Sunday, October 30, 2011

Peru celebrates Criolla Music Day

Although hundreds of children will be celebrating Halloween by collecting candy door to door, a large number of Peruvians will celebrate tonight the National Day of Criolla Music, a Peruvian genre of music, which combines mainly African, Spanish and Andean influences.

Every year Peruvians celebrate “El Día de la Canción Criolla” (Day of Criolla Music) on October 31. It started back in 1944, when the Peruvian government announced that on this day a special celebration of Criolla music which is part of Peruvian folklore.

Throughout Latin America, the term "criolla" originally referred to the descendants of Spanish settlers, but it subsequently came to designate that which was distinctively local.

In the case of Peru, it designates the people and culture of the coastal region (as opposed to the Andean highlands) and of Lima in particular. It was on the coast that the Spaniards that founded their capital, where most of their settlement was concentrated and where their culture took deepest root.

The most popular style of Peru's "criolla" music is the Marinera, said to be the national dance of Peru. Other main genres are the Peruvian Waltz, Tondero, Festejo, Polka, Zamacueca, Landó, among other traditional dances.


No comments:

Post a Comment