Landó is an
Afro-Peruvian
Black Peruvians or Afro-Peruvians are Peruvian of mostly or partially African descent. They mostly descend from enslaved Africans brought to Peru after the arrival of the conquistadors.
Early history
The first Africans arrived with the conquer ...
form of
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...
in the
musica criolla
Musica (Latin), or La Musica (Italian) or Música (Portuguese and Spanish) may refer to:
Music Albums
* ''Musica è'', a mini album by Italian funk singer Eros Ramazzotti 1988
* ''Musica'', an album by Ghaleb 2005
* ), a German album by Giova ...
genre.
Influences
There are theories of the origin of this genre. According to the Peruvian reciter and ethnomusicologist
Nicomedes Santa Cruz
Nicomedes Santa Cruz Gamarra (June 4, 1925 – February 5, 1992) was a Peruvian singer, songwriter and musicologist. He was primarily a '' decimista'' (or ''decimero''), a singer of ''décimas''. He researched most forms of Afro-Peruvian music a ...
(1925-1992), the word "landó" derives from ''ondú'', an African dance. It is also suggested that the landó comes from the Brazilian dance ''lundu''. Likewise, the term "landó" is hardly found in the literature of the time of the Viceroyalty of Peru, although there is some mention of the "zamba landa". No reliable historical sources have yet been found on which an accurate description of the development of the landau in Peru can be elaborated; the only available source is the scant information provided by twentieth-century informants who witnessed the execution and the text and music of the few landós that have survived.
Today
It is only in the 1960s that a song called "Samba Malató", compiled in Lima by Nicomedes Santa Cruz, and recorded by his Conjunto "Cumanana" became popular. Since then, dance groups have recreated a choreography for this dance, as the original was lost.
After this success, other landós emerged such as "A saca camote con el pie" and "Taita Guaranguito", collected in the areas of Cañete and Chincha. Over the years, various composers popularized various landós.
Rhythmic structure
The basic rhythm of Landó is a two-bar figure,
played on the
cajón
A cajón (; "box", "crate" or "drawer") is a box-shaped percussion instrument originally from Peru, played by slapping the front or rear faces (generally thin plywood) with the hands, fingers, or sometimes implements such as brushes, mallets, o ...
(B = bass, F = flam, . = rest):
B . F . B B , . F B . F B
...or, alternatively:
B . F . B B , . F . F . B
This pattern is closely related to a
bell pattern
A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an intern ...
found in many African-based rhythms (L = low pitch, H = high pitch):
L . H . H H , . H . H . H
However, another pattern for the hand bell is often favoured:
H H H . H H , H . H H H .
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lando (music)
Peruvian styles of music