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Sounds of the Andes: Raices de AJAYU
October 20, 2018 @ 7:30 pm - 10:30 pm
Doors open 7:30pm / Performance starts 8pm
Tickets: $16 in Advance / $20 at the Door ($22 if paying with credit)
La Peña Cultural Center proudly presents an evening of Andean music and culture with one of the Bay Area’s most prominent Andean music group: AJAYU. Plus, special musical guests: Comunidad Anqari!
In the Andean world, the Ajayu is understood as the force that contains our feelings and reasoning. At the core of sentient beings, Ajayu is the the cosmic energy that generates and gives movement to life. The consolidation of this energy, which originates from human beings, fundamentally depends on living in harmony with the universe, respecting other beings and all life that surrounds us.
For this special performance, the psychedelic Andean fusion band AJAYU is further exploring its indigenous roots through the Siku, the traditional Andean pan flute. To play the ancestral sound of the Siku, you need two people to create the right energy and harmony. Building further on this duality, the pipes are in two sections: the seven tubes called Arka are the female component, and the six tube Ira is the male. It is from this grounded place that the Bay Area band Ajayu embraces its musical roots, with members from Peru, Bolivia, Chile and beyond.
ABOUT AJAYU
Ajayu is a Bay Area band that fuses traditional native sounds of the Andes region using Andean flutes, sikus (pan flutes / zampoñas) and quenas, and the traditional string instrument, the Charango, with a contemporary sound of rock and latin rhythms, creating a psychedelically unique mix.
AJAYU PERFORMERS
Gabriel Escobar (Bolivia)
Fernando DeSanjines (Bolivia)
Javier Trujillo (Peru)
Hector Zapana (Peru) – Musical Director
Mariela Herrera (Chile)
Joaquin Zamudio (México)
ABOUT COMUNIDAD ANQARI
Comunidad Anqari is a SF Bay Area based Andean Indigenous Music and Dance ensemble, founded in late 2012. They promote music from the South Andean region known as Collasuyu, a very culturally rich area were communities still keep intact their ancestral way of leaving, playing and dancing music.
In 2014 Comunidad Anqari entered into the Carnaval the La Mission for the first time winning first place in the Folkloric category. Subsequently entering again in 2015 winning the Grand Prize. A very first for any group of that type of music in the history of the Carnaval. They recorded their first single in late 2017 “Italaque a los Apus” (Italaque to the Spirit Mountain) composed by former director Gabriel Escobar. This year, Comunidad Anqari is directed by Edson Veizaga.