in artful acoustic performances, Lundú’s originals and arrangements of folk standards respond to their environment, complex Afro-Peruvian and Andean roots, and their historic hometown, Arequipa.

Named after an Afro-Peruvian rhythm, Lundú is a 7-member chamber group, joined together in 2015 by a love of Perú’s song traditions. Like many locally grounded roots groups around the world, they are based outside of their nation’s capital city. Arequipa is a musical outlier when compared to Lima, some 600 miles to the north. Perú’s second largest city is beautifully sited, surrounded by volcanos, and with a complex syncretic culture that encompasses Afro-Peruvian, Andean and colonial Spanish histories; its 15th century center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Here, Lundú is crafting a distinctive musical vocabulary, as it rediscovers and extends a musical legacy with passion and finesse.

Lundú released its first album, Introversiones in 2019, and has made festival appearances in Panama and Argentina.

“The search for new sounds and the use of various instruments drives our musical arrangements of popular themes from our national and Latin American folklore. We’re proud to share our identity as a multi-cultural country, and in turn, learn from the musical diversity that identifies us as Peruvians and Latinos.” – Lundú

“We’re an ongoing musical conversation, drawing on the sounds and songs of the mountains and coasts, in dialogue with distant and more contemporary roots, to share the stories of our nation and the collective Latin American spirit.”

U.S. Debut with Center Stage

On Tour February-March 2022

Travelers

9 on tour (7 in the band, manager, U.S. company manager)

Venues

Indoors or out: clubs, amphitheaters, recital halls, and festival stages. Excellent sound system and some backline required.

background

The Sound of Place: Lundú Finds the Spirit of Arequipa in Perú’s Acoustic Traditions and Contemporary Songbook where Indigenous, Latin, and Afro-Peruvianmusics intertwine

“When I started to learn the Perúvian flute, I started to hear all these sounds,” says Lundú ’s flute and reed player Robert Sanchez. “I fell in love with the vibrations. They transported me to new places. I could hear the sound and feel that place.”

Lundú strives to evoke the same experience in its listeners, drawing on the sounds andsongs of the region’s mountains and coasts, woven together with the independent attitude of the city of Arequipa, where they are based. The 7-member acoustic ensemble pays homage to the elegant spirit of the city, its interwoven Afro-Perúvian, colonial, and indigenous heritage, as well as Perú’s strong songwriting and composing traditions. “It’s based on traditional Afro-Perúvian music but also has modern elements,” explains Fernando Salazar, one of the group’s guitarists and arrangers. “For example, we’ll add the sax to the flute part. The arrangements are based on our contemporary influences from jazz and classical music.”

Some of these arrangement ideas flow from the personalities of Lundú’s skilled musicians. One example: several pieces feature two guitars in conversation. “In Afro-Perúvian and Criollo music, two guitars are not the usual thing,” says Fernando. “In Lundú, there’s conversation between the guitars, and they are equals.” Adds Robert: “Fernando has his own language, and you can hear Diego has his own language; they’re not the same. This enriches the music.”

Lundú released its first album, Introversiones, in 2019, and has made festival appearances in Panama and Argentina. “The search for new sounds and the use of various instruments drives our musical arrangements of popular themes from our national and Latin American folklore. We’re proud to share our identity as a multicultural country, and in turn, learn from the musical diversity that identifies us as Peruvians and Latinos.”

U.S. Tour in 2022

Lundú will join four other ensembles from Colombia and Perúthat will make independent tours of the U.S. from February-June 2022 as part of Center Stage, a cultural exchange program that invites performing artists from abroad to the United States to perform, meet, and share their experiences with communities around the country. The band’s summer-fall tour, now in formation, will mark the band’s U.S. debut.

Roots

The young ensemble hails from Arequipa, located 600 miles south of Lima. The city’s region has its own influences and musical practices, and Lundú’s work highlights how these different elements overlap. “There are some rhythms and songs that mix Afro-Peruvian and Andean music,” Robert says. “We’re exploring these relationships.”

“In Perú, every region has its own repertoire, their own flavors. They each have their mix of traditional instruments and styles,” Ana Quintanilla, the group’s manager, notes. Lundú adds other ingenious touches as well: “Sometimes Robert experiments with small percussion instruments and even toys that make interesting noises. This brings unexpected detail and texture to the music.”

Experimenting with timbre and texture unlocks fresh emotional impact in beloved songs and tune. The group creates its own unique version of a traditional Andean huayno (“Sonqollay”) and pays tribute to the iconic talent of Chabuca Granda (“Ese Arar en El Mar”), turning a classic piece’s 6/8 time into a looser ballad. They explore the many resonances of the waltz in Perú and highlight some beautiful iterations of the marinera, a popular form that has its own feel in Arequipa. “Marinera is a dance and a rhythm born in Lima but found in every part of Perú,” Fernando recounts. “The difference is the instrumentation.”

Lundú, named for a Bantu term for what evolved into the Afro-Perúvian lando rhythm, sprang from a group of young students of Juan Carlos Cárdenas, a local music teacher, cultural cornerstone -- and father of two members of the band. They share a foundational aesthetic thanks to this, though as individual musicians, and music educators, they are constantly pushing themselves technically and creatively.

The tight-knit ensemble wants to take their listeners to the same places they go as they play. “We want to make people feel recharged with all the power of the rhythms,” Ana explains. “Maybe they can go home with that beat in their heart and head. That’s what happens here, people leave singing or tapping their toes to the beat. Our repertoire moves through a lot of emotions. The marinera or tondero is very upbeat, but then we’ll play a lando, which is like the blues. No matter the style, we approach it with all the respect we have toward our culture, our rich and diverse Perú.”

