'Twas the day before Christmas

Que Bonita... La Cancion Peruana
Dirección: Mario Cavagnaro
Discos Sono Radio, S.E. 9475
Industria Peruana

I don't exactly know how the association happens but when I browsed through some boxes of "new" thrift store records from the past two months, to post about some music appropriate for Christmas, this Que Bonita... record was screaming at me: Me, me , me! There's no Feliz Navidad"" song to be found on it, there's no snow depicted on the record sleeve, and the lady smiling on it isn't exactly dressed at her Christmas best, yet it is her that seems to whisper "Merry Christmas" to me in that naughty but innocent kind of way. Or maybe it's that warm and homey smile, or the red stripes on the blanket, or just the festive potpourri style of music that emanated from the vinyl inside. That's it—when I was young my family played these Schlagerfestival records,  the German equivalent of the type of record that all Western countries in the1960s, 1970s, and 80s, and beyond seemed to have: a festive medley of popular songs and melodies performed by some of the most popular singers of the country. And they all came with that smiling young woman dressed in a bikini (or a bit more—or a bit less). In Holland we had Alle 13 Goed, Italy had the San Remo series, and in Peru... Que Bonita... La Cancion Peruana. This blog is no stranger to either popular or traditional music from Peru, and in the case of Que Bonita... the popular is pushed to the commercial cliff, where it almost crashed and dies. Almost... The collected stars that perform on this record include Jesus Vasquez, who got her own little chapter here on these pages. Each of the stars perform two or three songs on the record, and also perform as "The Choir of Stars" in a few others. To share with you today, the day before Christmas, I picked a section of the Poutpourrit de Valses comprising lado A that is performed by this Coro de Estrellas. It is called Alejandrina. Happy Holidays!!!

Yolanda

Los Embajadores Criollos – Cofre de Recuerdos
I.E.M.P.S.A., Odeon del Peru, LD-1507

My wife is an avid collector of gems and jewelry. She's an authority if it comes to recognizing gems, stones, and minerals. So when I come across a record cover that features a treasure chest, or another collection of gems and jewelry, I'll take it along. This happens more often than you might think. Especially within Spanish language music records. For some reason the background in most of these records is red, the music often easy listening. But not always! Cofre de Recuerdos by the Peruvian trio Les Embajadores Criollos is a beautifully rendered album of Creole Peruvian songs. Half of the songs on the album have a woman's name as title. What's missing on the record is the customary Maria song. As you may have noticed by now I collect songs about and by Marias. Maria is my wife's name, and she has the most beautiful name in the world but this week we'll have to do with Yolanda (it's a nice name too, isn't it?) Los Embajadores Criollos aka "Los Ídolos del Pueblo" are Romulo Varillos, Alejandro Rodriguez, and Carlos Correa. They formed in 1949 and still perform to this day (even though leader Romulo Varillos died in 1998), the record presented here is probably from the late fifties. Enjoy!

El Peru con Flor

El Peru con Flor Sinqueña
Conjunto Armonias, Orq: Matices del Peru
Iempsa, 72.15.1821, Lima, Peru, 1989

I still can't get enough of playing those Peruvian records I got a few weeks ago and this one by "La voz filamonica del Peru" is my latest favorite from that modest collection. The record situates itself right in the center between the other two I posted on a few weeks back; it's to the left of the western orchestrated, beautiful and smooth music of the singer Maria Jesus Vazquez, but well right of the raw huaylas by that Huanca orchestra I wrote about. The orchestra here has the characteristics of the traditional huayno orchestras of Central Peru and other Andean regions. Flor's voice is pretty straight forward without any frills, no emotive extroversion, but solid and sober. The language is Spanish (as opposed to Quechua). Most of the tracks on El Peru con... are  in the huaynos style (a dance), but a few tunantadas are also included. Below you can listen to an example of both. First the uptempo huayno Vas a Llorar, and then the slower tunantada Mi Ultimo Aviso. I'm in the process of learning Spanish but I'm not nearly far enough to understand Spanish language web sites (I can barely count till twenty) so haven't been able to find too much information on the singer Flor Sinqueña. Translated sites don't go much beyond calling her "Flower Sinqueña. I once saw a film about rocker Neil Young on German TV; they translated the name Johnny Rotten in the song lyrics of Hey Hey My My as Johnny Verdorben.

Huaynos, Huancas, and Huaylas

Orquesta Seleccion Huanca – Lo Mejor del Huaylas
Fabricado por "El Virrey" Industrias Musicales S.A.
VIR–0001194, 1983, Peru

Lo Mejor del Huaylas is the traditional Peruvian record I promised to write about last week. It's an LP recorded by the Orquesta Seleccion Huanca directed by Freddy Centty. The terms "Huaylas" and "Huanca" are a little confusing because they both could refer to a geographical area or village in Peru, or to a dance. Huanca furthermore is the name of the Quechua Indians of Central Peru. I believe that the "Huaylas" in the title refers to the musical form (dance) and the "Huanca" in the name of the orchestra to the Native Central Peruvian Quechuas. In the form of the CD series Traditional Folk Music of Peru produced by Smithsonian Folkways I already had quite a selection of Huaylas and Huancas but until a few weeks ago I did have any commercially produced local examples of either style. To make it even more confusing I found a record by the singer Flor Sinqueña singing "Huaynos" at the same store I found the Huanca record. Of the three terms "Huaynos" is the most popular and generally known style of music from Peru. Be it Huaynos, Huancas, or Huaylas, if I find a record tagged with any of these terms in the thrift stores I'll take it. They're worth collecting and so far none has disappointed me. You can download Rompe Catre the first track from Lo Mejor del Huaylas here, and/or listen to it below.

More Marias

Maria Jesus Vazquez – Mis Canciones Favoritas
Ariel International Records, serie Hispana
ALP-6002, Empire Rec. Corp., New York City

The part of my record collection labeled Just South of Texas is rapidly approaching the magical number of 1,000 LPs. Part of the latest additions of my Latin collection are 8 Peruvian records picked up at a Goodwill in Miami. One of these is yet another Maria, the most prominent first name of all these Latin records. And this Maria is the second Maria I'll pay attention to in the series presented here. The singer is María Jesús Vázquez (1920-2010), known as La Reina y Señora de la Canción Criolla. She is a national treasure of Peru and her music is said to "had the feel of Peruvian creole taste". I have quite a bit of Peruvian music, both popular and traditional, but the Vázquez record sounds to me more general Latin than specifically Peruvian. To hear music that is totally Peruvian in flavor make sure to check back in next week when I will post a song from a record of the most exciting huanca music you will ever hear.  

The song I picked from Mis Canciones Favoritas is Si Pensaras Volver .