♥ Peña at the Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis (10/29/10) Read More Peña are playing next Friday, October 29th at the Cedar Cultural Center (fast becoming one of my favorite venue, I will honestly accept any shows that is playing at this venue), in celebration of their album release.
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I didn't know much about Peru, but after seeing Peña at the Cedar Cultural Center on October 29th, I can tell you I know more about the culture than when I went in. For instance, I was told there were three sections of Peru: the Andes mountains, the jungle, and the coastal beaches.... each with its own distinctive music styles. I've seen la cajon before at other world music shows, but it was at the Cedar that I learned what it was called. La cajon is basically a box that you sit on and you can produce a variety of percussion noises with your hands.
So, basically, watching Peña perform on stage, I can tell you that main guitarist, Cory Wong, was deeply influenced and inspired by Afro-Peruvian from his experience in Lima, Peru. To be fair, it wasn't just Cory, everyone in the band (Chico, Gloria, Jeri, etc) mentioned how amazingly beautiful Peru's music is.
The other thing I've noticed is Peña isn't really a typical band. It's more like mostly Wong and an assembly of musicians, who came and went as the setlist calls for it. It felt at times disorganized as players were confused at when/what/where they had to be. It also seems like they were still learning the songs, especially with all the sheet music around. To be honest, I couldn't tell you if a musician messed up a note or sang out of key, it all sounded good to me.
The highlight for me was "Jose Maria", "Cuando Llora Mi Guitarra" (When My Guitar was Crying), and "El Condor Pasa" (The Condor Flies). I only know "El Condor" through Simon & Garfunkel's song, so in my mind, I was hearing the lyrics of the song ("I'd rather be a hammer than a nail, yes I would, if I only could, I surely would") as Wong plays on. Apparently, the song is an old Andean folk song.
There was no encore, but it's kind of hard to top the jam of the last song as Wong introduces everyone on stage and the crowd were standing up and dancing.
It doesn't look like this is the type of "band" that goes on tour, so be sure to check out Peña's self-titled release of Secret Stash Record, well-worth the asking price for a CD and DVD in a nice wooden box.
So, basically, watching Peña perform on stage, I can tell you that main guitarist, Cory Wong, was deeply influenced and inspired by Afro-Peruvian from his experience in Lima, Peru. To be fair, it wasn't just Cory, everyone in the band (Chico, Gloria, Jeri, etc) mentioned how amazingly beautiful Peru's music is.
The other thing I've noticed is Peña isn't really a typical band. It's more like mostly Wong and an assembly of musicians, who came and went as the setlist calls for it. It felt at times disorganized as players were confused at when/what/where they had to be. It also seems like they were still learning the songs, especially with all the sheet music around. To be honest, I couldn't tell you if a musician messed up a note or sang out of key, it all sounded good to me.
The highlight for me was "Jose Maria", "Cuando Llora Mi Guitarra" (When My Guitar was Crying), and "El Condor Pasa" (The Condor Flies). I only know "El Condor" through Simon & Garfunkel's song, so in my mind, I was hearing the lyrics of the song ("I'd rather be a hammer than a nail, yes I would, if I only could, I surely would") as Wong plays on. Apparently, the song is an old Andean folk song.
There was no encore, but it's kind of hard to top the jam of the last song as Wong introduces everyone on stage and the crowd were standing up and dancing.
It doesn't look like this is the type of "band" that goes on tour, so be sure to check out Peña's self-titled release of Secret Stash Record, well-worth the asking price for a CD and DVD in a nice wooden box.
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♥ Peña at the Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis (10/29/10) |
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