Music of Peru
Encyclopedia
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....
's 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...
al roots and Spanish musical influences.
Native Peruvian music is dominated by the national instrument
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
, the 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...
. The charango is a type of mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, and was invented in the Viceroyalty of Peru
Viceroyalty of Peru
Created in 1542, the Viceroyalty of Peru was a Spanish colonial administrative district that originally contained most of Spanish-ruled South America, governed from the capital of Lima...
by musicians imitating Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
lute
Lute
Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
s and guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s. In the Canas
Canas
Canas or Cañas may refer to:People:* Alberto Cañas Escalante, Costa Rican politician* Antonio José Cañas, Salvadoran military officer, diplomat and politician* Carlos Cañas, Salvadoran painter...
and Titicaca regions, the charango is used in courtship rituals, symbolically invoking mermaid
Mermaid
A mermaid is a mythological aquatic creature with a female human head, arms, and torso and the tail of a fish. A male version of a mermaid is known as a "merman" and in general both males and females are known as "merfolk"...
s with the instrument to lure the woman to the male performers. Until the 1960s, the charango was denigrated as an instrument of the rural poor. After the revolution in 1959, which built upon the Indigenismo
Indigenismo
Indigenismo is a Latin American idea and movement pressing for a greater social and political role for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, and the revindication of indigenous rights and including compensation for past wrongdoings of the colonial and republican states...
movement (1910–1940), the charango was popularized among other performers. Music of Chinese and Japanese
Japanese Peruvian
Japanese Peruvians are people of Japanese ancestry who were born in or immigrated to Peru. The immigrants from Japan are called the Issei generation. Second and third generation Peruvians are referred to as nisei and sansei in Japanese...
settlers greatly influenced Peruvian music.
Raul Romero's recordings of saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
and clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
ensembles from the Mantaro Valley
Mantaro Valley
The Mantaro Valley, with its main city of Huancayo, lies east of the capital of Peru, Lima. It is a fertile valley containing fields of corn, artichokes, carrots and potatoes, alongside which flows the Mantaro River. The Mantaro Valley is also renowned as an area containing many sites of...
have proved extremely influential.
One important space for Peruvian comtemporary classical music is Circomper
Círculo de Composición del Perú
Círculo de Composición del Perú is a group of musicians dedicated to study and promote classical contemporary music written in Peru. The group was founded on June 8, 2001 due to efforts made by Juan Arroyo, Carlos Alberto Cárdenas, Daniel Kudó and César Sangay...
, the Peruvian Composition Circle.
See also
- Musica criollaMúsica criollaMúsica criolla is a category of Peruvian music that combines mainly African, Spanish and Andean influences. Afro-Peruvian music was first created by African slaves in Peru during the Colonial Period and beyond. The rhythms include Festejo, Landó, Socabon, Pregon, Zamacueca, and Alcatraz...
- Peruvian rockPeruvian rockRock entered the Peruvian scene in the late-1950s, through listening to performers like Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and Bill Haley, who popularized rockabilly in the United States. The first Peruvian rock bands appeared during this time...
- Peruvian cumbiaPeruvian cumbiaPeruvian cumbia or Chicha is a subgenre of Cumbia that became popular in the coastal cities of Peru, mainly in Lima in the 1960s through the fusion of local versions of the original Colombian genre, traditional highland huayno, and rock music, particularly Surf rock...
- CircomperCírculo de Composición del PerúCírculo de Composición del Perú is a group of musicians dedicated to study and promote classical contemporary music written in Peru. The group was founded on June 8, 2001 due to efforts made by Juan Arroyo, Carlos Alberto Cárdenas, Daniel Kudó and César Sangay...
External links
- Música Criolla del Perú Audio clips: Traditional music of Peru. Musée d'Ethnographie de Genève. Accessed November 25, 2010.
- BBC Radio 3 Audio (60 minutes): Huaynos of the Andes and Afro-Peruvian music. Accessed November 25, 2010.
- BBC Radio 3 Audio (60 minutes): The music of Ayacucho. Accessed November 25, 2010.
- BBC Radio 3 Audio (60 minutes): Iquitos, Huancayo and Lake Titicaca. Accessed November 25, 2010.
- Music from the Andes and Nearby Regions
- Going Underground: Peru An exploration into the underground music scene in Peru