All but lost in the 1950s, Afro Peruvian music has made a remarkable comeback, both as a symbol of resurgent black pride, driving the quest for racial equality in a post-colonial society, and as art. The music and dance troupe Peru Negro played an important role in establishing the genre we now call Afro Peruvian. They took fragments of songs and dances that survived in black enclaves, and imagined the rest. Signature instruments include the relatively modern cajon--wooden box percussion--and the Spanish guitar, but also instruments with African origins, congas, bells, and chekeres.

Peru Negro formed in 1969 in the context of a military government with an interest in promoting the country's folkloric traditions. But the group fell on hard times in the 1980s when that government and its cultural policies collapsed, and guerilla warfare forced them to limit travel and perform in the safety of tourist settings. With the recent international rise of the Afro Peruvian genre--singer Susana Baca at the forefront--Peru Negro has experienced a renaissance of its own, producing two CDs in past three years, as many as in their entire prior career.

This set of thirteen tracks is a gem, richly recorded to capture the detail in the group's sometimes dense sonic textures, but more importantly, invested with a visceral spirit of celebration. The rowdy festejo is the group's mainstay genre, as in the opener "Como Cantan, Como Bailan Los Negros," which unfolds in the rolling slap and thump of percussion, a jangling guitar, a prominent flute, and many, mostly female voices. "A Ronaldo," a homage to Ronaldo Campos, the company director who died in 2001, exemplifies Campos's super-syncopated approach to this party-hardy genre.

On string-driven, 6/8 numbers like "Picarón," the odd, slightly jazzy harmonies creeps in occasionally. Punchy melodies on low guitar strings, often doubled by the bass, give these grooves a distinctive backbone. There are a couple of cool, sensual tunes, a lando--the genre popularized by Susana Baca--and a closely related zamacueca, in which the music seems to hover magically between conversing rhythms. Lead vocals on these numbers by Monica Dueñas are particularly soulful. But mostly this is dance music, sometimes with a playful sexual tilt, as in the Alcatraz where males and female dancers maneuver artfully to affix a paper tail on each others' rumps. The only thing better than listening to this delightful recording would be catching Peru Negro live during their February, 2004, tour! Peru Negro 2004 tour dates.

Contributed by: Banning Eyre for www.afropop.org