In researching Peruvian music, I’ve recently become aware of a certain unspoken phenomenon. Within the last ten to fifteen years, the female presence in rock, electronic and punk music has just become overwhelming. This doesn’t seem to be one of those intentional and actively-staged rebellions but, rather, a natural progression; one which is very logical when one examines all of the things that already make Peru so spiritedly independent amongst other Latin American countries. Basically, the cosmic beard fest that tends to envelop the bulk of the louder electro, rock, garage, metal and punk music throughout the Americas has a much less fierce pull in this particular area of the world. And that’s really a good thing. Much like in Japan, the role reversal in music has become very apparent [Continue reading...]

Flooded with graffiti-like artwork, the small music venue “La Casa de Auxilio”, or the House of Help, was the location for our Friday night entertainment this past weekend.

The Zampoña – I had never even heard of the instrument before Peru, so if you are like I was and hadn’t heard the beautiful sound of a zampoña before, you are in for a treat.  In addition to the guitar and charango (a guitar-like instrument), the zampoña is a marked instrument of Peru and the Andes region.  It dates back to at least the Incas and possibly even further.  The only examples I can think of that anyone might know is that reoccurring flute-like melody in the beginning of the Lion King’s “I Just Can’t Wait To Be King” or in the interlude of “The Circle of Life”.  Yeah, that’s right – I listen to the Lion King soundtrack.  Actually, it was mostly arranged by Elton John and musically [Continue reading...]

Two weekends ago Sophie and I went to Chimbote to visit Jen, a friend of mine from college who is working there as a missionary. I’m not sure exactly what a missionary’s job entails; all I know is that Jen will be living there for the next two years in a house with other missionaries, working with a parish in the city. While I was growing up (although let’s be honest, I’m still nowhere near “grown up”), I always imagined that I would do something like that with my life. I thought that I would end up living in areas of poverty and amongst marginalized communities, fighting injustice and saving the world. But while I was studying abroad in El Salvador, living with a group of students and focusing on [Continue reading...]

The plan was simple. Shannon and I would spend our last day of our week in the mountainous region of Ancash hiking to Laguna Churup. All of the tour books, other travelers and online reviews say that though the hike up to the Laguna is long and some points demanding that it is a worthwhile hike and that the Laguna which is 4450 meters above sea level is a must see. The first half of our trip went without any major glitches. After a lovely breakfast at Café California it was time for us to find the collectivo to the town of Yungay. Already behind schedule we were now left with the daunting task of finding the exact location of where the collectivo’s were parked as there is no official pick [Continue reading...]