I started playing music when I was four years old at a music school in Lima, Peru where I was introduced

to the Peruvian folk music and encouraged to appreciate it and explore it and since then I have been researching and learning more and more about it. After high school I continued my music studies at CODARTS in the Netherlands (where I studied latin jazz drum kit and percussion). Upon finishing my Bachelor studies I wrote my Major paper on the use of the drum kit in traditional Peruvian music. Our music from the coast is a mixture of African, European and Indian elements, and its main percussion instrument is the cajon (not many people know this instrument originated in Peru). The cajon has been one of my favorite instruments for a very long time, I started hearing and playing it since I was very young, since it is the most used traditional percussion instrument. Through this instrument I learned to play different styles of music from the coast of Peru. Later on I got into the drum kit and went on trying to come up with new ways of playing Peruvian rhythms on this instrument. Upon returning to Peru I started teaching at the new Music Department of the Pontificia Universidad Catlica del Per, one of the largest universities in Lima. From my experience so far I have the impression that Peruvian music has not developed a contemporary voice (as North American, Brazilian, Cuban and other styles have) and I think it is about time it does, and students from this new music schools are very interested in this process but there is not enough resources and material on the subject. Peruvian traditional music is very rich, different styles from the coast, the mountains and the jungle have all different rhythms and personalities and they all share some common traits. Lima, on the other hand is a big Metropolis where lots of people have migrated from the field in the last 60 years from all over Peru, each region (and consequently each music style) is represented in its inhabitants. Some of these music styles have been preserved but much of them have been modernized and standardized and have lost many of its original characteristics. On the other hand, educated musicians that have studied in Conservatories and Music Schools in and out of Peru have been making experiments to create a fusion of Peruvian and external elements (such as jazz, classical and Latin music) but unfortunately most of this have been isolated efforts and have been unsuccessful in consolidating a solid movement that can develop Peruvian music from its roots. I think this has to do with the fact that there has not been enough research into the possibilities of Peruvian music and what it has to offer to the world. However, because of its economic growth and political stability, interest in Peru has grown and more and more travellers and musicians are becoming more and more interested in its music. This context has boosted the music industry as well, after twenty years of crisis. I feel that although the publics interest (national and international) as well as the musicians livelihood and performance opportunities have been experiencing an improvement, this has to be accompanied by a deep understanding and a strong commitment to the roots of traditional music and an appreciation for its forefathers and practitioners (most of the times people from the countryside with low income and no limited access to higher education).

My main interest in coming to London to study a Masters degree is to develop my skills both as a performer and researcher, to gain a deeper understanding of how to make better music. It is through the understanding of the drum kit and its development within the jazz history that I can establish my own voice in this instrument: a voice that can draw from the Peruvian tradition and insert itself in a jazz context with a strong personality. Latin styles of music have greatly contributed to the development of jazz (mainly Cuban and Brazilian) and so I think it is time for the Peruvian voice to be part of this scene and contribute to the further development of this art form. That is why I want to come to Trinity, to deepen my understanding of the jazz idiom and to look at the rhythmic possibilities that Peruvian music can offer. I think that through serious research and experimentation I can come up with a way to play the drums in a Peruvian fashion, a way that can pay tribute to the tradition and its initiators and at the same time make a contribution to contemporary music, both jazz and traditional Peruvian, and as an extension, to all styles of music. And I think that this is the time to do it, a time when this sort of research could make a real contribution on what is going on with the music scene in Peru, both to professionals and to students, all of whom are very eager to learn more about their culture and make their contribution to it.