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The Saya is a music and dance that originated in Los Yungas-Chicaloma Bolivia. The artform's name comes from the Kikongo term nsaya, which means communal work led by a singing voice, akin to a work song.[ citation needed ] The Saya's instrumentation and dance also reflects the influence of traditional Andean music.
Enslaved Africans were taken to South America to work in a range of industries. Their customs, music, was merged with the native cultures gave rise to mixtures. The specific history of many of these practices has disappeared, but many authors have worked to identify cultural survivals in Afro-descended groups throughout South America. [1]
Many dances have been derived from the Saya. Caporales was based on these dances, created and presented to the public for the first time in 1969 by the Estrada brothers who were inspired in the Afro-Bolivian Saya character of the Caporal. [2] This character was, in turn, inspired by the foreman on the haciendas of the Yungas.
In the present day, Afro-Bolivians have used the Saya in their struggle to reclaim their rights within Bolivian society. In this movement, the Saya has functioned both as a way of expressing and solidifying Afro-Bolivian identity among black Bolivians, and as a way to express their identity in the context of national social movements based on ethnic identities. [3] [4]
Many festivals where the dance is performed have a prominent religious aspect. One supposedly dances for The Virgin Mary and promises to dance for three years of one's life.
In Caporales, the male dancer looks near identical to his Caporal counterpart. However, while the Caporal outfit is usually larger and constricting, a Saya uniform is usually made from lighter material and fitted to the body for better, more fluid arm movement. Sometimes a whip may be used like in Caporales, but this is the exception and is more popular to dance simply with white or black gloves (depending on the uniform colors). Female dancers also have a more fitted and relaxed outfit compared to their Caporal counterparts. The differences in that case, however, are more subtle (lighter material, less skirt, laced sleeves, etc.)
The Caporales is usually considered very masculine: men will move and use their arms with much emphasis on looking strong and "macho". Women, while emulating the men's moves, will simply concentrate on showing off their legs and skirts in a flirtatious manner.
The rhythms of all of these dances are different from the Saya as well as the whole dance. Caporales is especially appreciated by young people of the middle and upper class who form huge Caporales groups for Carnival, Gran Poder and other "entradas".
A skirt is the lower part of a dress or a separate outer garment that covers a person from the waist downwards. Originally made for both genders, it is currently made mainly for females.
The music of Bolivia has a long history. Out of all the Andean countries, Bolivia remains perhaps the most culturally linked to the indigenous peoples.
Latin dance is a general label, and a term in partner dance competition jargon. It refers to types of ballroom dance and folk dance that mainly originated in Latin America, though a few styles originated elsewhere.
Bolivia is a country in South America, bordered by Brazil to the north and east, Paraguay and Argentina to the south, Chile to the west, and Peru to the west.
The zazous were a subculture in France during World War II. They were young people expressing their individuality by wearing big or garish clothing and dancing wildly to swing jazz. Men wore large striped lumber jackets, while women wore short skirts, striped stockings and heavy shoes, and often carried umbrellas.
Música criolla, creole music 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.
Champeta, also known as terapia, is a musical genre and dance that originated in the Caribbean coast of Colombia in the early 1980s. It developed from an earlier style termed chalusonga, which originated in Palenque de San Basilio in the mid-1970s. Chalusonga was a combination of Colombian chalupa and Afro-Cuban percussive music popularized by Estrellas del Caribe. When their music reached Cartagena de Indias, it evolved into champeta, which became a movement and identity among Afro-Colombians. It shows influences from African colonial settlements and from contemporary African culture, particularly from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Caporales is a traditional Bolivian dance originated in Los Yungas of La Paz. Caporales were created and presented to the public for the first time in 1969 by the Estrada Pacheco brothers, who were inspired in the character of the 'Caporal' who is the overseer of the black slaves and was usually mixed race, wore boots and held a whip, a dance that belongs to the region of the Yungas, Bolivia. The dance, however, has a prominent religious aspect. One supposedly dances for the Virgin of Socavón and promises to dance for three years of one's life. Caporal or caporales today is a folklore dance very popular in the festivities of not only Bolivia, but also Argentina, Chile, Peru, Spain and the United States.