Lundú

Diego Cárdenas – Director and Composer / Guitarist
Fernando Salazar – Arranger and Composer / Guitarist
Robert Sanchez – Winds Instrument Player / Chorus
Marikatia Campos – Vocalist
Diego Manrique – Percussion
Juan Carlos Cárdenas – Percussion
Sebastian Vega – Bassist
Rafael Saba – FOH Engineer
Ana Quintanilla – Manager

Program notes

Lundú

Arequipa, Perú
U.S. Debut Tour
 

Diego Cárdenas           Musical Director, Acoustic and Electric Guitar, Backing Vocals
Marikatia Campos        Lead Vocals
Fernando Salazar        Electric and Acoustic Guitar
Sebastian Vega            Bass and Double Bass
Robert Sanchez           Winds and Vocals
Kanko Cárdenas          Cajón and Bombo
Diego Manrique           Congas and Percussion
Rafael Saba                 Sound Engineer
Ana Quintanilla            Manager, Súbele.pe

Lundú is part of Center Stage, a public diplomacy initiative of the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs with funding provided by the U.S. Government, administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts in cooperation with the U.S. Regional Arts Organizations. General management is provided by Lisa Booth Management, Inc. www.CenterStageUS.org  

About Lundú

Named after an Afro-Peruvian rhythm, Lundú joined together in 2017 by a love of Perú’s song traditions. Like many locally grounded roots groups around the world, they are based outside of their nation’s capital city. Arequipa is a musical outlier when compared to Lima, which is 600 miles to the north. Perú’s second largest city sits 2,335 meters above sea level in the Andes mountains, surrounded by volcanos, and with a complex syncretic culture that encompasses Afro-Peruvian, Andean, and colonial Spanish histories; its 15th century center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here, Lundú is crafting a distinctive musical vocabulary, as it interprets and extends a musical legacy with passion and finesse. Lundú's U.S. debut tour features songs from their new album Afroestampa Vol 1, produced by Latin Grammy nominee Javier Lazo, and their 2019 debut LP, Introversiones. www.lundumusic.com #lundumusic

“We’re an ongoing musical conversation, drawing on the sounds of the Andes and the coast, in dialogue with ancestral and contemporary peoples, to share the stories of our nation today and the collective Latin American spirit.” – Lundú

Lundú made its first international appearance in Panama in 2018, and has participated in “Sonamos Latinoamerica” festival from 2018-2020, toured to Argentina, and shared stages with musicians from Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, and Ecuador. Commissioned by Baltimore’s Center for Cultural Vibrancy and Creative Alliance, Lundú produced a 20-minute video about their life and work in Arequipa, available to schools and other groups nationwide via screenings and discussions. The band’s U.S. debut tour, February 18-March 17, 2022 features stops in Gainesville, FL; Baltimore, MD; Washington, DC; Yakima, WA; and New York City.

Lundú is one of five ensembles from Colombia and Perú touring the U.S. from February-June 2022 as part of Center Stage, a public diplomacy program that has introduced and toured performing artists from abroad in the United States since 2012. To date, 29 groups from Algeria, Egypt, Haiti, Indonesia, Morocco, Pakistan, Tanzania, Ukraine, and Vietnam have made month-long tours from coast to coast. As hosted by colleges and universities, festivals, music clubs, and cultural centers, Center Stage ensembles reach large cities and small towns. They engage with communities onstage, offstage, and online through performances, workshops, and discussions, artist-to-artist exchanges, master classes, and community gatherings, and return home to share these experiences with peers and fans.

Center Stage  www.CenterStageUS.org

Producer: New England Foundation for the Arts
Adrienne Petrillo, Kelsey Spitalny

General Manager: Lisa Booth Management, Inc.
Deirdre Valente, Lisa Booth

Production Manager: Robert W. Henderson, Jr.
Tour Advance Managers: Aketzali Vazquez and Theresa Teague

 

Click here to access and download a PDF version of these program notes.

Audio clips

Listen to Lundú via Spotify

• Lundú's Top Tracks

technical information 

Technical information

Lundú’s instrumentation is largely acoustic; presentations are best in hosted in listening rooms – cabarets, recital and concert halls, and some festival settings. Technical information, current as of April 2021, outlines general conditions and backline, and can be modified to accommodate a variety of stages and circumstances while meeting the needs of the band.

View & download the tech rider at the link below:

CS5 Lundu Tech Rider and Info July 2021.pdf

 

View & download the electronic press kit at the link below:

CS5 Lundu Electronic Press Kit June 2021.pdf

downloadable photos, billing & credits 

Minimum Billing
Lundú
On tour as part of Center Stage
www.CenterStageUS.org

Credit Line
The following credit is required on the title page in all printed performance programs. We appreciate its use wherever else it's practical: brochures, posters, ensemble-only promotional materials, press releases, advertisements, etc:

Lundú is part of Center Stage, a public diplomacy initiative of the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs with funding provided by the U.S. Government, administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts in cooperation with the U.S. Regional Arts Organizations. General management is provided by Lisa Booth Management, Inc.

Logo
Center Stage logo placement is encouraged. On web-based materials, please link from the Center Stage logo and/or written name to www.centerstageUS.org.

Assets
High resolution promotional photos (photographer credit is in the file name), and color versions of the Center Stage logo are available at this link.