Not unlike stories from the American South, the African slaves brought by the Spaniards to Peru were initially forbidden musical instruments. And so they improvised, turning fingers and feet and everything at hand into an instrument. For them, the world became a resonant drum.
Although Luaka Bop has issued recordings by contemporary Afro-Peruvian performers there is more to be found. A couple of young guys from Minnesota, Cory Wong and Eric Foss, flew to Lima with recording gear to capture Afro-Peruvian musicians in the moment. They assembled a group of local musicians called Pena, augmented on a few selections by Columbian singer Sofia Rei Koutsovitis. Handsomely packaged in a thin wooden box, Pena’s eponymous CD (released by Secret Stash Records) comes with a documentary DVD, Finding the Black Rhythms of Peru.
Basically a travelogue of their trip to Lima, Finding the Black Rhythms would have benefited if Wong-Foss had stood aside and allowed the local scene more time to speak for itself. That said, the DVD captures many fine moments in a society where soulfulness is not an affectation and every step is tuned to the rhythm of life.
