El Cerrito Filmmaker Finds Zest in Afro-Peruvian Music, Dance

Editor's Note: In this guest column, filmmaker Eve A. Ma, who lives in El Cerrito and is the Producer-Director of PALOMINO Productions, describes the evolution of her documentary, A Zest for Life: Afro-Peruvian Rhythms, a Source of Latin Jazz. The release party for the film's expanded, "Home" edition will be held at 8 p.m., Friday, Jan. 20, at La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley.

A few years ago, I learned of a performance group in the San Francisco Bay Area, which specialized in Afro-Peruvian music and dance.  Since one of my aims as a filmmaker is to get people to communicate across cultural barriers, I immediately became interested. 

On further investigation, I discovered that the music and dance are both lively and colorful, and that the music in particular is one of the primary sources of Afro-Peruvian jazz.  At that time, an Afro-Peruvian named Lalo Izquierdo was living in the San Francisco Bay Area, brought here with a grant from the Foundation for California Traditional Arts to coach a local performance group called de Rompe y Raja.  De Rompe y Raja has been invited several times to perform in the prestigious Ethnic Dance Festival in San Francisco.  It was then, as it is now, composed primarily of immigrants from Peru. 

When I inquired about filming their performance, they readily agreed and with the blessing of AC5 (the Arts and Culture Commission of Contra Costa County), my county’s public television station CCTV (Contra Costa Television), offered to let me use their studio free of charge.  With the help of studio director Richard R. Lee of KRCT in Richmond and the on-line Sidewalks Entertainment program, we shot nearly an hour’s worth of performance in about 12 hours.

As we worked through the day, it was obvious that Izquierdo, who acted as the group’s choreographer, lead dancer and master percussionist, was not only talented and charismatic but was also well-versed in his community’s art forms, history and culture. His wonderful stage presence, superb performance and explanatory skills, and dedication to these threatened cultural art forms were reason enough to convince me that I had come to the right decision in deciding to make this documentary. 

In addition to Izquierdo’s performance and presence, de Rompe y Raja brought with them the very popular Peruvian criollo singer-songwriter Jorge Luis Jasso, who was then in the Bay Area.  Jasso sings two numbers in the documentary, one of which was composed by him, to very good effect.

As part of the agreement by which we were permitted to film in the CCTV studios, I allowed CCTV to broadcast the edited version of the performances.  It was clear, however, that the performances and short interviews that we had at that time were not enough to make a compelling documentary, so several months after the initial filming, we videotaped a fairly extensive interview of Lalo Izquierdo before he returned to Peru.  At the same time, we also interviewed several of the core members of de Rompe y Raja.  I did some preliminary editing of this new material and then put it aside due to my involvement in other projects. 

In late 2010, I returned to the project.  I completely re-edited and prepared a version appropriate for the educational market. This aired over KRCB, a PBS station, in October of 2010.  Later that month, it was screened by the El Cerrito Arts and Culture Commission as part of its Arts Day celebration.

At this point, because the music and dance are so great but so little known, I decided to make a “Home Edition” of the documentary to bring it to a wider public.  Over the past several months, I have researched the history of the Afro-Peruvian community and its performance arts and also looked for telling photographs and video of performance in the community.  These materials have added an important dimension to the original program and not only revealed the history of this community but also the music’s connection to Latin jazz.

AFRO-PERUVIANS, their MUSIC & DANCE, and LATIN JAZZ

In a little-known chapter of history, for many centuries Africans were kidnapped and brought across the ocean as slaves to work on the plantations and in the industries of Latin America. Some 95,000 of these enslaved men and women ended up in Peru.

When Peru abolished slavery in the 1850s, the former slaves continued to define themselves as the Afro-Peruvians.  These Peruvians of African descent, however, were discriminated against even after slavery ended and as a result, down to the present time, the community as a whole is very poor.

Currently, most Afro-Peruvians live in the countryside along the coast, especially in the area south of Lima, Peru’s capitol. Some, however, live in the Andes mountains and others, in Lima itself. Their contemporary music and dance date back to the times of slavery.  Many of the songs and dances tell stories from that period, or make fun of the white Spanish slaveholders who controlled them.  

One characteristic of Afro-Peruvian dance is the use of zapateo (fancy footwork). This developed out of both African and Spanish traditions. The Spanish slave holders found that music, and dance with a great deal of footwork, were useful as a means of converting Africans to Catholic Christianity.  These appealed to the Africans precisely because music and dance were something that they traditionally used to communicate to the deities.  Fancy footwork was especially valued, so they added their forms to the styles the Spaniards were teaching them. 

Afro-Peruvian musical instruments, on the other hand, bear witness to both the poverty and resourcefulness of these people. Since the slaveholders did not allow their workers to play musical instruments, the original Afro-Peruvians had to make music using found objects such as gourds, animal bones and wooden packing crates. Even now, Afro-Peruvians use gourds like the checo, along with donkey’s jawbones, or quijada de burro, as percussion instruments.  The wooden crates of days gone by have become standardized and, known as cajón, are now widely used in many musical forms.

In the modern period, Peruvian musicians such as Gabriel Alegria, who have gone to New York and worked with jazz artists there, have used traditional Afro-Peruvian rhythms and instruments to create Afro-Peruvian jazz.  This has given an added dimension of richness to Latin jazz as a whole, contributing percussion instruments as well as a new sound.  Even more recently, modern Afro-Peruvian singers like Susana Baca and Eva Ayllón have begun recording jazz in addition to traditional Afro-Peruvian forms.

THE RELEASE PARTY

We will release the Home Edition of the documentary at la Peña Cultural Center (3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley) on Friday, Jan. 20 starting at 8 p.m.  In addition to screening the documentary, de Rompe y Raja will give a live performance and we will also offer a mini-lesson in Afro-Peruvian zapateo to members of the audience.  Tickets are $15 at the door, or $12 if purchased in advance;  with discounts offered to students and seniors.  The press enters free.

To purchase tickets, go to la Peña´s web site or call them at 510-849-2568, ext. 20.  For more information about the documentary or about Afro-Peruvian music, dance and culture, check out our web site, or our Facebook page, or our blog.