Black is beautiful is a cultural movement that was started in the United States in the 1960s by African Americans. It later spread beyond the United States, most prominently in the writings of the Black Consciousness Movement of Steve Biko in South Africa. Black is beautiful got its roots from the Négritude movement of the 1930s. Negritude argued for the importance of a Pan-African racial identity among people of African descent worldwide.
The Carnival of Oruro is a religious and cultural festival in Oruro, Bolivia. It has been celebrated since the 18th century in the Peruvian virreynato. Originally an indigenous festival, the celebration later was transformed to incorporate a Christian ritual around the Virgin of Socavón. The carnival is one of UNESCO's Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
Western fashion in the 1920s underwent a modernization. Women's fashion continued to evolve from the restrictions of gender roles and traditional styles of the Victorian era. Women wore looser clothing which revealed more of the arms and legs, that had begun at least a decade prior with the rising of hemlines to the ankle and the movement from the S-bend corset to the columnar silhouette of the 1910s. Men also began to wear less formal daily attire and athletic clothing or 'Sportswear' became a part of mainstream fashion for the first time.
The Morenada is an Andean folk dance whose origins are still under debate. This dance is practiced mainly in Bolivia as well as in Peru and in recent years with Bolivian immigration in Chile, Argentina and other countries.
Afro-Bolivians are Bolivian people of Sub-Saharan African heritage and therefore the descriptive "Afro-Bolivian" may refer to historical or cultural elements in Bolivia thought to emanate from their community. It can also refer to the combining of African and other cultural elements found in Bolivian society such as religion, music, language, the arts, and class culture. The Afro-Bolivians are recognized as one of the constituent ethnic groups of Bolivia by the country's government, and are ceremonially led by a king who traces his descent back to a line of monarchs that reigned in Africa during the medieval period. They numbered 23,000 according to the 2012 census.
DonBonifacio Pinedo was the King of the Afro-Bolivians from 1932 to 1954. As the ceremonial king, he presided over religious festivities celebrating Saint Benedict the Moor and was responsible for matchmaking in the Afro-Bolivian community. His role was suppressed during the Bolivian National Revolution.
Bolivians are people identified with the country of Bolivia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Bolivians, several of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being Bolivian.
Folk dance of Mexico, commonly known as baile folklorico or Mexican ballet folk dance, is a term used to collectively describe traditional Mexican folk dances. Ballet folklórico is not just one type of dance; it encompasses each region's traditional dance that has been influenced by their local folklore and has been entwined with ballet characteristics to be made into a theatrical production. Each dance represents a different region in Mexico illustrated through their different zapateado, footwork, having differing stomps or heel toe points, and choreography that imitates animals from their region such as horses, iguanas, and vultures.
Caucasian Bolivians, also known as White Bolivians, are Bolivians who have predominantly or total European and West Asian ancestry, most notably from Spain and Germany, and to a lesser extent, Italy and Croatia.
Adalberta Mónica Rey Gutiérrez is an Afro-Bolivian cultural leader and activist whose anthropological research helped pass legislation for formal recognition of Afro-Bolivians as an ethnic category in the census of the country. After serving as an educator and cultural activist for many years, she went to work in the government. She is currently a supranational delegate in the Plurinational Legislative Assembly of Bolivia.
Marfa Inofuentes Pérez (1969–2015) was an Afro-Bolivian activist involved in the Constitutional reform movement to recognize black Bolivians as an ethnic minority in the country. After achieving the goal for Afro-Bolivians to be protected under the law, she served as the head the Ministry of Gender and was appointed deputy mayor of the Peripheral Macrodistrict of the Municipality of La Paz.
Jorge Medina Barra was a Bolivian civil rights activist and politician who served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies from La Paz, representing its special indigenous circumscription from 2010 to 2015.