Cutumay Camones

Um site em inglês muito fértil:
http://www.antropologia.com.ar/congresos/contenido/49CAI/Almeida.htm

 

Cutumay Camones
El CD que vemos la image:

Trillas:

01 Por eso Luchamos Cutumay Camones 3:57
02 Vamos Ganando la Paz Cutumay Camones 3:26
03 Feliciano Ama Cutumay Camones 5:25
04 Poema del Partido Cutumay Camones 3:34
05 Nicaragua y El Salvador Cutumay Camones 3:40
06 Comandante Clelia Cutumay Camones 6:33
07 Brigada Rafael Arce Zablah Cutumay Camones 3:14
08 Las Milicias Populares Cutumay Camones 4:04
09 10 de Octubre Cutumay Camones 4:30



Biography:

Cutumay Camones tomó nombre de un pueblo localizado en la provincia de Santa Ana donde tuvo lugar una batalla campal siete días después de la ofensiva inicial del FMLN, el 10 de enero de 1981. El grupo fue formado en mayo de 1982, tomando el nombre como una manera de hacer homenaje a los caídos en batalla. El grupo lucha por la recuperación de la herencia cultural y las tradiciones de las gentes salvadoreñas que se ha perdido o ha sido destruido tras siglos de explotación y represión.

In May of 1982, in the context of this political violence, the musical group Cutumay Camones was officially formed by a directive from the Peoples Revolutionary Party (ERP), one of the five parties that constituted the FMLN (Paco Interview 1996). Apparently, in 1981 one of the founding members, Eduardo, witnessed the performance of Yolocamba I Ta in the National Municipal Theatre in Lima, Peru (Espinosa Interview 1996). This event partially gave Eduardo the incentive to form a similar musical group. At the time, the ERP was in need of cultural ambassadors to represent the national liberation movement in the international community and build ties of solidarity. Other parties in the FMLN/FDR had long established cultural ambassadors for their respective parties (e.g., Yolocamba I Ta with the BPR/FDR and Banda Tepeauni with UNO). Los Torogoces de Morazan was formed to sustain morale among combatants within El Salvador and work for Radio Venceremos (González 1994). Cutumay divided its time between domestic performances and international tours.

Cutumay Camones takes its indigenous Nahuatl name from a canton in Santa Ana in western El Salvador in which the FMLN initiated one of its first uprisings in January of 1981 with a battalion of 101 combatants. The Salvadoran army received word of the guerrilla columns arrival in advance. When the battalion entered Cutumay Camones the army was already strategically positioned, surrounding the guerrilla force with substantially more soldiers and firepower. In the ensuing confrontation 97 of the original 101 guerrillas were killed. Electing this battle as the name for the musical ensemble pays tribute to those who have given their lives for the national liberation movement.


Members:

The group originally consisted of three persons (Eduardo, Gabino, and Ricardo) and two months later another two members integrated into the group (Paco and Israel). By 1984 another member integrated into the group (Lolo). Later the group was to consist of five core permanent members, four men (Lolo, Paco, Ricardo, Eduardo) and one woman (Teresa). It is interesting to note that they used nomes de guerre , for reasons of personal security. The group perceived itself as a collective and attributed the composition and arrangement of songs to Colectivo Musical Cutumay Camones as opposed to individual members ( Cutumay Camones 1983a).

Another characteristic of this group is that at the time of formation none of them were musicians except for Eduardo. All the members were from campesino, working-class or lower middle-class backgrounds (Paco Interview1996). Because the members needed to be trained in music they joined together in Managua as their home base, where Cutumays first musical presentation was given in La Casa del Maestro - an organization supported by the Nicaraguan Ministry of Education. Their first songs performed live were Vamos Ganando La Paz, El Machete Encachimbado, and Cuando . Vamos Ganando La Paz and Cuando have their origin in a group of Salvadoran refugee children whom Cutumay heard singing in Managua (Teresa Interview 1996).

Influences:

Cutumay views its role as two-fold:

(1) recover lost cultural traditions; and
(2) use popular music as an instrument in the struggle for Salvadoran national liberation.
The insert of Cutumays second album elaborates this point.


Cutumay Camones has undertaken the serious task of rescuing the cultural roots of the Salvadoran people and helping create the new song of the national liberation struggle of El Salvador... Cutumay Camones struggle has been one of recovering the cultural heritage and traditions of El Salvador which have been lost or destroyed over centuries of exploitation and repression...[and to] maintain what still exists ( Cutumay Camones 1985).