Library resounds with Andean music

By: PAUL EAKINS - Staff Writer | Thursday, April 5, 2007 11:33 PM PDT ∞

ESCONDIDO -- The musical sounds of the Andes Mountains filled the air Thursday evening at the Escondido Public Library during its monthly First Thursday concert.

The San Diego-based band Wayra's, whose name comes from the word for wind in the Incan Quechua language, played wooden flutes, drums, guitars and other instruments for a packed room of about 170 people.

For some, most of the songs were new, but for a handful of Peruvian immigrants in the audience, the music took them back to their homeland.

Flor Ellison, a Peruvian native who has lived in Escondido since 2002, clapped and sang along with the music with a wide smile on her face. She said she felt "full of emotions" listening to the music and imagined herself in Peru again.

"I believe I am there, even if I am here," Ellison said.

The band played songs with names such as "Alturas," or heights, and "Suenos," or dreams, from Bolivia, Chile, Peru and other South American countries.

With the soft sound of a 21-pipe flute made of bamboo called a "sampona," the lilting notes of a straight flute called a "quena," the rhythmic beat of a drum, the strum of a guitar and the soothing sound of a "palo de lluvia," or rain stick, the group kept the audience mesmerized.

Wayra's was formed five years ago by four San Diego musicians who originally came from Mexico, not the Andes, but fell in love with the music of that region of South America. They also are part of another musical group that plays salsa, cumbia and other Latin dance music, the musicians said.

Flutist Genaro Ledesma said the Andean music communicates the feelings of the Incan people.

"Every song has significance in relation to the culture of Peru, of Bolivia, of each country," Ledesma said in Spanish. "It's a music that more than anything is relaxing."

Thursday was the first time the musical group had played at the Escondido library, which has had the monthly concerts on the first Thursday of each month for about 15 years, according to Cynthia Smith, deputy city librarian. The concerts are sponsored by Friends of the Library, which pays musicians to perform.

Peruvian Blanca Lecca, who has been in the United States and Escondido only 18 months, said during a break in the performance that she couldn't help but cry as she listened to the music.

"We are so far from our country searching for opportunities" in the United States, she said in Spanish. "I thought that my culture wasn't well known here."

One of the songs Wayra's performed that is well known in the United States is "El Condor Pasa," or "the condor goes by." It was made famous by American musicians Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel in 1970.

Tommy and Veronica Hauer of San Marcos said they had gone to several of the library concerts and that they enjoyed the Andean music.

"It reflects on their ancestry and their background. It makes you feel like you are in a jungle," Tommy Hauer said. "I think it does a lot of good for the soul."

-- Contact staff writer Paul Eakins at (760) 740-5420 or peakins@nctimes.com.