Peruvian Music

Greetings...Douglas here, with my first real entry on this blog. I recently sent a letter, detailing a typical day in my host family in Potrerillo. Of course, that should arrive in about two weeks, but in the mean time I wanted to make an update on Peruvian music: the music that we volunteers hear every day, literally from dawn 'til dusk. Though some might associate Peruvian music with panpipes and flutes (typically called zampoñas and quenas here,) or even the Simon and Garfunkel song "El Condor Pasa," the dominant form of music is cumbia, a Latin beat that can be found from Mexico to Argentina. I think cumbia originated as a style in Colombia, and now has its own forms in Peru. See below.


This is a video for a popular group called Grupo 5, which plays cumbia tropical...upbeat melodies, lots of brass instruments, bongos, cowbells, and the ever-present cumbia beat pulsing underneath. These kind of songs blare out of every bus and stereo in the country it seems, and it's absolutely essential party music, particularly on the coast.


This song is an example of cumbia sanjuanera, a cumbia that is originally from Piura (where I live.) The group is called Corazón Serrano, and they are the self-proclaimed kings of cumbia sanjuanera. I would say they are more diverse than other groups of their genre, but they have the typical instrumentation: the cumbia beat with guitar and synthesizer riffs giving it an electronic glitz. I find this music quite catchy and actually bearable to listen to, which is fortunate.


This last example is from the singer Sonia Morales, perhaps the most famous representative of huayno, (pronounced whine-oh) a combination of syncopated rhythms, feet stomping, and rapid harp playing. Quite different from upbeat cumbia, the songs often have nostalgic themes, and are particularly popular in the Andean sierra: in Cuzco, Ayacucho, Puno and Ancash, where there are large concentrations of indigenous peoples. This music takes a little getting used to for most Americans, but is ubquitous in these regions, and even has its own energetic dance and traditional costumes, as you'll probably see in the video.

Of course, this isn't an exhaustive look at all Peruvian music, just some of the most popular forms that I've noticed. There's much more though: the traditional marinera dance, musica criolla (African rhythms blended with Spanish guitar) and even Peruvian heavy metal and new wave (lots of influence from the English-speaking world, though they sing in Spanish.) Hope this update was interesting, let me know what you think of this sampling of the Top 40 from the Southern Hemisphere!

Douglas M.

P.S. I recently got the letter sent in November...it has a lot of good questions, and I will try to answer most of them next week. Hasta entonces...