Los Mojarras are a band from the province of El Agustino Lima Peru that formed in 1992. They released their first album in the same year, titled Sarita Colonia, and are still currently producing music and performing. [1] Link label They have been politically active through their music, voicing political realities and views.
Their music is referred to as Peruvian rock, however Luis A. Ramos-Garcia, a professor and researcher of Latin American theater and popular music from the University of Minnesota, describes their music as a “mixture of Chicha or Peruvian cumbia, Andean Cumbia, and Afro-Peruvian styling’s”. [2] Their style of music also includes blends of rock music. Critically analyzed, the music of Los Mojarras, can be thought of as a form of transculturation, in which the emergence of mixed cultures are expressed through the mixture of musical rhythms. This type of music can also be described a form of cultural hybridity, in which the music and its scene has become a new cultural production raised out of multiple existing cultures or shared meanings. As Jesus-Martin Barbero, a researcher and philosopher, who's disciplined in Cultural Studies; has stated “music is the result of mestizaje, the profane deformation of an authentic form.” [3] Link label Appropriated in musical terms, mestizaje can refer to the mixtures of different music produced as a response to the formations of new social identities; and in the search of belonging by new generations of Andean migrants in capital cities. This mixture of music has primarily been played by the “decedents of migrant Andeans, who grew up and/or were born in major cities such as Lima, in Peru”. [4] These migrants come from rural areas in Peru, moving to modernized cities often forced because of economic circumstances, exemplifying a form of local diasporic mobility. Los Mojarras lyrics range from the issues of societal displacement, dislocation of Andean migrants in major cities and working class migrant experiences and issues. Their music genre became recognized as a form of “new musical subjectivity by marginalized Urban-Andeans”, [2] that were expressing for the first time, within chicha music that has primarily been about love or romance; anger, agency, political issues and concerns. Los Mojarras created a space for people living within the marginalized sectors of Peru. [5] These artists also brought “ attention to the problems situated within the hegemonic Creole-Spanish model maintained by privileged classes”, and narrating through music the conflicts between Limeños and Andean migrants, that arise within the city of Lima. [2]
The song “Nostalgia Provinciana” gives a perfect example of the cultural hybridity that was created through the migration of Andean migrants to Lima, Peru. Through both its lyrics and the imagery portrayed in the music video we can see the representations of cultural hybridity, as well as societal displacement and dislocation previously mentioned.
Music Video: Link label
There is a reoccurring image of an indigenous man, dressed as the European representation of Jesus Christ on the crucifix recognizing or reminding the colonization of the Americas through the introduction of Catholicism and its resulting mestizaje. The cross in which he is attached to, is actually a telephone pole and it is located at the edge of the city looking on as if observing what has happened to both his people and his new home. This can be representative of the re-colonization of indigenous people by the modern societal expectations that follow a Creole-Spanish model that excludes much of the culture of Andean migrants. The video also demonstrates cultural hybridity in the different types of clothing worn by the Andean people in the city, who are wearing modern or contemporary clothing and more traditional indigenous clothing. This shows how, even though the diaspora of the indigenous Andeans are now living in a different environment than their native one and they have adopted many of the hegemonic customs such as more modern fashions, they still pay homage to their roots. An example would be the way they still wear guaraches with contemporary styles of clothing, representing how they are still grounded in their culture and history. The Andean migrants living in Lima have formed a hybrid identity where they are a part of both the city and the rural “province” and a part of neither at the same time; demonstrating a mestiza consciousness.
Ahi se va una generacion de pueblos de migrantes / Que vivieron un mundo diferente/ A las de sus padres a la de nuestros abuelos / Asistieron a colegios con gente de ciudad/ Fusionando sus costumbres Link label
The lyrics of the song mention the process of how Andino migrants through generations of migration adaptation have established a sense of identity, but still struggle in maintaining a sense of belonging. The first verse of the song reveals the displacement through their migrant experiences. People had to leave the more rural areas and move to the city to be able to survive, get an education and find economic opportunities.
This is a demography of the population of Peru including population density, ethnicity, education level, the health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
The music of Latin America refers to music originating from Latin America, namely the Romance-speaking regions of the Americas south of the United States. Latin American music also incorporates African music from enslaved African people who were transported from West and Central Africa to the Americas by European settlers, as well as music from the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Due to its highly syncretic nature, Latin American music encompasses a wide variety of styles, including influential genres such as cumbia, bachata, bossa nova, merengue, rumba, salsa, samba, son, and tango. During the 20th century, many styles were influenced by the music of the United States giving rise to genres such as Latin pop, rock, jazz, hip hop, and reggaeton.
Mestizo is a term used for racial classification to refer to a person of mixed European and Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturally European even though their ancestors are not. The term was used as an ethnic/racial category for mixed-race castas that evolved during the Spanish Empire. Although, broadly speaking, mestizo means someone of mixed European/Indigenous heritage, the term did not have a fixed meaning in the colonial period. It was a formal label for individuals in official documents, such as censuses, parish registers, Inquisition trials, and others. Priests and royal officials might have classified persons as mestizos, but individuals also used the term in self-identification.
