instrument is crafted from a
wooden box which features a soundhole at the back. The
musician sits on top and slaps on the front surface
with the palms of his hands. Although of simple appearance,
the instrument has built up a following outside Peru,
including its recent incorporation into flamenco.
THE
QUENA
This Andean flute is the best-known wind instrument
in Peru and dates back to pre-Hispanic times.
It is made of a tube of cane, wood,
bone or even plastic, with one end beveled into a mouthpiece.
The quena features five or six soundholes
which produces a range of notes, depending on how the
performer blows through the flute. Quenas come in different
sizes depending on the region.
THE
CHARANGO
This instrument is modeled along the lines of a classic
guitar, although smaller with 10 strings. Its soundbox
is made from an armadillo or kirkincho shell, although
it is also often made of wood. It is very popular in
the southern Andes.
THE
GUITAR
The most widely-played instrument
in Peru. The most common shape is that of the modern
Spanish guitar, but Peru features 10 variants on the
theme which vary in shape, construction materials and
the number of strings. The tuning also varies depending
on the area.
The guitar combines with several
other instruments according to the musical genre being
performed, including the vals criollo, marinera, festejo,
huayno, zamacueca, tondero and even chicha.
THE
QUIJADA
 The
creative flair of Afro-Peruvians turned the lower jawbone
of a donkey or horse into an effective percussion instrument.
. It is held in one hand and hit with the other to keep
the beat. The unique sound of the quijada is produced
by the rattling molars in the jawbone and amplified
by the bone structure.
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