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Autumn 2024 Ethnomusicology Visiting Artist Miguel Ballambrosio.
Autumn Quarter Ethnomusicology Visiting Artist Miguel Ballumbrosio presents a performance of Afro-Peruvian dance and music traditions from the region of Chincha, where several generations of his family have been prominent culture bearers. He is accompanied by students from his classes in University of Washington Music and Dance and by musicians from the Seattle-based Afro-Peruvian ensemble, De Cajón.
Program
De Cajón Project
Festejo Amador
Contrapunto de zapateo
Presentation of musical instruments by students
Traditional Afro-Peruvian instruments: cajón, cajita, quijada
Other instruments that are used today: campana, batajones, congas
“Ensamble Cajón”
“Valentín” (landó rhythm)
Dance presentation (festejo rhythm, zapateo)
The Artists
Miguel Ballumbrosio was born in Chincha, Peru, in 1976, the 11th of 15 children. His father, Amador Ballumbrosio, was an important culture bearer in his Afro Peruvian community who has been recognized by the Peruvian government as a national treasure. From the age of four Miguel danced zapateo for the Virgen del Carmen, and today he is the leader of the Atajo de Negritos del Carmen, which is celebrated every December in his community.
Miguel’s talent also attracted attention from outside his home community at an early age. At age 14 he began to tour internationally with the rock musician Miki Gonzales, and he later immigrated to Lima, where he played with different Afroperuvian groups (Cofradía Negra, Teatro Milenio) and the funk-fusion band La Pura Purita. In 2002 he traveled to France with Grupo Milenio, and later he moved to Spain, where he continued to perform with international artists.
From 2004-2016 Miguel was based in Paris, where he performed on cajón and zapateo (foot percussion) with the Paris Jazz big band, Minino Garay y Los Tambores del Sur, Los Frapadingos, Inca Mandinga and international artists such as Chucho Valdes, Giovanni Hidalgo, Gonzalo Rubalcaba. He has taught Afro-Peruvian music and instrument building at several schools and community centers in Paris, including La Cité de la Musique Philarmonique de Paris, and has also continued to offer workshops internationally.
Eight years ago Miguel began building the Centro Cultural Amador Ballumbrosio in his hometown of Chincha, a space for the people and their traditions, to promote and preserve Afro-peruvian and Afro-andino culture. He has returned home to continue the legacy of his father, Amador Ballumbrosio.
DE CAJóN Project, a Seattle-based performance group born of the rich musical heritage of African descent Peruvians, has been performing in the Pacific Northwest since 2009. “De cajón” is a Peruvian expression that means “for sure!” “rain or shine!” “without question!” Cajón is also the name of a box-shaped drum, the driving percussive element at the heart of Afro-Peruvian music. As a performing group DE CAJóN strives to offer a vibrant reclamation of Afro-Peruvian music and dance, both its historic roots and contemporary manifestations, through workshops and music performances for diverse audiences.
DE CAJóN founder and director is Seattle-based artist and anthropologist Monica Rojas-Stewart, a community arts activist and pioneering performer and educator of Afro-Peruvian culture, and of the broader Afro-Latinx arts movement in the Pacific Northwest. Rojas-Stewart is also Assistant Director of African Studies and Latin American and Caribbean Studies at UW’s Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies. She is joined in this concert by De Cajón members Eduardo Montero (bass), and Roberto Bonaccorso (guitar and vocals).
Students in Musen 389/589
Julia Aguilar Jerez
Lucy Axtelle
Logan Bellenkes
Joel Bergstrom
Kimani Bishop
Billie Chance
Mike Chen
Ashley Cook
Nicholas Fowler
Elliot Hansen
Galin Hebert
Juan Hillon
Minghao Li
Karissa Longo
Nicholas Mendonsa
Edwin Miller
Maria Price
Tess Roberts
Emily Silks
Melissa Wang
Students in Dance 244
Taara Elahi
Bernie Marcial Sr Gomez Penaloza
Shuyi Huang
Molly Kappes
Yuna Kim
Dipesh Mishra
Mojdeh Motalebi Kashani
Gracie Nguyen
Sophie Root
Hadi Yusri