Recipient Organization:  California Academy of Sciences
Lead Artists:  Lalo Izquierdo and Oscar Reynolds
Genre and Date Awarded:  Traditional Arts, June 2005
To Be Presented:  February 4, 2006, 1:00 p.m., California Academy of Sciences, Academy Classroom

Afro-Peruvian percussionist Lalo Izquierdo and Bolivian musician Oscar Reynolds are collaborating with one another, with the ensemble Karumanta, and with the California Academy of Sciences’ Traditional Arts Program to create six to eight new compositions that combine Bolivian Indian and Afro-Andean music.   Lalo Izquierdo also will choreograph dances to the music compositions.  The project will culminate with four free performances at the Academy of Sciences and a 20-minute educational videotape. 

At the mention of Bolivian and Peruvian music, most in the United States think of a typical Andean ensemble playing the zampoñas (pan pipes), charango (string instrument), bombo (drum), quena (flute) and guitar.  However, both Peru and Bolivia also have a strong African-influenced musical repertoire resulting from the presence of slaves brought to the New World by the Spanish conquistadores. One of the main centers of African settlement was in the Andean region of Lake Titicaca, bordering both Peru and Bolivia, where slaves were put to work in the silver and gold mines.  Here, the musical traditions of Africa took root and developed into a distinct regional genre called tundique.  Later other hybrid styles developed, often combining African percussion with the Quechua Indian instruments.  This blending of rhythms produced new dance styles as well as instrumental innovation. 

Lalo Izquierdo and Oscar Reynolds are taking this fusion of musical styles a step further and developing contemporary compositions, experimenting with rhythm and instrumentation while also paying homage to the co-existing Indian and African cultures. Their new collaborative compositions are firmly anchored within the existing, traditional music framework.  Historically, the music and dance were intertwined and inseparable in the context of Andean life and Izquierdo, also a professional dancer, will choreograph dances to the music.

In addition to their collaborative efforts to develop the music and choreography, the artists will work closely with the museum to produce a video documenting the music and the artistic process involved in the composing and performing.  The video will include other members of the Bay Area Andean music scene.  A copy of the finished video will be housed in the Anthropology Department’s archives at the Academy.

Lead artist Lalo Izquierdo has been performing cajón (box drum) with Karumanta for three years as a founding member of the Afro-Peruvian cultural association Peru Negro, has traveled the world promoting black Peruvian culture.  Previously, he has worked at the Central University of Venezuela and at the National Superior School of Folklore in Peru.  He writes, “I learned the Afro-Peruvian tradition from the culture and atmosphere around me when I was growing up in Lima, Peru.  A series of customs and knowledge that are passed down from parents to children took form within me.”  Bolivian-born Oscar Reynolds has been composing and performing Andean music in the Bay Area for 15 years.  He plays Andean flute, panpipes, and guitar.  Reynolds writes, “I was born in Bolivia and grew up surrounded by Bolivian customs and had the opportunity to immerse myself in the Andean and African traditions.”  Both artists have performed many times at the California Academy of Sciences and bring their working relationship with the museum to this project. 

The California Academy of Sciences has been serving the Bay Area community for more than 150 years, providing residents and visitors with opportunities to learn about the natural sciences and human cultures in creative and stimulating ways.  Established at the Academy in 1983, its Traditional Arts Program (TAP) offers local ethnic groups a venue for interpreting their cultural heritage to museum audiences through presentations of music, dance, crafts, and theater.

Lalo Izquierdo

Artistic Experience
USA

• National tour with Oscar Aviles (2004)
• Percussionist with Oscar Reynolds and the Oscar Reynolds Trio (2001-04)
• Artistic coordination on De Rompe y Raja Cultural Association’s self-produced musical theater productions Cajón, the Afro Perúvian Pulse, San Francisco, 2004; XTO Moreno, Berkeley, 2002; Recutecu, San Francisco, 2001
• San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival with De Rompe y Raja, 2000, 2001
• “People Like Me,” dance series with World Arts West, 2001
• Art workshops at the Alice Arts Center, Oakland, CA; and Crystal Cathedral, Los Angeles, CA

Venezuela

• Dance performance in the movie Atrapada with Gustavo Rodriguez
• Musical show with famous singer Guillermo Davila
• Participation with Yolanda Moreno Folkloric Ballet
• Musical participation with Ali Primera (Servando and Florentino’s father)

