Remembranzas Vol. I

Description

Lucila Justina Sarcines Reyes was born on July 19, 1936 in the Rimac district of Lima, a city in the process of modernization that clings to its colonial and racist habits. Being born black marked a difficult path in her life: after the premature death of her father and a fire that left her homeless with her 15 siblings, she worked the streets to financially support her mother, and at age 5 learned to sing in bars while begging in the port of Callao. After being admitted to a Franciscan convent and having studied only up to the third grade of elementary school, she returned home, but suffered an attempted rape by her new stepfather; she was forced to move to the central neighborhood of Barrios Altos, to live with her uncle, a guitarist of the legendary Guardia Vieja, also known as the founders of the Peruvian criollo waltz. This group of non-professional musicians, made up of masons, merchants, artisans, marble workers and other employees, extended the oral traditions of their African slave ancestors in the working-class neighborhoods of the capital. It was there that Lucha Reyes, at age 16, gathered the legacy of the Guardia Vieja and her life changed forever: she was often asked to sing at the jaranas (criollo parties), and as her voice immediately stood out, she was encouraged to make her debut on a radio show called "El Sentir de los Barrios", where she performed the waltz "Abandonada" by Sixto Carrera.