Peruvian culture is the gradual blending of Amerindian cultures with European and African ethnic groups. The ethnic diversity and rugged geography of Peru allowed diverse traditions and customs to co-exist. Peruvian culture has been deeply influenced by Native culture, Spanish culture, and African culture. Other minor influences on their culture are Chinese, Japanese, and European.
The music of Mexico is very diverse and features a wide range of musical genres and performance styles. It has been influenced by a variety of cultures, most notably deriving from the culture of the Europeans, Indigenous, and Africans. It also sometimes rarely contains influences from Asians and Arabs, as well as from other Hispanic and Latino cultures. Music was an expression of Mexican nationalism, beginning in the nineteenth century.
Andean music is a group of styles of music from the Andes region in South America.
Chilean music refers to all kinds of music developed in Chile, or by Chileans in other countries, from the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors to the modern day. It also includes the native pre-Columbian music from what is today Chilean territory.
Chicha is a fermented (alcoholic) or non-fermented beverage of Latin America, emerging from the Andes and Amazonia regions. In both the pre- and post-Spanish conquest periods, corn beer made from a variety of maize landraces has been the most common form of chicha. However, chicha is also made from a variety of other cultigens and wild plants, including, among others, quinoa, kañiwa, peanut, manioc, palm fruit, rice, potato, oca, and chañar. There are many regional variations of chicha. In the Inca Empire, chicha had ceremonial and ritual uses.
Cumbia refers to a number of musical rhythms and folk dance traditions of Latin America, generally involving musical and cultural elements from American Indigenous peoples, enslaved Africans during colonial times, and Europeans. Examples include:
Música criolla or canción criolla is a varied genre of Peruvian music that exhibits influences from European, African and Andean music. The genre's name reflects the coastal culture of Peru, and the local evolution of the term criollo, a word originally denoting high-status people of full Spanish ancestry, into a more socially inclusive element of the nation.
Quechua people or Quichua people, may refer to any of the aboriginal people of South America who speak the Quechua languages, which originated among the Indigenous people of Peru. Although most Quechua speakers are native to Peru, there are some significant populations in Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, and Argentina.
Peruvian cuisine reflects local practices and ingredients including influences mainly from the indigenous population, including the Inca, and cuisines brought by immigrants from Europe ; Asia ; and Africa. Without the familiar ingredients from their home countries, immigrants modified their traditional cuisines by using ingredients available in Peru.
Cumbia villera is a subgenre of cumbia music originating in Argentina in the late 1990s and popularized all over Latin America and Latin communities abroad.
Latin American culture is the formal or informal expression of the people of Latin America and includes both high culture and popular culture, as well as religion and other customary practices. These are generally of Western origin, but have various degrees of Native American, African and Asian influence.
Tecnocumbia is a style of Cumbia where there is a fusion between electronic sounds generated by electronic musical instruments through electronic drums, the electric guitar, synthesisers, and samplers. "Tecnocumbia" was a word developed in Mexico to describe this type of music. However, the style of music was developed throughout South America with different names given to it before the name "Tecnocumbia" was adopted as the single denomination for the music.
Peruvians are the citizens of Peru. There were Andean and coastal ancient civilizations like Caral, which inhabited what is now Peruvian territory for several millennia before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century; Peruvian population decreased from an estimated 5–9 million in the 1520s to around 600,000 in 1620 mainly because of infectious diseases carried by the Spanish. Spaniards and Africans arrived in large numbers in 1532 under colonial rule, mixing widely with each other and with Native Peruvians. During the Republic, there has been a gradual immigration of European people. Chinese and Japanese arrived in large numbers at the end of the 19th century.
The demographic history of Peru shows the structure of the population in different historical periods. Peru’s population drastically increased in the 1900s, with a diverse range of ethnic divisions living in the country. Lima is its capital city situated along the Pacific Ocean coast, where most of its population lives, and its population size is around 9.75 million. Major cities are located near the coastal areas of Peru. In terms of population and area size, it is the fourth and third largest country in South America, a place where the ancestral transcends and all forms of art combine. Peru became an independent country on July 28, 1821. However, Peru did not have a proper national census until 1876, more than a half-century after independence. They took the data before the federal census through different mediums but not on a national level. The significant migration in Peru consisted of Indigenous people, Europeans, enslaved Africans, and Asians; Spaniards were the first European who came to Peru, arrived in 1531, and discovered the Inca culture. The Incas established pre-Columbian America's greatest and most advanced kingdom and monarchy. However, native Americans were still in a larger proportion to total population.
Peruvian cumbia is a subgenre of chicha that became popular in the coastal cities of Peru, mainly in Lima in the 1960s through the fusion of local versions of the original Colombian genre, traditional highland huayno, and rock music, particularly surf rock and psychedelic rock. The term chicha is more frequently used for the pre-1990s variations of the subgenre.
Peruvian Spanish is a family of dialects of the Spanish language that have been spoken in Peru since brought over by Spanish conquistadors in 1492. There are four varieties spoken in the country, by about 94.4% of the population. The four Peruvian dialects are Andean Spanish, Peruvian Coastal Spanish, Andean-Coastal Spanish, and Amazonic Spanish.
Cumbia[ˈkumbja] is a musical genre and folk dance from Panama.