Savall revives the sound mix of colonial Peru between song and dance of resistance

Madrid. With his viola da gamba soprano and the bow from which he extracts deep and serene sounds as a baton to harmoniously exercise musical direction, the Catalan musician Jordi Savall recovered the sound mix of colonial Peru, that of castes, slavery and plunder, to demonstrate that one of the most intelligent and popular ways to resist was music.

This is demonstrated by the 20 pieces extracted from the famous Trujillo Codex which Savall reinterpreted together with some of his most faithful companions on this long journey through the recovery of ancient music: the period musical group Le Concert des Nations, the Mexican musical group Tembembe Ensamble Continuo and the vocal group La Capella Reial de Catalunya.

The National Music Auditorium of Madrid received Jordi Savall, one of its most beloved musicians, with loud applause, not only to celebrate his 84 years of life, but also because it was his first visit to the Spanish capital since he was recognized with the prestigious Ernst von Siemens Music Prize 2026, the highest award in classical or cultured music.

Fun Creole party

On this occasion, Savall celebrated on stage a playful and sensual Creole party, in which the desire for freedom, the indolence and the joy of the people who lived in colonial Peru at the end of the 18th century intermingled and who, through music, found a language of expression to keep their cultural tradition alive and to express their desire for freedom.

Savall explained: “the 20 musical pieces that make up the collection of the Trujillo Codex from Peru represent an exceptional case in the history of native music of the New World. This set of tunes, cachuas, tonadillas, bayles, cachuytas and lanchas allows us to know the repertoire of the country’s traditions, as indicated in the text of some of the sung cachuas (in the use of our land), and very specifically of the songs and dances that the popular castes of the viceroyalty of Peru were fond of at the end of the 18th century.

The concert program was built entirely from the Trujillo Codex, compiled between 1780 and 1790 by Bishop Baltasar Jaime Martínez Compañón. This document collects dances, tunes and cachuas from regions of the viceroyalty, exceptional testimony of the fusion between indigenous, African and European traditions that defined the cultural identity of the time.

Savall, faithful to his commitment to the recovery of historical heritage, turns these pages into a vibrant experience. Pieces like Tonada El Tupamaro, Bayle del chimo o Cachua La despedida de Guamachuco They reveal a universe where the sacred and the profane coexist naturally, and where song and dance articulate the social and spiritual life of the communities. Here we see the complexity of history, the strength of living music, the mixing of sounds and the dignity of the communities that, even under the yoke and domination, resisted through song and dance.

acts of rebellion

On stage, in addition to Savall, there were up to 27 artists who performed baroque music that is outside the classical circuits of large Western orchestras. Hence also the enormous importance of this musical recovery, not only for the sounds, but also for the way of understanding music.

The musicians, dressed in colorful and strident clothing, far from the usual black, moved, danced, exchanged glances, smiled shamelessly, accompanied the sounds of their instruments with the rapture of their bodies, which was, in turn, another gesture of resistance and rebellion.

Hence, Savall insisted that the songs found in the codex “constitute a magnificent example of the artistic and human value of a people who, beyond the relentless colonial exploitation and the suffering suffered over the centuries (and which sometimes persist), seeks to recover their dignity and a little hope thanks to the joy of music and dance.

“They are indisputable proof that popular creativity is always capable of producing wonderful music, in which beauty, emotionality and joy continue to speak to us in the present with all the vitality and poetry of the moment lived.”