Rhythms of servitude
Cruel bitterness and sorrow
to the beat of their chains
black rhythms of Peru.

From Africa came my grandmother
all dressed with seashells,
she was brought by Spaniards
on board a carvel ship.
They branded her with fire,
the "carimba" was her cross.
And, in America of the South
to the beat of aching bones
drums of the black men sounded
rhythms of servitude.

For a single gold coin
she was re-sold in Lima
and in the 'La Molina" hacienda
she served the Spaniard people.
With other back slaves from Angola
they earned for their hard labor
mosquitoes for their veins
a hard floor for a bed
and nothing to mitigate
cruel bitterness and sorrow.

In the sugar cane plantation
was born the sad ‘Socabon’,
and in the rum factories
the black men sang the ‘Zaña’.
The machete and the sickle
tanned his dark hands;
and the indians with their flutes
and the black men with their drums
together sang their sad fate
to the beat of their chains.

The old black man died
but among the dry sugar cane
he still sings his ‘Zamacueca’
and the ‘Panalivio’ so faintly.
And one can still hear the ‘Festejo’
he sang in their youth.
From Cañete to Timbuktu,
from Chancay to Mozambique
music carries in its beat
black rhythms of Peru.

Ritmos de la esclavitud
Contra amarguras y penas.
Al compás de las cadenas
Ritmos negros del Perú.

De Africa llegó mi abuela
vestida con caracoles,
la trajeron lo` epañoles
en un barco carabela.
La marcaron con candela,
la carimba fue su cruz.
Y en América del Sur
al golpe de sus dolores
dieron los negros tambores
ritmos de la esclavitud

Por una moneda sola
la revendieron en Lima
y en la Hacienda "La Molina"
sirvió a la gente española.
Con otros negros de Angola
ganaron por sus faenas
zancudos para sus venas
para dormir duro suelo
y naíta`e consuelo
contra amarguras y penas...

En la plantación de caña
nació el triste socavón,
en el trapiche de ron
el negro cantó la zaña.
El machete y la guadaña
curtió sus manos morenas;
y los indios con sus quenas
y el negro con tamborete
cantaron su triste suerte
al compás de las cadenas.

Murieron los negros viejos
pero entre la caña seca
se escucha su zamacueca
y el panalivio muy lejos.
Y se escuchan los festejos
que cantó en su juventud.
De Cañete a Tombuctú,
De Chancay a Mozambique
llevan sus claros repiques
ritmos negros del Perú. 

Black-Peruvian culture is deeply embedded in what can be defined as Peruvian culture.     Little was known about the life of the Peruvian black man before or after gaining his freedom from slavery around 1860.   Peruvian culture shows its Afro-Peruvian influence in every aspect but it was not clearly recognized nor actively developed until Nicomedes Santa Cruz began his literary work in the early 1950.    Single handedly, his efforts began bearing fruit and members of his family joined him in the study and dissemination of black music and lore in Peru.  Today, the Santa Cruz family is recognized as one of Peru’s most prestigious artistic families.

The Decima ‘Ritmos Negros del Peru’ presented here covers a long period of time.   It begins with the arrival of the narrator’s grandmother from Africa to live as a slave and ends with development of today’s well-known black rhythms.  The evolution of certain musical expressions were inspired by the suffering of the black slave, deprived of basic human rights enjoyed by others.   The results are sad songs to lament their plight and high-energy happy songs to relieve suffering.    Musical instruments were not available to the black slave so these rhythms are rich in percussion since any surface could be used as a drum.     Some of these instruments survive today.   One example is the 'Cajon', which is a wooden box upon which the player sits and strikes its surface with the hands.  The ‘Quijada’ is another instrument, which is nothing more than the lower jawbone of a donkey.  Simply, the loose teeth rattle when the closed fist strikes it, producing a haunting sound.

 This beautiful poem links that long-forgotten time to today's music.  The voices of dead black slaves are a clear echo of the past.    Writing about slavery and the condition of the black men in Peru was well accepted in the style of Nicomedes Santa Cruz.    His poems are an introspection of the their life and their history, an honest description of their lives without bitterness or blame.   Nicomedes uses humor in many of his decimas to describe and project images, without poking fun or insulting his own race.  He wrote the actual phonetics of the black men in their broken Spanish and this poem has a hint of that when he says:  ‘la trajeron lo` epañoles’, the difference would be 'la trajeron los españoles' in its more proper form.    Nicomedes himself emphasized the voices of the black men when he recited his own decimas in his distinctive deep beautiful voice.  

Terms:
Panalivio: Working song of the black peruvian slaves - Lament
Zaña: Dance, song, derived from the angolese lundu
Festejo: Dance of the black people from Lima
Carimba: A mark of slavery made with a hot iron upon the body of a black slave
Socabon:  Song of the decimas and melopeya played with the guitar
Zamacueca:  Rhythm of  Northern Peru now known as Marinera.