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video - Marinera Norteña
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This Peruvian Ensemble was founded in 1981 in Los Angeles, for the purpose of researching, preserving and presenting Peru's rich multi-cultural heritage of ethnic and folkloric music, songs, dance and traditions. The ensemble performs music and dances form the Andean region (Inca heritage), from the central and northern coasts (Criollo, Hispanic heritage), from the southern coast (Afro-Peruvian, Black heritage), and from the Peruvian Amazon jungle (jungle natives heritage).

Since its onset, the ensemble has gained steadily in artistic excellence and in reputation as one of the west coast's leading ethnic performing companies. Concerts at the Hollywood Bowl, the Redlands Bowl, The Fresno Civic Auditorium, Zion National Park, El Paso's El Chamizal Ampitheater, Santa Fe's Greer Garson Theater, Albuquerque's S.B.C.C., Colorado State University, Colorado College, etc., are true indicators that the company has a feisty following throughout California and the western states. In '93-'94 the ensemble performed at Mingus Auditorium in Cottonwood, AZ; at the Luther Burbank Ctr. for the Performing Arts in Santa Rosa, CA; Saddleback Community College in Mission Viejo, CA; Fiesta Inn in Mesa, AZ.; in '95 the ensemble performed at the Detroit Institute of Art, in Lake Tahoe with the Tahoe Arts Project and at the John Anson Ford Theater.

 

In '96 INCA hosted a Peruvian Independence Day Festival at the John Anson Ford Theater, performing with famous Peruvian singer Ms. Edith Barr. The ensemble also performed with Edith Barr in San Francisco and Salt Lake City, Utah. In February of '97 the ensemble performed and conducted workshops and educational presentations at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California, and in '98 at U.C. Davis.

 

The ensemble has also received support from the Cultural Affairs Department of the city of Los Angeles, the California Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Community Foundation, the Arizona Commission on the Arts, the National/State/County Partnership, and various businesses, corporations and individuals in the southern California area.

With the aid of these grants, the ensemble has produced several recordings that contain a cross section of the company's repertoire. These recordings help the group to preserve some of this ethnic material, which in many cases would be lost otherwise. In December of 1997 the ensemblereleased its C.D. It is being sold at various record stores in the Los Angeles area, New York Natural History Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, etc.

 

The ensemble is distinguished among Southamerican ethnic groups because the musicians not only perform music from the mountains of the Andean region, but also from the coast (Hispanic influenced valses, polkas, and Afro-Peruvian rhythms), and from the selva or Peruvian Amazon jungle. They also perform with as many as eight dancers using typical costumes from these various regions. Dances include the Huayro from Cusco, Huaylarsh from Huancayo, and the Tondero, Marinera Norteña and Afro-Peruvian dances from the Northern Coastal regions.