EL CARMEN, CHINCHA ALTA
July 21 2015
Finding communities of Afroperuanos – descendents of enslaved Africans in Peru – can be difficult. They are scattered along the coast in non-touristic agricultural areas. The Chincha valley wine region in Ica province south of Lima is one of those. The African community is called El Carmen, and it’s upriver, separate from the city of Chincha Alta and away from the Panamerica Sur where inter-city transit passes.
I wanted to visit an Afroperuano community while in Peru, and getting there involves deboarding a bus (Flores and Cueva will do it) at the informal El Carmen stop south of Chincha Alta, then waiting for a combi, taxi, or hitchhiking up the road several km to the El Carmen plaza. I ended up hitchhiking in a pickup truck after waiting about 15 minutes, wondering if I should have done this.
July is the off-season for festivals such as the Carnaval Negro in February & March, and the Plaza was almost empty when I arrived. A girl came to me with a flyer about cultural tours and cajon classes, so I followed the map two blocks past the plaza. Down the quiet streets, locals watched curiously and a few asked what I was looking for. I wasn’t really sure…a museum? cultural center? A lot of places looked closed.
Eventually I saw a sign for cajon classes next to a mural of a violinist, Guillermo Marcos Santa Cruz, on a bright blue wall. Inside the house, I met Richie, who is Guillermo’s son and teaches cajon and also leads tours. Richie told me El Carmen Afroperuanos are mostly from Congo and Sudan, and brought out a local sweet wine called kachina for me to taste. Then he brought out two cajones, and he taught me a few rhythms. The cajon is a tall wooden box with a sound hole on the longer surface. improvised by enslaved Africans on the ships when they were not allowed to play their drums. Another instrument used in musica criolla is the quijada de burro — the jawbone of a donkey, played by bouncing one jaw end toward the other (top of post). I had the pleasure of playing this big bone for a bit, then got out my own perse-phone with the deer bones and we continued jamming until dad walked in.
Richie’s band is El Carmen Familia and plays traditional Afroperuano music. They have a CD which is available at his place, or contact him online via the info below.
For dinner, I ate the local Chincha specialty carapulcra, meat with pasta in a tomato-based sauce. Getting a combi out of El Carmen to Chincha Alta was fairly easy. It was definitely worth it to spend an afternoon here.
Tours El Carmen is at Av. Tupac Amaru 232 in El Carmen, Chincha, and can be found at Tours El Carmen on Facebook and El Carmen Afro Peruano on Youtube.
Zapateo Guillermo Santa Cruz
Eva Ayllon – one of the great Afroperuano singers
arianna's creative travels 