Nicomedes Santa Cruz: Coastal Folklore

Coastal Folklore

* "Chronology" and part of "Coastal Foklore" have been translated by: Martha Ojeda, Kristin Cardona, Lauren Garvey, Lacey Lillard, Brandy Baldwin, Lorrie Keeling.

cancionero peruano (peruvian song collection)

It is important to remember that when Pizarro arrived at Tumbes (1532) in the area we are specifically dealing with, the COAST, it had only been a century, barely 70 years, since the Inca armies of the glorious reign of Pachacútec, with his generals Cápac Yupanqui and Inca Yupanqui, uncle and nephew respectively, had dominated the vast coastal area of nanascas, chinchas, Señorío de Cuismancu and Chuquismancu and the extensive Gran Chimú zone. In these 500 leagues of the coastline, the pre-Inca cultures worshiped the sea (Mamacocha) although then the cult of the Sun (Apu Inti) was established. Furthermore, Spain, which conquered us, had just emerged from eight centuries of Muslim domination.

introduction

The presence of African slaves in Peru began in the sixteenth century. In a short time, the Spanish colony saw the principal centers of production (mining and sugar cane centers) filled up with said manpower. Just as in other Latin American countries, the number of slaves that arrived since then is difficult to determine. One of the reasons is the illegal slave traffic practiced in all of Latin America.

The greatest concentration of slaves, as is well known, was on the coast, which is also where the principal urban centers have been formed. The mountain area, or "sierra," was practically reserved for the native inhabitants. The slaves made their presence there in the mining centers and in some haciendas.

(Pablo A. Maríñez: "Los esclavos africanos en las haciendas azucareras de Perú (Siglos XVIII)." Paper delivered by the author at the "Negritude et Amerique Latine" colloquium in Dakar-Senegal, 1974.)

An introduction to the Musical Folklore and Dances of the Peruvian Coast necessarily has to be an introduction to the Black presence and their decisive contribution to the complex structure of our Peruvianess, because the Black presence occurs from the same historical moment (1532) in which the two colossal cultures, European and Incan, collided. But its influence will manifest itself later on, when the invader and the subjected began to mix biologically and culturally in a mixture whose dialectical synthesis is called Peruvianess. And to that river of Peruvianess converges the Black tributary, becoming a flood which climbs over the Andes, overflowing the valleys, until exhausting itself and disappearing, or perhaps remaining in isolated coastal places (Piura, Lambayeque, Lima, Ica), from whose waters we flow and in whose transparencies we have observed everything that is reflected in the present work.

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Whoever conducts research in order to reconstruct the chronology of said Africaness in his steps to Peruvianess, ought to retrace in time a path of more than four hundred years (in a long process of assimilation and rejection) and examine the early brotherhoods that were formed by the slaves in the seventeenth century in urban zones.

Brotherhoods of "negros de nación", that is, blacks born in Africa, also called "bozal" for speaking only in their native tongues, as opposed to the Africans that had already been Hispanized and Christianized, which were Black "ladinos." Brotherhoods of Congos, Lucumis, Minas, Angolas, Carabalis, Congos Mondongos, Mandingas, etc., disseminated through the suburbs of the newly formed cities, but remained under the jurisdiction of each Parish and under the regency of the Viceroy's government, having certain autonomy to meet in national councils and to function as societies of mutual help, where the Black workers (water carriers, candy makers, porters, carriers, artisans, and healers) labored to rescue their kings from slavery, while at the same time rebuilding their ancient ancestral traditions.

The brothers themselves built adobe walls for the local brotherhood, in an assigned lot, for a small sum, decorating interior walls with images of their main gods. The more numerous "nations" (such as the Congos Mondongos) could have three or more brotherhoods, and in all of them, the ultimate authority rested in the "Caporal" (leader) or "capataz mayor" (foreman), later having the position of the "twenty-fourth brother" (perhaps the origin of the term "veinticuatrino" as synonym for "boozer"), as well as other inferior tasks: spirit captain, etc. As a surviving tradition from the matriarchal African culture, a Queen was elected among the Congos. The queen had a main helper with the honorable and disputable charge of standard bearer; this female captain was followed by other helpers. The greatest activity of this feminine procession took place in all of the brotherhood's public parades, this being the Sunday of the "infraoctava de Corpus," and there, the Congo queens paraded under umbrellas, holding a scepter in their right hand and a walking stick in their left hand, meanwhile the captain would fly the brotherhood's flag leading the procession.

