Chabuca Granda and the Peruvian Paso horse!

Jose Antonio is one of Chabuca Granda’s most famous compositions and I am including here the original lyrics in Spanish and the English translation of the first part of it:

Jose Antonio (Spanish)

Por una vereda viene
cabalgando José Antonio
Se viene desde Barranco
a ver la flor de Amancaes
En un berevere criollo,
va a lo largo del camino
con jipi japa pañuelo
y poncho blanco de lino.

Click here for the full José Antonio lyrics in Spanish.

(English translation)

Along the path comes
riding José Antonio.
He comes from Barranco
to see the Amancaes flower.
Riding a creole horse
he comes along
with jipi japa scarf
and white, linen poncho.

Chabuca was a very distinguished lady and her compositions reflect a certain kind of elegance! But it is not only her own, but that of the paso horses too with their trademark gait and the chalanes riding along with their flowing ponchos and their jipi japa hats.

Barranco

Considered to be one of Lima’s most romantic and bohemian districts. It is next to the seaside and used to be a fashionable beach resort for the aristocracy a century ago. Today its beaches are popular for surfing and a marina was also completed there in 2008.

The name Barranco means ravine in Spanish and it is close to a cliff overlooking a sandy strip, called Costa Verde, which runs parallel to the ocean, from the fashionable suburb of Miraflores, all the way to the Morro Solar hill in Chorrillos.

A beautiful walkway, called Bajade de los Banos, leads to the sea and crossing it is the famous Puente de los Suspiros (Sighs Bridge). On the far side of the bridge there is a park with a statue of Barranco's famous composer, Chabuca Granda.

Barranco has many colonial style houses, flower filled parks and some famous museums are also situated there. The area also has restaurants, nightclubs, discos and bars, where Peruvian music shows can also be appreciated.

Amancae flower

This flower is an endemic herbaceous plant species of the coastal hills of Peru. The plant has yellow terminal flowers, with a short life span of only 2 to 3 days and its beauty has inspired many artists and intellectuals. St. John Baptist’s Day is celebrated on June 24 and that is the start of the flowering of the Amancae and the slopes of the Rimac District, (outskirts of Lima), are covered with them.

Peruvian Paso Horse

It descends from the horses introduced into the country by the Spanish at the time of the Conquest and early years of the Colony. The horse has a special gait, which is synchronised, cadensed and elegant. Chabuca Granda, the famous Peruvian song writer, composed a song entitled José Antonio, which talks about the chalán sitting on top of his horse, wearing his jipi japa hat, a scarf around his neck and his white linen poncho.

Selective breeding coupled with the climate and forage, served to modify succeeding generations to create a new breed with unique characteristics. The trademark of this breed is a special and completely natural lateral gait called paso llano.

Every year hundreds of people go to the paso horse competitions, which are renowned for their beauty and elegance. Many people do it as a family tradition, but with the four competitions being held in Lima this year, it seems that the number of fans is rapidly increasing! The Mamacona Exhibition Field in Pachacámac, a province 30km from Lima, usually hosts the festivities.

The beauty of the horses is not the only thing on show, but also the elegant chalanes that ride the horses. There is much tradition, not only with the clothes they wear, but also their mounts and the red and white (Peruvian flag colours) reigns, which are often knitted by hand to include silver pieces. Their traditional attire was originally developed for the climate of the coastal area.

Chalanes traditional wear:

· The jipi japa hat, which it is not really from Peru. It is better known as Panama hat, but it is not from that country either, but from Ecuador, as that is where the town of Jipi japa is situated!

· A scarf around their necks

· A fine, white poncho made of linen or alpaca wool.

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