Tobas
The tobas is a folkloric dance from Bolivia. It's a dance that derives
from the indigenous people in the amazon. It was brought to the rest of
Bolivia when the incas captured them, but they let them keep their
costumes and traditions.
The Tobas dance is a special representation of energy - a singular
dance with impressive jumps performed by the dancers to impress the
audience. This unique dance is performed during religious and other
festivities as well as the Oruro Carnival.Not only do you need a good
physique ,but a lot of stamina and energy.
The dance steps have special names: Bolivar (quick with regular
jumps); camba (very agile, one meter high jumps); chucu-chucu (with a
faster rhythm that amuse the audience, in the foot tips, almost in the
knees); and the cullahui jump.
Costume is: head wear entirely made of feathers,decorated with jewels, a skirt
and top decorated made with colorful fabrics,with beads and fringes on
the bottom , with cows feet sewed onto fabric to tie around the ankle ,
spear or hatchet, bracelet of feathers ,and an anklet of feathers.
Obleas, part of the traditional cuisine in Colombia, Venezuela and México where it is known as an oblea. Usually eaten as a dessert with two pieces filled with arequipe, dulce de leche (milk caramel) and/or sweetened condensed milk in the middle. In some
places they might contain cheese, fruits, chantilly cream, among others.
They are usually very popular.
We are currently working on launching our range of products, and recipes
for Obleas, and this is a preview of some of the recipes we have in
mind.
I wanted to mix the ingredients that I like, and I totally love
strawberries, I actually grow some myself in my garden :) I think
presentation is very important , in anything you do, and for me, to
present the dessert with obleas, strawberries and cream, I wanted to do
something different.
I also used raspberries, and it was lovely, the Obleas ,
strawberries/raspberries and cream was the perfect combination to have
as a dessert :)
Considered the national rhythm of Ecuador, the San Juanito's pre-Columbian
origins boast joyful rhythms and melancholic melodies. According to
musicologists it is a unique combination which denotes the feeling of
the Ecuadorian indigenous native.
Today the San Juanito is played with a variety of indigenous instruments such as the rondador ( a small panpipe), the pinguillo (a type of flute), the bandolin (a type of chordophone), and the dulzaina (a
intstrument similar to an oboe). These are joined by foreign
instruments such as the guitar, quena (a reed flute), drums, zampoñas (a type of panpipe), etc. as well as electronic instruments, which give it a modern style.
For the indigenous native of Ecuador, dancing the San Juanito expresses a communal message of unity, feeling, identity, and relationship with Mother Earth (Pacha mama).
For the mestizo, dancing San Juanito conveys a message of joyful enthusiasm and national identity.
Today the San Juanito is
a part of the repertoire of various traditional festivals and social
gatherings across the country. During lively festivals, dancers showcase
their best moves and dance forming circles and small trains of people.
Living the dream is one of the few performing arts companies in the UK run by young people for young people.
Dancers performed a flash-mob at an Arsenal celebrity
charity match on the 13th May.
The event was to raise money for Bailey
Sarwa who is a 12 year old boy from Marlborough School. He was
diagnosed with cancer at the age of 4 and after being in remission for
almost 7 years following treatment, he has relapsed and there are no
options left in this country to treat him. His family need to raise
£500,000 to take him to America where he can get treatment to save his
life.
Lucien Laviscount, Ziggy Lichman, Charlie Hawkins and Ralf Little were among those showing their footie skills.
The performance started with a solo Micheal Jackson performance in the middle of the pitch, then gradually groups of dancers gathered along and started the dance routine, that everybody follow, almost 5 different groups, gathered to perform the final piece of music.
Music from Destiny's Child, Survivor, LFMAO, Christina Aguilera, etc.It was a nice entertaining afternoon and for a very good cause.
La Musica tiene la magia de transmitir sentimientos que a veces no se pueden explicar con Palabras
El pasado sabado 16 de Junio, tuve el placer de precenciar la magia de sentimientos que transmite El musico Colombiano Diego Laverde a travez de su arte, musica, talento,sencillez y porsupuesto... el Arpa.
En un evento organizado para festejar el festival del Joropo, en un ambiente llamado The Latin Corner, cerca de Camden Town en el centro de Londres, se encontraba y descataba el talento del musico colombiano.
Mucho escuche del musico Diego Laverde, pero no habia tenido la oportunidad de ir a una de sus presentaciones, y despues de haber asistido el sabado pasado, estoy segura que no sera la primera ni la ultima vez que lo haga.
Y es que la musica, en todo sus generos, es una manera de expresarse, una manera de transmitir aquello que talvez no se puede decir con palabras. y mediante el arpa Diego Laverde aparte de transmitir esas emociones, destaca la la musica y su pasion mediante el Arpa, tambien nos deleito con su canto, un talento unico que recien tuve el placer de escuchar y conocer el sabado pasado.
Espero con ansias volver a una de sus presentaciones :)
In the 1500s, the Atlantic region was an entrance port of the slave trafficking heading towards South America. Some of these slaves escaped, building isolated communities in scrublands called Palenques. Between 1529 and 1799, twenty-six palenques were formed. San Basilio Palenque was the most famous, formed by the king of an African tribe. Cumbia owes to this Palenque, its dance structure, inherited from its ceremonial dances. (Cardenas, 1992).
Cumbia resemblances the Taino-Caribe’s Areito, a circle of dance practiced in the Caribbean. Their influence is rooted through kinship relations between Caribbean and Colombian tribes. An early expression of cumbia; was played in the early 1800s as Gaitero instrumental music, an ensemble consisting of gaitas, playing with the steady beat of drums, and the embellished with maracas. (Morales, 2003)
During the 1700’s, the nationalist Colombians re-arranged European dance genres like the English country-dance, creating the first songs and dances with a tri-cultural feeling. Colombian people envisioned a territorial unity and the possibility to sustain capitalist relations with the rest of the world. Education became a priority, to find a cultural identity. During the struggle for Colombian’s independence, cumbia a dance for African and indigenous laborers, became the dance of national resistance.
