A Story about Chabuca’s Song.

This is a story about something that happened two nights ago in Barranco, the bohemian quarter of Lima. As it is a story, I will tell you about  the place and the characters involved first and then expain how it all fits together.

The Singer

Can I introduce you to the famous singer and song writer, Chabuca Granda. She is a Peruvian legend and revered and loved by all.

She has written many songs about Lima, one of them being “La Flor de la Canela”  She was born in 1920 and died in 1983 but her music lives on.

In the centre of Barranco there is an  enormous mural of her.

She also has the honour of being depicted on the ten sol Peruvian banknote. There isn’t one Peruvian who doesn’t know Chabuca!

The Guitarist

Amado is in his sixties and has played the guitar since he was a youth. He plays “Musica Criolla” which is very much the popular genre of Lima and the coast. He is  a regular visitor to the bars of Barranco where he moves from table to table playing requests for the customers.

He has been an itinerant guitar player for about thirty eight years and in Barranco is very much part of the local  scenery.

The Star

I have known Lorenzo since  he was knee-high to a grasshopper. He was a student in the  school where I used to work. 

Lorenzo is  an extraordinary jazz saxophonist  and studied composition at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

He now lives in Los Angeles and the day before we met up yet again, had just returned from a tour of Australia and New Zealand. Two years ago he won a Latin Grammy, and again had two  nominations the following year as well.

Although I was his Head of School in Primary, he was my master as far as music was concerned. Before going to the United States, he was playing with the best musicians in Lima.  To my horror he would invite me to play sometimes with him and the band. This proves that not only is he a great musician, but  has great patience and a well developed sense of charity as well! The musicians  were  all in a totally different league. It was as if he were now the  Head …….. and I was back in short trousers in Infant School.

The Venue

Juanito is a typical traditional bodega bar in Barranco. If you want to feel the real traditional Lima…..go to Juanito. Basic, with simple wooden chairs and tables but with a beautiful Lima soul.

The Happening

Having finished the  Australia tour, Lorenzo  had stopped off  in Lima to see his family.  He phoned me and an hour later we were in Barranco with some other musician friends. At the turn of midnight, the others left and we decided to go on  to Juanito for one (or two)  last drinks.

It was getting  late and for some of the clients, it was past their bedtime.

Amado was there, with his guitar as always. I had taken some photos of him on a previous occasion but they hadn’t come out very well. I asked him if I could take some more of him and he sat down at our table with his guitar.

He began to talk about his music, and how, when he was young, he had played guitar for Chabuca.

He stopped, picked up his guitar closed his eyes and started to play.  Out of all the songs he could have chosen, he played Chabuca’s song,  “La Flor de la Canela”.

 

When he finished, I was able to tell him, that Lorenzo had won his Latin Grammy for his arrangement of the very same song.

The two of them had backgrounds and histories so different, but were united through one of Chabuca’s songs.

Sometimes….. things just happen!