The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1945-12-20

music you near on TIE Tudi0
traces its origin back to the
Moorish palaces Of old Spain,
the jaagles Of Africa and the
businesses of the New World
long before ii kneae the phite
naa.-EDIToR
Much of the charm of Latin
American popular music and dances
probably lies in the fact that they
are amalgams of many elements, the
result of the inter-mixing of Spanish
Portuguese in BraziD, Indian and
Negro music, each to these COM
ponents having given, in a greater
or lesser proportion, its own peculiar
flavor to the whole.
This is as true in Peru as else
where and it has been said that
popular music in that country-in
both song and dance form-is the
psychological product and the most
genuine expression of the basic
racial mixture of the Peruvian popu-
lation, part Indian and part colonial.
However, while in the musical
folklore of the Andes the Indian
tradition dominates as in the yaravi
the popular music of the coast is
often purely Spanish with some
negro influence and practically no
trace of the Indian.
Peru and Chile have been said to
be among the first regions of Latin
America to which Spanish "picares-
que" dances were introduced by the
settlers from the mother country.
The origin of creole folk-music
must be sought in the early colony,
for it is absolutely untouched by
indigenous music. The natives never
mixed with the creole population
and as the colonists were exclusively
Spanish, there is no doubt that it
was their influence that prevailed
as the source of creole music.
Chile claims that the first Spanish
dances of Peru were direct deriva-
tives of its own "cueca" while
others seem to think that they came
straight from Spain.
BE it one way or another, Lima,
seat of vice-royalty, and one of
the most-if not the most-import-
ant city of colonial Spanish America,
was often the one to set the pace
in matters of fashions and customs.
To its zone of cultural influence,
large one, it spread the dancing of
the Zamecueca and the Resbaloca,
among others.
As time went by, these songs and
dances were performed, not only by
the Spanish descended population but
also by the newly acquired negro
slaves who impaired upon them the
tremendous vigorous, sensual quality
proper to their race.
When Peru achieved its independ-
ence and gained with it an interest
of the upper classes in the popular
life of the country, the zamacueca
was danced in the best salons of the
Peruvian capital.
1t eventually became the fashion
to have colored dancing teachers
give lessons to the young girls of
noble birth; these teachers played
the Spanish harp but could not help
but give the music something of
their ancestral African background
Thus, when the zamacueca and its
satellite the resbalosa were, in the
nineteenth century, rechristened Mar
inera (from Marina-Navy) in honor
of the Peruvian Navy which had re-
Gently been at war with Chile, the
dance had somewhat evolved from
its primitive Spanish form.
There was still the traditional
custom,-that had come to the New
World from the Moors, through the
Andalusians-of having spectators
accompany the dancers by a loud
clapping of hands and thus take
part in the merriment, but the
Marinera had definitely become a
creole dance.
Today the national dance and song
form of Peru, the Marineras is
especially featured on the oath of
June at the Feast of the Amancaes,
a traditional festival held on the out
skirts of Lima.
The popular instruments general
ly used to accompany the Marinera
are the guitar and the cajon, sort
of drum made of a wooden box or
crate upon which the rhythm is
beaten with the hands.
In this dance, usually performed
out of doors, the man and girl ad-
vance towards each other with a
gliding step, each holding high a
kerchief in one hand. The kerchief
is held higher or lower and fiutters
gracefully as the dancers withdraw
and advance in the flirting, coquetish
movements of the dance.
The verses are very often sung by