Amauta

Don't miss the first concert in the MMAC Fall Series (click to view or download Fall Concert Series poster). The Seattle based Andean group Amauta plays tomorrow, 2-4 pm, Campgrounds Auditorium. Although National Hispanic Heritage month officially ended October 15, Andean music and culture is part of that heritage. I never got around to inflicting my notes and observations on the vast richness and variety of hispanidad - from the traditional music and craft of New Mexico Hispanics to the Patio of the Lions at the Alhambra and Gaudi's Sagrada Familia in Bareclona, the poetry of Lorca, Marti, Neruda & Paz, magical realism - and certainly including the music of Amauta.

Ray tells me that the musicians of Amauta are lifetime friends who grew up together. I don't know when they took the name Amauta, but, more than just a casual name. it carries tremendous power and cultural weight. The musicians of Amauta could not have chosen it lightly. There is also a significant "art connection."

El nombre Amauta, viene del quechua y significa maestro, guía, sabio en conocimientos, que señala algo más que enseñar a leer y escribir, expresa sobre todo un sentimiento de arraigo y un compromiso con nuestros patrimonios olvidados, nuestras identidades negadas, nuestras historias no contadas. Es por esta razón que creemos necesario que integrar el pasado a nuestro presente es una necesidad del futuro.

The word "amauta" comes from Quechua, and means master, wise man, sage, guide. All very Joseph Campbell. Amauta is also an icon for Amnesty International volunteers and the title of José Carlos Mariátegui's influential avant-garde journal (1926-1930). Peruvians called him--and still do--the Amauta or "master." He published and edited of the cultural and literary journal Amauta, which had a crucial influence on Peru's intellectual development. The great Peruvian poet, César Vallejo was a major contributor.

from article about José Carlos Mariátegui and Amauta, the influential journal he founded:

Jose Carlos Mariategui (1894-1930) of Peru was one of the most original thinkers from Latin America in the entire 20th century. Significantly, he is often called the "'Latin American counterpart to Gramsci" because of the way that he analysed art and culture in relation to uneven development.... A key forum for his analysis of early modernism was his journal Amauta (1926-1930). While Mariategui has often been hailed in political theory for his resource ... and sometimes praised in literary theory for his nuanced examination of contemporary literature, he has been almost ignored in Art History. This is the case despite his active support for the Mexican Mural Renaissance during the 1920s and notwithstanding his notable impact on cultural policy [in 20th c. Latin America].

Ecuadorian art

• traditional and folk art
• Ecuadorian painters
  
• Enrico Tabara (b. 1930, Guayaquil, Ecuador), one of the most important artists of the last century; Premio Velásquez de las Artes Plásticas 2007.
  
• "Enrique Tabara, o el gran arte" (longer article, in Spanish, more images)

et arbustro, Enrique Tabara

Quechua language and linguistics

Quechua ("qheshwa") is an indigenous language of the Andean region, spoken today by approximately 13 million people in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Northern Chile, Argentina, and Southern Colombia. It was the official language of Tawantinsuyu, the Inca Empire.

Quechua adds a large number of suffixes and infixes to words to change both overall significance and subtle shades of meaning, which leads to rare expressiveness. Above the beginning level, Quechua requires changes of mind-set to master bipersonal conjugation, conjugation dependent on mental state and veracity of knowledge, spatial and temporal relationships, and cultural factors.

A few words on Quechua from a learner

Quechua literature

The poetry of César Vallejo

Andean music and instruments and more...

• World fusion music
• Music of the Andes in Europe
  
• A Short History of Andean Folk Music
  
• Andean links
  
• Traveler's Description of Andean Music & Dance
  

Surely knowing more about Ecuador and the Andean region will enrich our experience of listening to Amauta.

Ecuador - bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific on the west. The country also includes the Galápagos Islands (Archipiélago de Colón) in the Pacific, about 965 kilometers (600 miles) west of the mainland. Ecuador straddles the equator, from which it takes its name, and has an area of 256,370 square kilometers (98,985 mi). Its capital city is Quito; its largest city is Guayaquil. Ecuador is the smallest of the Andean countries. It has the highest average population density in South America and the hightes percentage of native Americans.

Ecuador's mainstream culture is defined by its mestizo majority and, like their ancestry, is a mixture of European and Amerindian influences infused with African elements inherited from slave ancestors. Ecuador's indigenous communities are integrated into that mainstream culture to varying degrees, but some may also practice their own autochthonous cultures, particularly the more remote indigenous communities of the Amazon basin.

The Panama hat is of Ecuadorean origin

More about Ecuador and the Andean Region

• Ecuador & Galapagos Islands at Lonely Planet
• Ecuador in Wikipedia
• Andean countries - Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile.
• Unesco page on Andean region

Andean music

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andean_music
  
• http://boleadora.com/andes.htm
• http://musicosandinos.org/
• Links http://www.capari-cani.com/links.htm
• Images - http://boleadora.com/foto.htm