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22 September, 2006 18:00:45

A Condor is flying over Lima

(by Yrene Rojas, Press agent)

“El Vuelo del Condor” (“The Flight of the Condor”) is a 90 minute cirque style show featuring original music, over 40 international artists including acrobats, dancers, a comedian, and an Inca inspired theme. The show is directed by Cesar Aedo, former student of Marcel Marceau.

“The Flight of the Condor” was first presented at Sea World, Orlando in 1997 as a 40 minute show with a South American native theme. In the 6 years that it was performed there it is estimated that about 9 million people from all parts of the world appreciated it.

Inspired by the ancient myth of the four brothers Ayar, founders of the Inca Empire, the show captures the mystique and artistic expression of several of the pre-Columbian cultures through music, costumes and set design.

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9 September, 2006 10:50:00

Lima kicks off its fifth annual Jazz festival

By Niko Kyriakou

Mammaye - afro-peruvian-jazz

(LIP-nk) - A two monthlong Jazz festival being held in Lima's Barranco district kicked-off last Monday with the rhythmic afro-peruvian-jazz sounds of a group called Mammaye.

Crowding a small stage, Mammaye set fire to the two-story club, La Noche, fusing African rhythms, jazz, and Peruvian roots. Early arrivers snagged tables, but latecomers had to squeeze in along the walls, up the stairs, and around the second-floor balcony to get a glimpse of the 14-member orchestra. Swaying and laughing as they played, the musicians kept the audience riveted with a full horn section and a dozen different instruments, including those of African and Peruvian origin.

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29 August, 2006 07:01:57

Q'orianka Kilcher - A star in the making

(by Wolfy Becker)

Q'orianka Kilcher as Pocahontas in "The New World"

Q'orianka Waira Qoiana Kilcher - her name alone sounds 'worldly' yet mysterious. Q'orianka - we get to its meaning later - was born 16 years ago in Schweigmatt, Germany, a tiny, idyllic village in the Black Forest hills from where you can see as far as the Swiss Alps and Jura Mountains across the Rhine River.

Her father is a descendant of the Huachipaeri and Quechua people in Madre de Dios and her mother is a Swiss national who grew up in Alaska.

Kilcher still pinches herself to make sure it’s all not just a dream. Two years ago, after a worldwide search that lasted eight months, film director Terrence Malick (The Thin Red Line) chose the beautiful Kilcher to take on the pivotal part of Pocahontas in the movie 'The New World', a drama about explorer John Smith and the clash between Native Americans and English settlers in the 17th century.

Kilcher had thought the odds were stacked against her because she was younger than the other actresses who auditioned for the role. But Malick wanted someone young and Kilcher got the nod, which meant her first big feature film role would be opposite handsome hunks, Colin Farrell and Christian Bale.

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11 August, 2006 18:28:15

250th Mozart anniversary in Lima and Arequipa

(by Wolfgang Becker)

Lima continues to celebrate Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The Prolírica Association of Peru presided by renowned tenor Luis Alva has organized a great opera season to honor the 250th birthday of the musical genius.

According to Ivonne Garreaud, general manager of Prolírica, the program includes two skillful performances: a "Réquiem" concert and the opera "Don Giovanni". Canadian soprano Natalie Choquette will also give a special concert.
Season will begin on Friday, August 25, and end on Saturday, September 16.
The Teatro Segura (Lima), the auditorium at "Colegio San Agustín" (Lima) and the Teatro Municipal in Arequipa have been chosen as venues.

The "Requiem" concert will kick off celebrations in Lima's Cathedral featuring Peru's National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Armando Sánchez Málaga, the National Choir directed by Andrés Santa Maria, and four distinguished Peruvian solists: soprano Jacqueline Terry, mezzo soprano Josefina Brivio, tenor Alvaro Lopez and baritone Humberto Zavalaga.

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6 August, 2006 17:27:36

“I wanted to be a Rock Star….�?

... but Juan Diego Florez became a tenor. Today he is regarded as one of the best in his profession.
This is a chat protocol about the stresses and strains of his work, the disadvantages of Italian cuisine and classic music.

It’s unbearably hot and humid in Vienna. Peruvian Juan Diego Florez, regarded as the best Rossini-tenor of our time, walks into the air-conditioned hotel suite wearing cowboy boots, jeans and a pink linen shirt. “It’s just unbelievably hot in my room, says the 33-year old. “If I were rich, I would live here”. How convenient that true stars are always surrounded by attentive people who can read their minds. The lady looking after Juan Diego Florez starts working in the background. On several occasions our talk is interrupted by phone calls from the hotel manager. Finally he gets his suite; as a courtesy.

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23 July, 2006 19:37:44

Addicted to Manu

(by Delfin Vigil)

Manu Chao saved my life.

The story begins in early 1999 in Peru, when I moved there to go to school and be near my family. Life in Lima was easy to adjust to. I had been there before, knew the city, loved the food and spoke the language. But there was one thing I couldn't quite understand: the music.

When my father emigrated from South America to San Francisco in 1962, he brought with him lots of music. By the time I was born, our living room was filled with stacks and stacks of scratched 45s and LPs bent at the edges because they had been smuggled in the corners of fake leather luggage. Thanks to my father, the soulful voices of Jesus Vasquez, Lucha Reyes and the gut-wrenchingly beautiful guitar work of Los Embajadores Criollos made their way through customs and into my heart. These people weren't just musicians; they were teachers. They taught me poetry, Spanish and all about a land that, at that point, I had felt little connection with.

While packing for my move to Peru, I purposely avoided bringing a single CD of my own and instead left lots of room to bring back modern versions of what my father had found.

But by the end of the first week I nearly went crazy.

I had spread the word to my cousins and friends that I was looking for the best new Peruvian music. Invariably, they'd play back songs sung in English. Much of it was from the '80s -- Simple Minds, the Cure, Duran Duran. None of it was Peruvian.

After I insisted that I wanted something in Spanish, they finally delivered a stack of CDs and tapes of "rock en Español." It was good stuff -- Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Babasonicos and Andres Calamaro. But it was all music I already knew. And it was all from Argentina.

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