'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!!!

Legend of the Jivaro

Yma Sumac – Legend of the Jivaro
Capitol Records T770, 1957
Conducted by Moises Vivanco

A shrunken head speaks to the imagination. It represents the fear for the most unruly tribes of the world. Like the big human cooking pots from Africa, cannibalism in New Guinea, shrunken heads became part of the folklore of the Western world. The custom of shrunken heads was practiced by the tribes of the northeastern Amazon forest, including areas of Peru. I've seen a shrunken head once in a museum and that image certainly became etched in my brain. A year ago I found a postcard with a shrunken head image on it at a thrift store and now I own a record with a shrunken head on it. It is Legend of the Jivaro by Yma Sumac. If it's a real shrunken head hanging in front of Yma Sumac I do not know. The use of the word authenticity in the first sentence of the liner notes is usually a red flag. The claims made in the first paragraph of this text is that Sumac learned the songs from the notorious headhunters and that her voice is accompanied by "exotic native instrumental settings". The latter is certainly not true as the instrumentation is mostly the common western orchestra, occasionally embellished with some pan flutes or conga drums. Sumac herself was considered by many a hoax in the day (the 1950s) as it was rumored that she was a certain Amy Camus (Yma Sumac spelled backwards) who was born in Brooklyn. But her persona was authentic, she was born as Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chávarri del Castillo in Peru, and by the Peruvian government officially considered an Inca princess with direct ancestry to Atuhualpa. Hoax or not, she certainly had a magnificent voice that could reach up to five octaves. I selected two songs of hers to share with you today: Wanka (The Seven Winds), from the Legend of the Jivaro album, and Chuncho from Inca Taqui (Chants of the Incas). At the same time I was preparing this post I also painted Sumac's portrait to include in my Top 100 blog:
 http://berrystop100.blogspot.com/

The song Chuncho is found on my list The 100 Greatest Recordings Ever at #41.

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.

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 .