El Carmen Chincha

The Chincha valley was worked by enslaved Africans on cotton and sugar estates from the sixteenth century, and El Carmen and the surrounding hamlets are where the cultural forms that grew from that are strongest. The cajón - a wooden box the player sits on and strikes, now the standard percussion instrument of Peruvian coastal music and adopted internationally into flamenco - grew out of the Afro-Peruvian music of this coast and is central to it here. So were the festejo and landó rhythms, the zapateo competitive foot dance, and the quijada, a donkey's jawbone rattled by its loose teeth. Families including the Ballumbrosios have carried the tradition and taught it. Peñas in El Carmen host music at weekends, the Verano Negro festival at the end of February fills the town, and the Hacienda San José nearby, a colonial estate with underground tunnels associated with the slave trade, is open to visitors.

What to look for

• The cajón - the Afro-Peruvian box drum, now used worldwide.
• The zapateo - the competitive foot dance of the Afro-Peruvian tradition.
• The peñas - weekend music in the town, festejo and landó played live.
• Hacienda San José - the colonial estate and its tunnels, open nearby.

When to go

Year-round; weekends for live music, and late February for the Verano Negro festival. A day, or an overnight to see the peñas properly.

Practical notes

Music happens mainly at weekends and in festival season - midweek the town is quiet. Facilities are basic. Some shows staged for tour groups are thin; the peñas the community itself uses are better. The hacienda's history is a hard one and is presented unevenly.

Nearby

Chincha Alta is north; the coast and the Huaca Centinela are west.

Key facts