NEW YORK (Top40 Charts/ Times
Square Records) - The intersection of African rhythms and Latin song have a special resonance for American audiences - it is why Cuban and Brazilian music remain staples of college radio, and it is behind one of the major success stories in the U.S. touring market: the Peruvian group PERU NEGRO. Audiences whose prior exposure to Peruvian music began and ended with 'El Condor Pasa' are discovering the electrifying song and dance ensemble whose last recording scored both Grammy and Latin Grammy nominations. Their 2008 tour is their biggest ever and brings their carnival of Afro-Peruvian sounds to 46 cities on a three-month tour.
The pioneering 20-member group's new CD 'Zamba Malato' (the name refers to an old chant sung by black women as they performed their daily chores), set for release January 22nd on Times Square Records, is the long-awaited follow-up to their last release for the label, 2004's 'Jolgorio'. It continues the wildly celebratory Afro-Peruvian carnival of songs and dances that trace their history to the arrival of African slaves in Peru in the 1600's.
'From these tragic beginnings came a joyous artform' declared the Village Voice in its review of Peru Negro's live performance. The group has ignited a craze for Afro-Peruvian sounds in their home country that has only recently hit North American shores. Ronaldo Campos de Colina started Peru Negro over three decades ago as a 12-person family troupe and directed the ensemble until his death in 2001. At first supported by the government, cultural and political upheaval in Peru made it impossible to tour there, and the group now makes its living touring abroad.
Now featuring a 20+ person touring ensemble that includes members of the Campos clan, Peru Negro has drawn rave reviews from the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe and others. Their repertoire is as complex, unique and exhilarating as Peru's own rich cultural history. The group has now become the standard for Afro-Peruvian music, emulated by other groups in Peru and achieving the official title of 'Cultural Ambassadors of Black Peru' by the government. They run their own school in Lima, developing the next generation of performers in a junior troupe of dancers and musicans called Peru Negrito (Little Black Peru). They have performed around the world, saving from extinction the African music and dance forms that are related to, yet distinct from, Puerto Rican plena, Haitian voudou, and other African American hybrids.
Peru Negro's live show features a brilliant cross-section of African-descended styles that had all but disappeared from Peruvian culture by the 1950's. Those dances include the celebratory festejo, the sensual land, the slave protest songs called panalivios (banned by the Catholic Church in the 18th Century) and the tap-dancing zapateos. African diaspora instruments also include the djembe (the single headed goblet drum from West Africa), the bat' from Cuba, however the centerpiece of rhythm is the cajon, or crate drum, a percussion 'instrument' that traces its birth to Peru's slave quarters where traditional drums were banned by slave owners and the Spanish Inquisition, and now are a staple of most Latin jazz and flamenco groups.
For the 2008 tour, the group will feature new material from 'Zamba Malato', as well as their acclaimed reinterpretations of classic Afro-Peruvian songs. But on the album, the focus is on creating new material that builds on the past with equal parts innovation and respect. Weaving Peru's complicated past into the world's complicated present is the genius of Peru Negro, one of Latin America's musical treasures.
NORTH AMERICAN TOUR 2008
1.22.08 Roy Thompson Hall Toronto Ontario, CN
1.24.08 8PM Community Theater at the Mayo Ctr Morristown, NJ
1.25.08 8PM Proctor's Theater Schenectady NY
1.26.08 8PM City Center New York, NY
1.27.08 3PM The Concert Hall Purchase, NY
1.28.08 10AM The Concert Hall Purchase, NY
1.29.08 8PM Chandler Center for the Arts Randolph, VT
1.30.08 2PM University Theater New Haven, CT
1.30.08 8PM University Theater New Haven, CT
1.31.08 TBA University Theater New Haven, CT
2.01.08 TBA Zellerbach Theater Annenberg Center Philadelphia, PA
2.02.08 8PM Center for the Arts Concert Hall Fairfax, VA
2.05.08 10AM Bardavon 1869 Opera House Poughkeepsie, NY
2.05.08 12PM Bardavon 1869 Opera House Poughkeepsie, NY
2.06.08 10AM Ulster Performing Arts Center Kingston, NY
2.07.08 TBA Weston Auditorium Fitchburg State College Fitchburg, MA
2.07.08 8pm Weston Auditorium Fitchburg, MA
2.08.08 8PM Pollack Auditorium Monmouth University W. Long Branch, NJ
2.09.08 8PM The American Theater Hampton, VA
2.10.08 3PM The American Theater Hampton, VA
2.14.08 TBA Porter Center Brevard, NC
2.15.08 11AM Porter Center Brevard, NC
2.15.08 8PM Porter Center Brevard, NC
2.16.08 8PM Rialto Center for the Performing Arts Atlanta, GA
2.17.08 3PM Newberry Opera House Newberry, SC
2.20.08 10am Sunrise Theater of the Performing Arts Fort Pierce, FL
2.20.08 7pm Sunrise Theater of the Performing Arts Fort Pierce, F
2.21.08 TBA Carnival Center Miami, FL
2.21.08 TBA Carnival Center Miami, FL
2.22.08 TBA Carnival Center Miami, FL
2.22.08 TBA Carnival Center Miami, FL
2.23.08 TBA Carnival Center Miami, FL
2.23.08 8PM Ziff Ballet Opera House Miami, FL
2.27.08 TBA Grand Opera House MSU Riley Center Meridian, MS
2.27.08 8pm Grand Opera House MSU Riley Center Meridian, MS
2.29.08 TBA Rosa Hart Theater Lake Charles, LA
3.04.08 TBA Macky Auditorium University of Colorado Boulder, CO
3.05.08 8PM Community Concert Hall Durango, CO
3.06.08 8PM Albuquerque Journal Theatre / Disney Ctr Albuquerque, NM
3.07.08 8PM Lensic Theater Santa Fe, NM
3.11.08 9:30AM McCallum Theater for the Performing Arts Palm Desert, CA
3.11.08 11AM McCallum Theater for the Performing Arts Palm Desert, CA
3.12.08 10AM University of California Santa Barbara, CA
3.12.08 1:30PM University of California Santa Barbara, CA
3.12.08 8PM Campbell Hall at University of California Santa Barbara, CA
3.14.08 TBA Turlock Community Theater Turlock, CA
3.15.08 8PM Royce Hall Center for the Arts Los Angeles, CA
3.16.08 3PM Harman Hall, Cohen Performing Arts Ctr San Luis Obispo, CA
3.18.08 TBA Ross Ragland Theater Klamath Falls, OR
3.18.08 8PM Ross Ragland Theater Klamath Falls, OR
3.19.08 8PM Jackson Hall / Mondavi Center Davis, CA
3.20.08 8PM Zellerbach Hall at UC Berkeley Berkeley, CA
3.22.08 TBA Silva Concert Hall / Hult Center Eugene, OR
3.25.08 TBA Laxson Auditorium Chico, CA
3.25.08 8PM Laxson Auditorium Chico, CA
3.27.08 TBA Newport Performing Arts Center Newport, OR
3.28.08 8PM Washington Center Olympia, WA
3.29.08 7:30PM Edmonds Center for the Performing Arts Edmonds, WA
3.30.03 5PM Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum Pullman, WA
3.31.08 10AM Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum Pullman, WA
