Damaris (singer)
Encyclopedia
Damaris Mallma Porras is the capital of the Junín Region, in the central highlands of Peru. It is located in Junín Province, of which it is also capital. Situated near the Mantaro Valley at an altitude of 3,271 meters, it has a population of 377,000 and is the fifth most populous city of the...
), is a Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
vian folk singer. She is a representative of contemporary Andean music
Andean music
Andean music comes from the general area inhabited by Quechuas, Aymaras and other peoples that lived roughly in the area of the Inca Empire prior to European contact. It includes folklore music of parts of Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela...
, which consists of a mix of the traditional Indian language Quechua
Quechua languages
Quechua is a Native South American language family and dialect cluster spoken primarily in the Andes of South America, derived from an original common ancestor language, Proto-Quechua. It is the most widely spoken language family of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, with a total of probably...
and modern pop music.
Biography
Damaris was born on 26 January 1986 in Huancayo. She is the daughter of singer Victoria de Ayacucho, better known as Saywa. She started her music career in 1993 at the age of 7 in the music workshop "Yawar". Later she studied singing, music, theater and dance in Peru. Her debut as a singer was in 1994 at various institutions, such as the Teatro Segura in LimaLima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
, the Miraflores amphitheater and the Universidad Mayor de San Marcos. Damaris also took part in Peruvian groups, such as Yawar, Saywa, Tupay and the Andean Youth Choir with 20 musicians from 5 different Andean countries.
Between 1995 and 1997, she joined to the musical group of Saywa, improved her musical knowledge (keyboards, charango
Charango
The charango is a small Andean stringed instrument of the lute family, 66 cm long, traditionally made with the shell of the back of an armadillo. Primarily played in traditional Andean music, and is sometimes used by other Latin American musicians. Many contemporary charangos are now made with...
, guitar and singing) by taking personal tutor classes. She studied Peruvian Dance with the Tupay group and began to travel abroad and all over Peru with this group.
In 2001, Damaris won the Pepsi Charts Contest for her composition "Porque no estas aqui" (Because you are not here), she traveled to the United States to record an album and then returned to Peru to finish High School.
In 2002, she began studies in piano, harmony and composition at the Kodaly Music Institute of Lima, and also took private singing classes with Martina Jara.
She joined to the Coro Andino Juvenil which incorporated 20 young representatives from five Latin American countries; this group is led by Venezuelan teachers, including Wilfredo Tarazona.
That same year, Damaris released a demo with two promotional songs: "Triste y sola" (sad and lonely) and "Imillitay" which both had a good response from the public. Because of this success, she started the production of a CD. She also began to appear as a soloist in places like Lima, Huancayo, Ica, Pucallpa and other cities.
In 2003, she presented her first production Dame una señal (Give me a sign) and went on tours in Peru and the United States (Washington DC, Virginia, New Jersey and New York). In 2004, she postulated to the Theatrical School at Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Perú.
In 2005, she began to work on her second musical production that explores different rhythms and genres of Peru, mixing and merging them.
In 2006, Damaris participated at the Festival de los Andes in New Jersey (USA)
In 2007, she presented her new three years work and research production called Mil Caminos in a concert presented at "Gran Parque de Lima" on June. This new album shows a new phase in Damaris's career: artistic and personal maturity in her compositions. The singles "Vida", "Tusuy Kusun" and "Mil Caminos" were promoted in the best radios of Lima and other departments of Peru.
On February 24, 2008, she won the Folk competition at the 49th edition of the Viña del Mar International Song Festival
Viña del Mar International Song Festival
The Viña del Mar International Song Festival is a music festival held annually during February since 1960 in Viña del Mar, Chile. It is considered the most important musical event in Latin America....
with her song "Tusuy Kusun", a Quechua phrase that means "Let's Dance", she won the "Gaviota de Plata" (Silver Gull), which is the highest award of that festival. The same song ("Tusuy Kusun") was chosen to be used as a hymn to the ALC-UE
Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union Summit
The Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union Summit is a biennial meeting of heads of state and government of Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union...
economic summit which took place in Peru. Also in 2008, Damaris was nominated to compete in the ninth annual Latin Grammy Awards in the category of "Folk Album" for her album Mil Caminos.
In February 2009, she took part again in the Festival of Viña del Mar competing for the "Lira de Oro". In July 2009, Damaris competed in the Peruvian version of the reality show El Show de los sueños
El Show de los sueños (Peru)
The Peruvian version of El show de los sueños , whose creation is due to Rubén Galindo Jr. and Santiago Galindo, premiered in 2009, hosted by Gisela Valcárcel...
.
At the beginning of 2010, she began some presentations in Peru with the name "Volver a mi tierra" (Back to my land) together with her mother Saywa. They were accompanied by invited artists. In September 2010, Damaris took over the presentation of the television Folk program "Miski Takiy", which is dedicated to spreading the traditional and contemporary Andean music by TVPeru. Damaris and Saywa were featured in a 2010 television documentation by the German channel Phoenix
Phoenix (German TV station)
Phoenix is a publicly-funded television station in Germany which is produced jointly by public broadcasting organizations ARD and ZDF. Its programming consists of documentaries, news broadcasts, special events coverage, and discussion programmes...
.