Feeding the hungry ghosts with music from distant lands

Zenon y Amigos hails from Tokyo, where Zenon and his two band member brothers emigrated from Peru several years ago. Although the group is just a few months old, the brothers had long been part of a Waki, a large-format indigenous Peruvian music group that has made a name for itself performing in live music pubs in Japan as well as touring pubs in London.

Apart from live performances, the brothers contributed to several Japanese movie soundtracks and taught indigenous music in colleges in Japan. They have so far never resorted to singing in foreign languages or using European instruments. Playing sikus, quenas, bombo drums, roncoco guitar, vertical flutes, and several other traditional Andean instruments, the trio stick to their Peruvian musical tradition with the aim of promoting the culture of their homeland.

Zenon y Amigos perform both traditional folk songs and their own creations with indigenous dance movements to present the music of their ancestors in its most authentic form. Always with a look of great enjoyment when performing, the three brothers present shows that can be very contagious. Their interaction with the audience often turns their performances into parties.

As part of the Keelung Ghost Month Festival (基隆中元祭), one of the major traditional festivals in Taiwan, Zenon y Amigos will perform a series of concerts that evoke the magnificent landscape in the Andean mountains. The group will be one of the four traditional music groups Keelung City Cultural Bureau (基隆市文化局) has invited from abroad to perform at the festival, which pays tribute to wandering ghosts throughout the seventh month of the lunar calendar. Other performing groups at the festival this weekend include The Sun from Korea, Onda from Spain and Nero from Egypt. All will present traditional, religiously-inspired song and dance.

Zenon y Amigos will be performing at 7:30pm tomorrow and 3pm Sunday at Keelung Municipal Cultural Center (基隆市立文化中心), 181 Hsinyi Rd, Keelung City, Taipei (基隆市信一路181號). Admission is free.