Out of these brotherhoods originated the cult of the venerated image of the Lord of the Miracles, painted in 1650 by a black slave of the Angolan caste, supposedly named Pedro Falcón, member of the brotherhood of Pachacamilla.

Much later, in Republican times close to the abolition of slavery (1855) and when all the brotherhoods were already under the advocation of Catholic saints (Saint Salvador of the Lucumi, Our Lady of the Kings for the Mandingas; Our Lady of the Rosary for the Congos Mondongos), and when there were very few of the original African-born, and the founders of Christian brotherhoods were predominantly the American-born Africans, don Manuel Atanasio Fuentes gives us detailed information of the last brotherhoods in his book Estadísticas de Lima (1858), the same information which he partially transcribes in his helpful work, Lima, apuntes históricos, (París, 1867). In it, Fuentes mentions that the "Black Creoles" (Blacks born in the Americas) elected a foreman with the intervention of the governmental authorities.

In rural areas, the antecedents of our coastal folklore must be sought in the so-called "casa de jarana" (party house) a type of wayside inn located in the center of a small town surrounded by sugar mills and cotton mills.

This place was the club where each weekend, "Zambos Cholos" and Blacks met to party.

The term "jarana," has different meanings in Latin America, but among Peruvians it refers to the happy and bustling party in which music and dance predominated. But such dancing music was based on the ancient "bare ground" dances or dances of "cajon," those same "zamacuecas" or "marineras" were called - by metonymy - "jarana," and today it is a synonym for "marinera" and also for party.

And so, the "casa de jarana" was the scene of the most famous duels of "zapateo" (a type of tap dancing); this was also the place where the most devoted local "decimistas" participated in literary duels against foreigners; there, the singers of "marineras" won fame. The "casa de jarana" was important to the point that "jaranistas" from Lima traveled specifically to those towns to compete against them, and to confirm the reputation of those singers, whose fame transcended the borders of all the "casas de jarana" surrounded by haciendas and the plots "de panllevar."

In the "casa de jarana" there was always respect and good comradeship, its safety being such that the women and the daughters of the natives would join in to take part in the song and dance.

The "casa de jarana" served "aguardiente de caña" (liquor) and food as well as organizing at times card and dice games.

One "casa de jarana" in the town of Aucallama, in the valley of Chancay, was a witness to the great deeds of singers and dancers such as the Vásquez, Boza, Muñoz, Aparicio, Casas... This house was the center stage for "matonadas" which starred braved "curaos" (the works of famous witches who filled their bodies with extraordinary abilities, making them immune to swords, guns, and blows, and giving them powers to transmute instantly in their body and soul through time and distance, or voluntary mutations ("pase") which converted them into domestic animals). Of this caliber were the legendary Martín Champa and "Buen pie," whose deeds, at the beginning of the twentieth century, would have provided us with abundant material for best selling novels or award-winning feature films.

Finally, and in the present century, we find an urban folkloric atmosphere in the "chinganas" (corner grocery stores) and "pulperías," (taverns) managed by the Chinese and Italians respectively.

"La chingana" was a modest grocery store placed in the middle of the block at whose door one found grills in which fish was fried. In the interior one could find a counter, small tables for eating, drinking, and music playing.

The same people "de armas tomar" who lived in the neighborhood in lots and alleys were the regulars at those "chinganas."

Some of these stores had back rooms, and there, fights would break out because of minor insults. "Las pulperías" were a meeting place for the Bohemians that serenaded in the streets between drinks waiting for midnight to go toward the friendly small streets and to begin the classical serenade, joining the small waltzes at the beginning and to end the dance with the "marinera" which lasted until the lights no longer shone. The "jarana" was of "santo, corcova y recorcova," at least...

Nicomedes Santa Cruz Gamarra Lima, June 4, 1975

socabón

This name is used as the designation of ten-line stanza recitals and to distinguish the guitar playing which accompanies this song. This means the socabón is the melody of our sung ten-line stanza and also the steady rhythmic accompaniment on the guitar.

danzas negras en el perú (black dances in peru)

So therefore, both the Arabs, who for two thousand years (from before the Christian era to the end of the 14th century) were the pioneers and unwavering agents of black slavery and Portuguese sailors in the fifteenth century, introduced an element of black culture into the Iberian Peninsula long before Columbus came near our continent.

These events are very significant because "western" culture brought by the Spanish and the Portuguese was already influenced by this element of black culture and especially so in anything related to singing, dance and musical instruments.

LANDÓ O SAMBA LANDÓ