Historical Approach
by Paco Salcedo Vallejos
Photo: Paco Vallejos
INTRODUCTION
Zamacueca was called in the nineteenth century what we now know the name of Sailor Limeña, and that some people wrongly named as "Song of Jarana" but that the old singers like Ascuez, "Black Canary", Forestry and Manrique, etc. never called it that. Being the "song of revelry" or "sailor counterpoint, just a way to sing the Sailor Lima. It was developed mainly in the area known as Malambo, now Avenida Francisco Pizarro, in the district of Rimac. Then it spread to other traditional neighborhoods of Lima, and then cross the borders of Peru. During the course of that century, was named in several ways: Shoes, Zamba Zamba-brooder, Zamba-Cuque, Zamba-cueca, Zamacueca, Sanguaraña, Dance of the Earth Young maize, Ecuador, Zajuriana, mozamala, Chocolate, Miz Miz, Dancing Scarves, Polka Cajon, etc. Don José Durand Flores, in his article "From Fisherman's Zamacueca" published in the journal messages (1971) notes that became known as "Chilean Zamacueca" or "Chilean" to dry the way they sang the Chilean soldiers zamacueca Peru in Lima, at the end of the Battle of Yungay in 1839 with the triumph of Ramón Castilla on Santa Cruz, Bolivian President wanted to annex southern Peru to Bolivia. Chilean soldiers had come to support Castilla, being president of Peru, Agustin Gamarra.
Watercolor Pancho Fierro
STUDIES OF THE ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE PERUVIAN Zamacueca
Under Peruvian scholar José Durand Flores, the first information of the name "Zamacueca" contained in Archivo de Indias in Seville (Spain) dating "... about 1780, with verses and a different pattern with a melodic line of the same." (Interview by William A. Joseph Durand Durand F., 1987). 
However, there are earlier indications of their presence, must be remembered that the Bishop of Trujillo, Jaime Baltasar Martinez Compañón, painting genre scenes sent in northern Peru in late 1700 and one of them is seen a couple of mestizo Indian dancing to a guitar (the predecessor of the guitar) and another person doing palms, curiously similar to the way that corresponds to the Zamacueca. The Bishop also made of printed sheet music related to the dance tunes like the Zamacueca such as "The Donosa", "El Conejo", "Ships for Dancing", whose rhythms come even to the present Marinera. (In "Trujillo Peru," Archbishop Baltasar Jaime Martinez Bujanda Compañón and - Vol II, 1782).
Zamacueca The name traveled by the three Americas and Europe during the eighteenth and nineteenth century, giving rise to other expressions, which today are considered folk in other countries. Thus, "Zamacueca" came to Santiago de Chile in 1825, the name being shortened to "Cueca", back in 1862, reminds us that the Chilean historian José Zapiola, in his book published in 1872, "Memories of Thirty years 1810 -1840. " Zapiola was a close friend of Jose Bernardo Alcedo, author of the national anthem of Peru, who visited the neighborhood of Malambo in one of his visits to Lima, contacting the Zamacueca.
The Chilean musician, Pablo Garrido, in his book "Biography of the Cueca" (1943), quoting Joseph Zapiola, tells us that: "After leaving his hometown the" Petorquinas "(there were three sisters: Traffic Tadea and Carmela) were already famous (dancing) ... Before debuting in the capital, were useful lessons from the famed "Monona" and largely succeeded in Parral Gomez ...".
Pablo Garrido also notes that another name Chilean historian Benjamin Vicuña Mackenna, reported: "" The Monona, Lima beautiful zambita used in the Peruvian Legation in Santiago de Chile, fled from their employers to settle comfortably in the Parral Gomez and then at the Baths of Huidobro, Zamacueca contratándosele to dance to the eager parishioners such public places ", (back in 1830). The Monona school and had established outstanding disciples, including the famous Petorquinas. "
On the other hand, Clemente Vega Barahona, Chile, also holds the view that the Zamacueca they came out in his book "The Zamacueca and the Rose" in 1911, but refuses to say who is of Peruvian origin.
"Cueca", dance of Chile
The Americanist Uruguayan Fernando Assuncao, also claims Peruvian origin of the Zamacueca in his book "Contributions to a Study of the Origins of Zamacueca" (1970).
black ethnic groups in Bolivia, Beni area, now they call it "Black Cueca", the rest of the country plateau called "Cueca" simply. To them came via Chile.
In Argentina, in the province of Cuyo call him "Cueca Cuyo, Jujuy and Salta to call him" Bailecito "and in the rest of the country, he is called" Zamba "as in Uruguay.
A Mexico became one of his former Peruvian names, the "Chilean" and is now part of the repertoire of Mexican folklore in the United Oaxaca and Guerrero, keeping pace with Zamacueca and is danced to brass band. The melody is reminiscent of the maritime northern Peru.
Dance "Chilena" in Oaxaca, Mexico
In Spain, Jaume Ayats (President of the English Society for Ethnomusicology ) argues that some dances of South America have arrived in Spain in the eighteenth century as the old Fandango.
Peruvian researcher José Durán Flores, in the book "Creole Song" (1987), in his article "Palmero Sube a la Palma" he says as "The Macarrona" old "dancer" English, was thrilled to find a resemblance between the old and the Marinera Fandango Limeña (Zamacueca). Even Carlos Vega, Argentine researchers conducted fieldwork in Peru, Chile and Argentina, concludes that Zamacueca as maximum likelihood, must have been born with this name by 1810 in Lima, as a derivative of Old Fandango.
And, possibly, for the information provided so far, this Fandango old has had originated in Lima, and may even have given rise to Zamba first and then the Zamacueca or both at a time. The current English Fandango grandson would be evolved from this.
remember that Lima was the center of cultural influence during the viceroyalty to the colonies, as we described in his books "Lima, a Peruvian South American Focus" (1945) and "Creole Dance at the Theatre" (1946, pp. 95-99). According to Vega, the Zamacueca gave rise to the "Cueca" Chilean and "Zamba" in Argentina. The writings of historians Chileans, Uruguayans, Bolivians, Argentines and Peruvians are right with historical and bibliographical.
CONCLUSIONS - The zamacueca, now called Marinera is a cultural product of Peruvian origin.
- When visiting different countries in America, originated Zamacueca dances and songs that are currently part of the culture of these countries, such is the case of Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia and Mexico.
- Regardless of the name changes of the Zamacueca, if we take into account the earliest documentation we have about the same, we can say that its validity is over two centuries of cultural and social presence.
- The importance of Zamacueca, Marinera today is of such magnitude in the American cultural identity has been under study by major Americanist up today.
The above is the beginning of future insights on various aspects related to the Sailor, and will be subject published periodically in this blog.
