Music of Peru

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Peruvian music is an amalgamation of sounds and styles drawing on the Peru's Andean musical roots and Spanish musical influences.

Native Peruvian music is dominated by the national instrument, the charango. The charango is a type of mandolin, and was invented in Bolivia by musicians imitating Spanish lutes and guitars. In the Canas and Titicaca regions, the charango is used in courtship rituals, symbolically invoking mermaids 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 movement (19101940), the charango was popularized among other performers.

Raul Romero's recordings of saxophone and clarinet ensembles from the Mantaro Valley have proved extremely influential.

[edit] Huayno

Perhaps the purest expression of Pre-Columbian music is huayno, which is popular throughout Peru, its modern center of innovation, as well as the other Andean countries of Bolivia, Chile, and Ecuador. Modern singers like Picaflor de los Andes, Flor Pucarina and El Jilguero de Huascaran have become superstars in Latin America. The music spread from the interior to the coast in the 1950s, supplanting the musica criolla, a mishmash of tango and other Western music and dance forms. Lately other artists such as Kuyayky have defined their brand of world music looking back at the acoustic origins of huayno music.

Martha Palomino is one of the latest artists that is becoming popular with hits such as 'Yo soy el Carnaval' a DVD she released in 2006. She has been singing Peruvian folk songs since the age of five.

[edit] Chicha

Chicha is a popular fusion of huayno, rock and roll and cumbia. It arose in places like Lima, Huancayo and Arequipa, soon spreading throughout Peru. The first chicha hit song was "La Chichera" by Los Demonios de Mantaro. Other famous performers include Belem, Pastorita Huaracina, and Los Shapis. One of the last recognized artists is Chacalón, who died some years ago and was known because of his hit "Soy provinciano", which its lyrics tells about the life for country people in Lima, new comers have introduced samplers and synthesisers mixing the chicha, cumbia and dance styles known as Tecnocumbia, the most recent exponents are: Deslimites, Kasualidad and Lagrimas Agua Bella.

Choro and conjunto bands are also popular, and have gained popularity in tourist strongholds like Lima and Ollantaytambo, where a fusion with Western music has resulted in new forms like Andean New Age.

Andean music

Argentina | Bolivia | Chile | Ecuador | Peru

Latin American music

Argentina - Bolivia - Brazil - Chile - Colombia - Costa Rica - Cuba - Dominican Republic - Ecuador - El Salvador
Guatemala - Honduras - Mexico - Nicaragua - Panama - Paraguay - Peru - Puerto Rico - United States: Tejano - Uruguay - Venezuela
See also: Andean - Caribbean - Central America - Portugal - Spain

[edit] See also

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