Toto la Momposina, believes that cumbia originates as a courting dance between energetic African men and reserved indigenous women, oppressed communities who were prohibited to intermarry; this makes the cumbia a subversive act of mixture. Music involved socializing; it mediated contexts of social relations, which were highly charged with tension. (Wade, 2000)
In the 20th century, many young Colombians were educated in Europe, and brought back patriotic and revolutionary ideas, represented as new musical ideas that evolved from the basic rhythm of European dances. (Cardenas, 1992). The Andean region, was home to the social elites and valued only their creolized-European traditions; this shaped Colombian early national identity. Inhabitants of the Atlantic coast, were marginalized and perceived as immoral, because of their African and native cultural background. With the Big Band craze, the Cumbia was stylized with similar instrument configuration of the swing bands, and gain national popularity. Cumbia was described then as:
A rolling, infectious 2/4 beat that seems like a fusion between merengue and reggae, with a similar backbeat that sends it surging forward. The cumbia dance is based on hip rocking…
In the 1950’s, Cumbia was modernized with recording techniques becoming faster and stylized. Lucho Bermudez, the orchestra leader of La Sonora Dinamita, combined cumbia with other forms of Afro Cuban music. Today, cumbia has a significant influence in Latin American tropical pop music. (Morales, 2003).
Morenada
The origin of the morenada goes back to the use of black [African] slaves
who were bought by miners to replace the indigenous mitayos who died
by the millions in the mineshafts of colonial Potosí. But hunger, thirst, the
cold, high blood pressure, insufficient oxygen, the rigor of the whip and of
forced marches were portents of a sure death… The richness displayed on
[morenada] outfits seems to contradict such expressions of suffering, but
the riches did not belong to those who carried the loads but rather to those
who owned them.
[They are] exotic outfits, highly ornamented, trimmed in
gold and silver, with precious stones and material brought from Milan, like
a show of the wealth with which the slaves were purchased.
Colombia has one of the most dynamic musical environments in Latin America,
due to its location between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, and the diversity of its
regions; these conditions have nourished a tri-cultural hybridism in music. As an
example, the indigenous population contributed with flutes and rattles; the Africans
added choral techniques, polyrhythm and dance structures. Both Africans and natives
attributed ceremonial significance to their instruments, music and dances. The Spaniards,
brought the song structure, renaissance harmonic theories, and western instruments: most
notably the guitar. (Morales, 2003).
Colombian Musical Genres
Colombia is divided into six distinctive regions: Atlantic, Pacific, Andean, Plains,
Amazon and Insular. Each region has unique musical genres based on the cultural fusion
among its Spanish, indigenous, and African inhabitants.
The Atlantic region is the most representative of the tri-cultural blending; the
Cumbia is one of its most famous genres. The Pacific region has preserved
the African culture almost intact, which was slightly influenced by indigenous cultures;
the Currulao is one of its most known genres. The Andean region is
influenced mostly by the Spanish culture, with influences of African rhythm patterns and
indigenous melodic elements; Bambuco is its salient genre.
Roots of the Currulao
The Pacific coast was inhabited by indigenous tribes who exchanged goods in
local markets, i.e. emeralds, gold, fish. Spaniards, aware of the potential of exploiting this
region, sent soldiers to subdue those communities. Natives died due to the excessive
work demanded in the mines and were replaced by African slaves. In 1533, a shipwreck
gave a group of slaves the opportunity to escape. They arrived to a village of natives and
took control, developing a mix zambo community of Africans and natives, which
prevented the Spaniards of enslaving them again. This was possible because of the
Spanish’s interest in building routes to the coast, and to continue the exploitation of
emerald mines. (Cardenas, 1995).
The Currulao is a dance developed in the pacific coast by runaways and African
slaves working on mines, landed property and plantations, i.e. sugarcane and tobacco.
These isolated communities, show authentic reminiscences of Africa; displaying
joyful and explosive attitudes, satire and deep sadness, transferred into the Currulao
genre, a magic sacramental rite that offered them ancestral strength. (Ministerio de
educacion nacional –6, 2009).
Dancing Caporales at a Latin American Festival in Wales ( Costume from Grupo Los Andes-London)
Caporalesis a traditional Bolivian dance originating in La Paz
Bolivia; it was created and presented to the public for the first time
in 1969 by the Estrada brothers, who were inspired in the Afro-Bolivian Saya character of the Caporal, a dance that belongs to the region of the Yungas, Bolivia.
The dance, however, has a prominent religious aspect. One supposedly
dances for TheVirgen Del Sovabon (patroness of miners),and promises to
dance for three years of one's life.
A male caporal dress depicts an
old Spanish military guard. Wearing heeled boots bearing large bells
known as "cascabeles", a male dancer carries a hat in his left hand and a
whip in his right(sometimes). Even some girls will dance in a male
role; some may refer to them as "chinas" or "machas". A female caporal
dress consists of a minidress with matching panties, skin-color
pantyhose, fancy high-heeled shoes, and a round top hat pinned to her
hair. The style and colours of the dress are maintained the same for
both the men and women of a certain group, but can vary drastically
between groups. Men and women usually dance separately in a progressive
march style dance. Caporales is a dance where you jump a lot and is very
active in this way.
The dance is often mistaken for the Afro-Bolivian Saya,
a confusion partly due to popular Caporales song texts like the ones
composed by the popular Bolivian group "Los Kjarkas"; this group makes
many Bolivian songs. Also this is due to an international ballet version
of Saya Caporal being danced as "Modern Saya"
