Afro-Peruvians make up only about 1 percent of their country’s population yet most Peruanos regard their music as a national treasure.  But this wasn’t always the case.  By the 1950s, the traditions were dying out, until black-culture renaissance man Nicomendes Santa Cruz and his cohorts helped rescue and reinvigorate the West African-rooted sounds during the ‘60s and ‘70s.  Since its founding in 1969, Peru Negro has played a crucial and energetic role in this revival.  Led by the late Ronaldo Campos de la Colina until his death in 2001, the folkloric troupe weathered the political violence of the ‘80s and early ‘90s, solidifying its cultural standing at home and spreading the Afro-Peruvian message abroad.  Now directed by Ronaldo’s son Ronny, the group has brought new dances and original compositions into its repertoire, some of which are included on Peru Negro’s latest disc, Jolgorio.  Music and movement are inextricable linked in the Afro-Peruvian polyrhymic pantheon.  The dancers absorb the thwack-pop of the cajon wooden-box drums, the rattle of the quijada (made from a donkey’s jawbone) and the Iberian-inflected guitar, and funnel the accretive energy back to the players, pushing the alcatraz, festijo and lando songs forward with joyous abandon.  UCLA Live Royce Hall; Sun., Feb 8, 7 p.m.; $40-$20, $17 students. (310) 825-2101.