Popular culture in Peru

Paul Montjoy Forti

Various authors have claimed that culture will always be safeguarded by

the intellectual elites of societies, I cite as an example the Enlightened ones, who
they were nothing more than a group of intellectuals of the time, who gave rise to the
French revolution and the independence of the Indies. However, the means
of communication, as time went by, helped to spread the
feelings, passions, and knowledge of the common people, thus giving rise to the
popular culture. Popular culture refers to the cultural patterns that
they are rules of behavior established in a territory according to the
customs of the people, and artistic manifestations of the aforementioned
flat town. This essay will be about the popular culture of Peru, especially about
Lima, we will talk about the history of popular culture, touching on specific topics.
like music, television, gastronomy, literature. Focusing on,
mainly, in Julio Ramón Ribeyro who in his writings managed to describe the
idiosyncrasy of Peruvians and their culture.

The history of Peru is, without a doubt, one of the most varied and complicated precedents.
that exist in Latin America because Peru is a multicultural country. What it wants
to say that various cultural manifestations have always existed
different social classes. Peruvian popular culture originates from the era of the
colony, is born from the fusion of the thought of the Kingdom of Castile with the
customs, thoughts, religious manifestations, of the various cultures
existing in this part of the new world. Thus creating new manifestations
social issues, like the indigenous sentiment of Inca Garcilazo de la Vega, and
cultural events like the Lord of Miracles, which was a product of speculation and
the traumas specific to Lima's society1And what is a manifestation of the
popular culture that endures to this day and has expanded beyond
from the Peruvian borders. In colonial art, one can notice the intention of the
Cuzco school for expressing its cultural symbols through art. In the
in the fashion realm, the women of the Lima elite dressed in skirts and cloaks giving
origin of the 'Limeña dress,' later, the women from the social classes
they copied that way of dressing and were creating new styles and designs,
clear manifestation of the 'popularization of culture'.

1The people of Lima had a great fear of tremors. When the earthquake of 1655 occurred, the people of Lima
They sought psychological refuge wherever possible. Upon finding the image of the Christ of Pachacamilla standing, everyone
The inhabitants attributed it to a miracle. The authorities of the time agreed to take the image out for a walk.
Once a year. Although the fear of Lima, on another occasion, made the image tour Lima several times.
in the same year.
Migrations were an essential factor in the diversification of culture.
popular. Each of the people who arrived in our country brought with them
its past, its dances, its religion, its way of seeing the world. It would not be understood.
our emblematic celebration if the African slaves had not brought part of
its culture. Or the myths of the 'boogeyman' would not be understood if breastfeeding mothers did not
they would have taken care of the children of the bosses. And it is that, in the republic, that was the
method of dissemination. Causing, in some way, a fusion to form between the
high and low social class. When the massive migration of Chinese to Peru occurred,
they brought with them their ways of life, their ways of preparing food. And, through
from the fusion of times, the Peruvian chifa was created, which today is one of the
emblems of our gastronomy. A topic that was also disseminated was the
mysticism of our ancestral cultures. The topic of witchcraft would become
in an important manifestation of popular culture, so important that it has
reached our days. Who hasn't heard of the evil eye, of the
egg cleansing, of love bindings? There are people who believe
fervently in that, in fact, there are people who dedicate themselves to that. There are people
the first thing they do when their child is born is to buy him a little bracelet of
huayruros.

The emergence of radio helped to spread popular culture through music,

All of Peru would be surprised by that device capable of transmitting news.
from very distant places. Radio became a mass-purchase device,
even in the most remote places of the national territory there was one of those
devices. The music would begin to be heard throughout the country. In fact, already
there was typical regional music, like huaynos for example, but the radio was its
means of propagation. Regional radio stations were created, such as
the case of the DELCAR radio from Chiclayo2The local music groups had
the opportunity, for the first time, to be heard throughout Peru. Upon succeeding
Some of these groups gave rise to new bands, causing that
those manifestations of the common people can be heard in the capital.
Chabuca Granda, 3born in Abancay in 1920, daughter of upper-class parents,
she became one of the driving forces of popular culture. And she is the first
that breaks with the conventional rhythm of the Peruvian waltz, in addition to the language that
the language he uses in his songs is not the typical one of the old salon waltzes.
There is a fusion in it that surprised at its time, this fusion occurred because
she embraced popular culture. She propelled the diversification of music, was
called in several countries "cultural ambassador of Peru". I cite as an example
Flower of Cinnamon, considered by some to be our second national anthem, which

2Unable to access external links or content.

