Like Latin jazz? try some traditional Afro-Peruvian music

We´re producing a CD of the musical track from A Zest for Life, and it´s looking - and sounding - good.  It´s scheduled to arrive in the mail tomorrow, and I´m seriously excited.  It´s called (drum roll here) A Zest for Life:  Musical  Track.

There are 8 tracks on the CD, six of which are good, solid, Afro-Peruvian music including the very popular Zamacueca, along with Torito Pinto, Toro Mata, and others.  The two two tracks that AREN´T strictly Afro-Peruvian music are, respectively, a northern version of Peru's national dance la Marinera, sung by popular singer-songwriter Jorge Luis Jasso, plus a cajón demonstration by Lalo Izquierdo.

Yes, I said la Marinera was Peru´s national DANCE.  Since this is a CD, obviously what we have is the music to which it´s danced.  Jorge Luis Jasso is great singing this:  it´s one of his favorites.  He also sings other versions of la Marinera, and here is one of them-a slow one he sang for a Peruvian television presentation.



On our own CD, in addition to la Marinera, Jorge Luis Jasso also sings a song that he wrote, himself.  It´s called Ritmo Negro del Perú -- meaning Peru´s Black Rhythms -- which pays homage to the contribution that Afro-Peruvians have made in the area of music and dance.

Then, there´s Lalo Izquierdo´s the cajón demonstration.  He plays five or six different rhythms, including one from the United States (that´s US!), the Afro-Peruvian rhythm, and Brazilian rhythm.  It makes for good listening because you can tell the difference between the rhythms, and makes you realize how complicated and distinct different rhythms can be.

The music on the CD is very lively and upbeat.  This is the music that, along with New York jazz, produced that new art form, Afro-Peruvian jazz.  It resonates very well in today´s world, and it makes great listening plus you can, oh yes, DANCE to it.  We think you´ll like it.

New thoughts for our experimental "Tone Poem with Hang Drum"

A number of people, after watching our experimental short, Tone Poem with Hang Drum, have said they don't understand the connection between the two stories (or rather, the musician and the story).

Well, as someone has pointed out, you don't have to understand EVERYTHING, especially in an experimental short.

However, I think there's a certain point at which you need to listen to your audience and really think about what they're saying.  I listened and thought, and have come up with an idea for a short series of scenes that will address the question of connection.  No, I'm not going to say what it's going to be, but I plan to shoot it when I get back to Spain, to Jerez de la Frontera.

Liron Mann (Liron Man) and his hang drum.

 It will involve using our principal characters (Liron Mann and Pilar Yamuza) as well as a couple of other people.  This means I have to hope like crazy that they will both be in town and available to be filmed. 

It will also indeed be short, but I think it will add something good to the show.  We shall see.

The "checo," an Afro-Peruvian percussion instrument

The "checo" is a percussion instrument made out of a large gourd.  It was developed by Afro-Peruvians and had nearly passed into extinction.  It wasn´t known outside of the Afro-Peruvian community, and Afro-Peruvian traditional music itself was in danger, due to commercialization and the financial instability of the Afro-Peruvian community, which made it difficult for people to take the time to master their music and retain all of its flavor.

Even the seeds of the gourd out of which the checo is made were getting hard to find.

Couldn'd find photo of a checo.  Imagine THIS gourd without the top part..just the lower spherical section.

A town in northern Peru has undertaken to help restore and popularize the checo.  To this end, they have found and conserved the seeds, planted them, and grown more of the gourds.  They have also established music classes to teach the use of this instrument, and participated in festivals both local and in Peru´s capitol city, Lima.  And now, they´ve made a video about it, explaining its history and demonstrating its use.

You might find this interesting.  Here´s the LINK.  The video, produced by the Museo Afroperuano de Zaña, is in Spanish...but the music and the dancing, well, everyone can enjoy those whether or not they speak Spanish.

OUR NEXT BLOG will be about some new thoughts on our experimental short, "Tone Poem with Hang Drum."

Some reactions to A Zest for Life

We held a private screening of A Zest for Life last weekend and were delighted that all the participants liked the documentary.  Some had seen it before, and were very enthusiastic about the changes we´ve made.  Those changes include, most importantly, adding more photos, adding a video clip of the dance Hatajos de Negritos as performed in Peru, and adding more voice-overs to give more explanations and more depth to the documentary.

When organizing these screenings, I´m not really able to take photos, but I did take one snap-shot which shows some of the people who came.

Three participants in the screening:  Rossana Silva-Craig, April Wakeman, Vivian Pisano.

I also really appreciated the specific comments the participants made.  Other than the positive, people also gave me pointers on the subtitles so that I can make them easier to read, comments led me to add a little more information about the musical instruments, and so forth.

All in all, these screenings are very helpful to me and hopefully, a pleasure to the participants.  Any readers of this blog who live in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area who would like to be invited to these screenings can contact me here to let me know.

NOTE:  In the near future, I plan to start a blog specifically devoted to A Zest for Life, Afro-Peruvian music and dance, and that music´s relation to Latin jazz.

OUR NEXT BLOG will be about the "checo," an Afro-Peruvian percussion instrument made out of a large and very special gourd.   It will appear simultaneously on THIS blog and on our new blog, Afro-Peruvian.blogspot.com.