Perú

• Artistic Coordinator, Mis Ritmos y Festejos, Cañete
• Victoria Santa Cruz’s Perúvian Black Box Theater and Dance
• Musical participation with famous master Afro-Perúvian composer and singer Mr. Porfirio Vasquez
• Varied participation in shows, festivals, theater, dance, and television

Latin America & the World

• Choreography for famous singer and dancer Susana Jimenez, Argentina
• Artistic participation with famous Mexican comedian Mario Moreno “Cantiflas” (“Pepe”), Mexico
• Musical participation with famous Cuban troupe Muñequitos de Matanza, Omara Portuondo, Los Bam-Bam, and Reve Orchestra, Cuba
• Musical participation with the Senegal Ballet, Boshoi Ballet, and other famous European, African, and American ballets featuring Delia Zabata (Columbia), Amalia Hernandez (Mexico) and the Cuban National Ballet

Pedagogic Experience

• Instructor, choreographer, dancer, and percussionist, Peru Negro Cultural Association (1969-present)
• Director, Maria Angola Art School (1998-present)
• Instructor, Folklore Superior National School, José Maria Arguedas (1973-99)
• Choreographer, Mano e’ Pilon y Maiz Group, Guarico-Chaguaramas, Venezuela (1989-90)
• Courses in Cajón and Footwork, Antonio Raymondi and Reyna el Mudno School (1996-99)
• Afro-Perúvian dance classes, Stanford University, California (2003)
• Art workshops, Central University, Venezuela; Crystal Cathedral, United States of America; Cali Art School, Columbia; Wereld Kinder Festival, Holland; Kullodrom Festival, Austria (1973-99)
• Practice and theory workshops, San José de Costa Rica University (sponsored by the Arts International Festival), 1995
• Seminars, La Católica, UNI, San Marcos, and Cayetano Heredia Universities, 1997
• Afro-Perúvian dance and music seminar, Los Angeles, CA (1995)

Studies

• Decorative Arts Institute of America, Caracas, Venezuela

Oscar Reynolds
A leading advocate and ambassador of his native country’s music, Oscar Reynolds, a multi-instrumentalist, recording engineer, flute-maker, and composer originally from La Paz, Bolivia, has a musical style that is distinctively Bolivian, combined with Afro-Andean and Flamenco influences.  Rhythms on guitar and percussion and Reynolds’ flute-blowing style give his music its Bolivian character.

Reynolds is primarily a master flutist of Andean bamboo flutes such as the sikus (pan flute), antara, quena, quenacho, rondador, and toyos.  He also plays the guitar, Andean string instruments charango and ronroco, bass, keyboard, and percussion.  As a soloist and with the Oscar Reynolds Trio, he plays the flutes and guitar simultaneously, seamlessly combining South American and Spanish guitar into the Bolivian music tradition.

Oscar first picked up a guitar at the age of 12.  With no formal instruction, he learned to play the guitar by watching other guitarists.  In the same way, he started playing the Andean flutes, charango, and percussion; and in his teens became the keyboardist in a Bolivian rock band that toured nationally.  His musicianship garnered invitations to join several prestigious Andean bands with which he toured the world.  He attended the prestigious Bolivian music school Instituto de Jaime Laredo, and later continued studies in law, obtaining a law degree in 1987 from the Universidad Mayor de San Simon in Bolivia. 

The strong calling and his love for music moved him back to a music career. In 1991 he formed the band Karumanta Jamuyku (Quechua for “We have come from far away”).  The band built a solid following while touring the Western United States.

Reynolds has produced and distributed six CDs to date under the independent label Karumanta Music.  His latest CD “Rio de Luz (River of Light)” is his first all-original album that celebrates the versatility of the Andean pan flute as it combines with South American and Flamenco guitar and African-inspired Bolivian and Peruvian percussion.

Reynolds has played for audiences around the world in such cities as São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Caracas, Mérida, Paris, London, Sevilla, Madrid, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Santa Fe, and Colorado Springs.  He has shared the stage with celebrated Peruvian singer Cecilia Arraza and Perú Negro’s Lalo Izquierdo, among others.  His music also was featured in the movie Follow Me Home at the 1996 San Francisco International Film Festival.  He has given master classes and flute workshops at the University of San Francisco, La Peña Cultural Center, and Mission Cultural Center, and was an invited artist fro San Francisco’s Music in Schools Today and Marin County’s Young Imaginations.  Currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Reynolds performs in concert halls and festivals throughout the Western United States.