Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Music
Like its people, Peru's music is an intercontinental fusion of elements. Pre-Columbian
cultures contributed bamboo flutes, the Spaniards brought stringed instruments and the
Africans gave it a backbone of percussive rhythm. By and large, music tends to be a re-
gional affair: African-influenced
landós
with their thumping bass beats are predominant
on the coast, high-pitched indigenous
huaynos,
heavy on bamboo wind instruments, are
heard in the Andes and
criollo
waltzes are a must at any dance party on the coast.
Over the last several decades, the
huayno
has blended with surf guitars and Colombian
cumbia
(a type of Afro-Caribbean dance music) to produce
chicha
- a danceable sound
closely identified with the Amazon region. (Well-known chicha bands include Los Shapis
and Los Mirlos.)
Cumbia
is also very popular. Grupo 5, which hails from Chiclayo, is cur-
rently a favorite in the genre.
On the coast, guitar-inflected
música criolla
(
criollo
music) has its roots in both Spain
and Africa. The most famous
criollo
style is the
vals peruano
(Peruvian waltz), a three-
quarter-time waltz that is fast moving and full of complex guitar melodies. The most le-
gendary singers in this genre include singer and composer Chabuca Granda (1920-83)
and gravel-voiced crooner Arturo 'Zambo' Cavero (1940-2009).
Landó
is closely connec-
ted to this style of music, but features the added elements of call-and-response. Standout
performers include singers Susana Baca (b 1944) and Eva Ayllón (b 1956).
Literature
Nobel Prize-winner Mario Vargas Llosa (b
1936) is Peru's most famous writer. His novels
evoke James Joyce in their complexity, mean-
dering through time and shifting perspectives. A
keen observer of Peru's social peculiarities, his
more than two dozen novels are available in
translation. The best place to start is
La ciudad
y los perros
(The Time of the Hero), based on
his experience at a Peruvian military academy.
(The soldiers at his old academy responded to
the novel by burning it.)
Other engaging writers include Alfredo
Bryce Echenique (b 1939), who chronicles the
ways of the upper class, and Julio Ramón
Peruvian
Fiction
1
WAR BY CANDLELIGHT,
DANIEL
ALARCÓN
