October 8, 2004

The voice of Peru's people

EVA AYLLON TOUR BRINGS BLEND OF OLD, NEW WORLD SOUNDS TO U.S.

By Andrew Gilbert
Special to the Mercury News


Peru's international identity is shaped by the soaring Andes, the magnificent ruins of Machu Picchu and a population largely descended from that glorious Inca past.

But domestically, Peru dances and works to music from the coastal plains, the heart of Afro-Peruvian culture, and no singer has a wider popular following than Eva Ayllon.

Drawing on the profusion of rhythms that proliferated on Peru's Pacific coast, the 48-year-old Ayllon is the foremost innovator of an encompassing Afro-Peruvian style known as musica criolla. ``Musica criolla is the joy of the people in Peru,'' says Ayllon during a phone interview, with her manager and producer Juan Morillo translating from Spanish.
``Whether they're mechanics or bakers or policemen, everywhere you see people working, it's the music they always listen to.''

More precisely, Ayllon, who performs in San Francisco this weekend, explains that musica criolla evolved out of the New World synthesis of African rhythms, Andean cadences and European harmonies, much like American jazz, Cuban son and Brazilian samba.

The richness of Afro-Peruvian music partly stems from the divide-and-rule tactics of the Spanish, who made sure that no particular West African ethnicity predominated so that slaves couldn't easily communicate and foment rebellion. Percussion was a common denominator though, and Afro-Peruvians developed an array of new instruments, such as a burro's jawbone with loosened teeth (liquijada de burro), and a wooden box that rests between the legs and is played by hand (cajon).

David Byrne introduced American audiences to Afro-Peruvian music in 1995 with his Luaka Bop compilation ``The Soul of Black Peru,'' featuring tracks by Ayllon, Chabuca Granda, Peru Negro and Susana Baca.
With her subsequent Luaka Bop releases, Baca emerged as the face of Afro-Peruvian music in North America, while Ayllon has remained largely unknown in the United States.

That may soon change with Ayllon's recently released first CD with widespread U.S. distribution, ``Eva! Leyenda Peruana'' (Times Square Records). She's promoting the album on an extensive North American tour.
The oldest of 14 children, Ayllon was born and raised in a working-class neighborhood of Lima, where she grew up immersed in Afro-Peruvian culture. She started performing as a teenager to help support her family, at first working as a dancer.

She made her recording debut in 1977 with the popular trio Los Kipus in 1977, and has dominated the Peruvian charts ever since, recording more than a dozen gold records and winning numerous Premios, the Peruvian equivalent of the Grammy.

Her repertoire features many classic songs by Granda, considered one of the most important vocalists in the history of Peruvian music, and Nicomedes Santa Cruz Gamarra, the father of the Afro-Peruvian art movement that took root in the 1950s. Ayllon has gained her devoted following by singing about the daily travails of life in the grindingly poor country, giving voice to the people's joys and sorrows with her rich, velvet and mahogany contralto.

When asked about her influences, Ayllon cites a range of artists, from Celia Cruz and Frank Sinatra to the Beatles and Ella Fitzgerald. Her performances in Lima, which frequently draw a significant number of tourists, often feature songs by Gershwin, Jobim and Bola de Nieve, depending on her audience.

She is determined to spread appreciation for the music of her homeland.

``When I perform in Lima, I try to pay homage to those countries that are present, so I'll sing music from Venezuela, or Brazil or Puerto Rico or even jazz if there are Americans or Japanese people,'' Ayllon says. ``But for this record, my intention is to reach people who don't know about music from Peru.''

Ayllon is trying to raise awareness of the country's rich culture, which is often eclipsed by Peru's ongoing political upheaval. In recent decades, this has included a Maoist insurgency that terrorized the countryside for years, until it was dismantled by the government of Alberto Fujimori, who was then accused of corruption. His successor, Alejandro Toledo, now has an approval rating that hovers just above single digits.

One reason why Ayllon has survived and thrived in Peru as a populist hero is that she has avoided getting mixed up in controversial matters.

``There are three subjects I prefer not to address: religion, sports and politics,'' Ayllon says. ``I'm concerned like everyone else about the problems of Peru, but I'm equally concerned about the problems of the world.''  Eva Ayllon