3Interview with Chabuca Granda by Soler Serranohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITtak9MT_wo
Chabuca composed thinking of a little black girl, Mrs. Victoria Angulo.4, who was walking
always through the Bridge of Sighs. Moreover, their songs talk about our
cultural traditions such as in the case of Jose Antonio, which alludes to the chalán
and the Peruvian Paso horse. Without a doubt, with the help of the radio, the
Songs by Chabuca Granda began to fill the entire territory with pride.
national.

The emergence of television was also an essential factor for the diffusion of the
popular culture, although it never had the spread of radio, was to open it
the doors of the upper class to popular culture, since only the most privileged people
wealthy people were able to buy, as soon as it was released, a television. In the programs
In Peruvian television, the essence of popular culture can be noted. As it is the
Trampoline to Fame case, from the year 1967-1996, of the late Augusto.
Ferrando. Where the Peruvian idiosyncrasy can be easily shown. And that
influenced the creation of similar programs of our times. Television
gave a space for music to spread. For the first time, Peruvians
They would see live images from another part of the national territory. A clear example of the
Cultural fusion on television was La paisana Jacinta.

In the years 1961-1998 5, an uncontrolled migration occurred in Lima. The

inhabitants of the provinces, who were plunged into economic crisis,
they began to migrate to the Peruvian capital in search of opportunities, no
not only of work but also of services, education, and quality of life. This
migration drove popular culture, migrants would arrive in Lima with their vision
of the world, with its local beliefs, with its music, its food, its tradition. And
It is in Lima where a great fusion of all those factors begins. Lima,
as it was known before, ceased to exist. It began to grow in a way
disorganized, which resulted in the deformed Lima we have today. Among
Among other things, the massive migration originated the sad Peruvian centralism. During that
Over time, the term 'Lima the gray' was created, which is now used.
practically like a nickname for our capital. As concrete examples of
in this merger we can talk about gastronomy, today in Lima we find the
typical dishes from all regions of Peru, Today at the street kiosks there
sells, along with Chaplín Cookies, bags of mote or chifles. Now, in the
festivals, Huayno is heard, a musical genre that was once unthinkable
listen to it.

Julio Ramón Ribeyro, 1929-1994, to me the best writer of the 20th century, and one of
the best Peruvian storytellers, was able to capture between the lines of his

4Interview with Chabuca Granda by Soler Serranohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITtak9MT_wo

5INEI:Unable to access external URLs for translation.
literature of that great, deformed, gray Lima that we talked about in the paragraph
previous. One of his most emblematic books is the compilation of stories.
word of the mute. When Ribeyro, back in the year 1973, is asked by his editor
Why the word of the mute? Julio Ramón responds:

Because in most of my stories, those who are expressed are the ones who are in life
deprived of words, the marginalized, the forgotten, the condemned to a
existence without harmony and without voice. I have restored this denied breath to them and I have
allowed to modulate their longings, their outbursts, and their anxieties6

The massive migration to Lima brought not only popular culture, but also
poverty, discrimination, social abysses. Julio Ramón Ribeyro, in saying
marginalized, forgotten, is referring, in part, to those, who due to the
mass migration, they had no opportunity to progress in Lima. Achieves
to capture the idiosyncrasy of Peruvians, both from the upper and lower classes. It achieves,
through his pen, ensnaring us in the upward mobility of the Peruvian, as is the case of
Don Fernando Pasamano, in The Banquet, one of his stories, in The Men and
The bottles show some defects of society at that time.
Julio Ramón Ribeyro represents the short story with a social charge. In The Vultures Without
pens, Don Santos represents the action of thousands of people, who
they take advantage of child labor. And, just as Chabuca Granda did with the
music, he embraced popular culture for his literature. So much so that today he is
remember for being one of the writers who manages to capture in his stories the
psychology of Peruvian society at that time.

Popular culture is therefore part of our daily life, part of our

thought, part of our past, present, and future. Our popular culture
It is the one that, in some way, has been giving us identity over time.
Now the Huayno is heard, the cumbia, cuy is eaten, grilled chicken, potato with
huancaína, picarones, throughout our territory. Popular culture
has helped, in a minimal way, to unify us more as Peruvians. It has made
that the beliefs of different social classes merge to form a single one
cultural table. We must defend and promote the mixture of our cultures,
Well, that comes to us from tradition. The fusion has occurred and will continue to occur.
making sure that, in no way, our customs become accustomed to us.

6Ribeyro,
Julio Ramón: The Word of the Mute (I), Planeta Publishing, second reprint: March of
2011. Page 7.