Peña

I have loved the Twin Cities for a long time, going back to when my wife was going to Macalester College. One of the aspects of the city that I have always appreciated has been the music scene. So many great artists/bands have come out of the Twin Cities.

Cory Wong

Cory Wong is one of these artists. Wong is one of those rare guitarists who seems to have no bounds in terms of his comfort and ability to play across many different musical styles. From jazz, to rock, to classical, to folk to....Latin...which brings me to Peña.

Earlier in the year, Wong set out for Peru to immerse himself  (though briefly) in the traditional Afro-Peruvian music of the country. In October, Wong released Peña, which captures his musical journey. When I first heard and learned about Peña, I wanted to dig a deeper into the Wong's project. Last week, I had an opportunity to talk wit him about it.

The history of this traditional music is quite fascinating. As Wong has explained, in the mid 1500's, Spanish conquistadors brought African slaves with them to Peru. One of the many restrictions placed on the slaves was that they were not allowed to own or play instruments. In time they began using fruit boxes and dresser drawers as drums. This innovation became formally known as the cajón (large box) and it was the central component in fusing African rhythms with Spanish music.

Manuel Vasquez

After slavery was abolished in Peru (1856), Afro-Peruvian culture slowly withered away. By the mid 1900s the music had almost completely vanished. In the 1960s, a small handful of black Peruvians in Chincha (3 hours south of Lima) started a revival of sorts.  It quickly grew and before long the people of Peru were rediscovering this lost music. Today, traditional Afro-Peruvian music can be found being played throughout the country, but few recordings have made their way to North America. Enter Cory Wong.

When Wong headed to Peru with Eric Foss, with whom he co-founded Secret Stash Records, he did not go with a set agenda. They had no meetings or gigs lined up with musicians or clubs. Wong had only decided 3 weeks earlier to actually make the trip to Peru. For the 10 days leading up to trip, Wong spent every waking hour listening to recordings, transcribing songs, and writing some of his own compositions. By the time he landed in Lima, he had written 18 original instrumental pieces and transcribed another 15 traditional songs. Wth sheet music in hand, some field recording equipment, a room at a local hostel, and one contact in Lima, Wong and Foss set out to meet, play, and record music on the fly with musicians that they met along the way.

Through introductions and literally walking the streets, Wong, met a number of musicians who were eager to join him and help share their musical heritage. Over 7 days, Wong, Foss, and his newly formed friends recorded some 50 songs. They recorded where they could, in some cases, the very, very modest homes of the musicians.

Larry and Alberto are Street musicians that
Wong met while walking through a plaza

When I spoke with Wong, I asked him if the making of this album impacted him like he thought it would when he was conceptualizing it. It was eye opening he said. "It was such a significant experience for me, not only as a writer and musician, but especially as a producer and an engineer. Just knowing that if you have decent gear and can just set up some good mics in front of musicans that are really good and are really passionate, it doesn't matter what you do as an enginer. A great performance is a great performance and a greatly portrayed and emotional performance is a greatly portrayed and emotional performance."

To his credit, Wong simply got out of the way and let the music unfold in an organic manner. To drive home his point, Wong explained that of the 17 song on the album, 9 were spontaneous recordings that were done when the more planned out songs had been recorded and the mics were still live.

Cuando Liora Mi Guitarra is one such performance

It is obvious from talking with Wong, and listening to this album, that the making of Peña was a labor of love. When I asked Wong about the widespread attention the album is receiving, he responded by saying that he was totally surprised and very flattered by it. "It's just been really surprising to see what kind of response we are getting from the Album. Hopefully people are taking it for what we wanted it to be and will really explore Afro-Peruvian culture and Afro-Peruvian lifestyle....and what the music is all about. Hopefully they just don't stop at our record. We truly want people to be exposed to all of this music and culture."

Quizas  Un Dia Asi

El Mayoral



I think that Wong has accomplished his goal. Peña is a wonderfully rich and fully realized album and it has definitely piqued my interest in Afro-Peruvian music. I found this traditional music to be at once both familiar and unknown. While the rhythms and tempos are fairly straight forward, the timing of the beat on the drums is sometimes hard to figure out, which just keeps the music that much more interesting. I look forward to hearing the follow up album which will feature more songs from these sessions.