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City Guide - Lima - Culture | ||
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Culture Peruvian culture goes beyond opera houses and theatres. It is part of everyday life, with frequent local festivals. Painting, dance and song belong to the people and are the way that different regions distinguish themselves. La Candelaria dance troupes of Puno or the marinera dancers from northern Peru, for example, can be seen at peñas (dance shows) all over Lima. Teleticket (tel: (01) 242 2823) is a booking agency that sells tickets for many events. El Comercio (website: www.elcomercioperu.com.pe ) is a daily newspaper with a good listings section. Music: Peru is on the international circuit for renowned foreign performers and orchestras, often sponsored by foreign cultural organisations, such as the British Council, Calle Alberto Lynch 110, San Isidro (tel: (01) 221 7552). Since the Municipal Theatre burned down last year, the National Symphony Orchestra now performs at the Museo de la Nacion, Avenida Javier Prado (tel: (01) 476 9875 or 9897). Opera shows are held at Teatro Segura, Jiron Huancavelica 257. Traditional music is everywhere from musica criolla, with its Spanish and African influences, to the bouncy Latin chicha music blaring out of every bus. Theatre: Lima boasts an active theatre scene ranging from formal performances of classics to fringe shows in theatre bars. The majority of plays are in Spanish. Most professional theatres are based in Miraflores - Teatro Canout, Avenida Petit Thouars 4550 (tel: (01) 422 5373), and Teatro Auditorio Miraflores, Avenida Larco 1036 (tel: (01) 447 9378), are two of the biggest. Tickets are available at theatre box offices. Dance: The National Ballet Company shares the Museo de la Nacion (see above) with the National Symphony Orchestra. But for the real dance experience visitors should go to a peña (traditional dance show) in one of the small venues in Barranco, such as Manos Morenas, Las Guitarres, Los Balcones, La Estacion de Barranco and Pericho's - all within walking distance of Plaza Mayor. Film: Peru's film industry is still developing, hampered by a lack of finance but not by a lack of talent. Young film-makers abound. Ciudad de M (2000), directed by Felipe Degregori, is one of the latest example of Peruvian Realism and was shot entirely in Lima. Another example is Tinta Joya (2000), directed by Francisco Lombardi, which won the Concha the Plata award at the 2000 San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain for best actor. Many cinemas show American or British films in their original version with subtitles. The British Council (see above) shows English-language films. Filmoteca de Lima, Museo de Arte, Paseo Colón 125, Avenida 9 de Diciembre (tel: (01) 331 0126), has monthly festivals of foreign films including avant-garde cinema. An excellent multiplex cinema is El Pacifico, Avenida Jose Pardo 121, Miraflores (tel: (01) 445 6990). events: The Señor de los Milagros (Lord of Miracles) (18-28 October) is probably Lima's biggest cultural event of the year. Solemn processions, through the centre of the capital dominate the festival. Traditionally, Lima women wear purple, considered a sacred colour, for the whole month. Bullfights, concerts, fairs and firework displays also mark the feast. Semana Santa, or Holy Week, is an Easter celebration, marked by colourful processions and fireworks throughout the city. A smaller religious festival occurs during Santa Rosa de Lima (30 August). Literary Notes In a famous essay entitled 'Lima, the horrible', Peruvian poet and playwright Sebastian Salazar Bondy launches an attack on a city that has both repulsed and fascinated artists. British author, Matthew Parris, entitles one of the chapters in his travel book 'Inca Kola' (Atrocious Lima). The city is the backdrop for many of Peru's most memorable works of fiction that have focused on the city as a symbol of the best and worst in Peru. The country's most famous contemporary author, Mario Vargas Llosa, has turned to the capital for inspiration for several of his novels. Vargas Llosa, who once ran for president and now spends much of his time in Europe, has made an art of dissecting a turbulent society riddled with contradictions. The grime and stink of Lima, the animosity between rich and poor come through most powerfully in his Conversation in the Cathedral (1969). Alfredo Bryce Echenique's A World for Julius (1970), a witty satire on the lives of Lima's upper classes seen through the eyes of a boy, gives a great insight into Lima life a few decades ago. Julius feels lost in an elegant but ultimately empty world of cocktail parties and golf. Like Vargas Llosa, Bryce lives abroad but his books remain classics for generations of Limeños. Lima is a city of poets - poetry readings take place almost daily. Miraflores can claim its own 1960s revolutionary poet in Javier Heraud, who left Lima for the Soviet Union before ending up in Cuba. He returned to Peru to join a band of left-wing guerillas and was eventually shot by government troops in 1963. His best-known volume of poetry is The River, a deceptively simple allegory about the journey from youthful adventure towards old age and solitude. |