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| History of the Caporal Dance (Saya) |
Caporales
Neo-folklore whose roots are in the SAYA, rhythm and dance are inspired
in the TUNDIQUI.
It is a very beautiful dance that has a very elegant clothing that gives a very
youthful identity showing in its gestures a very determined character. Its
choreography is infinite. Without doubt, the youths that dance it, do it
without racial prejudices. Therefore they don’t paint their faces black,and
in this manner they yield their solidarity to our Afro-
Bolivian population.
The Dance of the Caporal is inspired in the foremen that controlled the
slaves of their own race in the colonial farms. The bells of the caporales
that are carried on the boots do the sound of chains that were tied to the
feet of the slaves, nowadays is the sound of freedom from the Spanish
slavery in the colonial times
The Afroyungueños
Neo-folklore whose roots are in the SAYA, rhythm and dance are inspired
in the TUNDIQUI.
It is a very beautiful dance that has a very elegant clothing that gives a very
youthful identity showing in its gestures a very determined character. Its
choreography is infinite. Without doubt, the youths that dance it, do it
without racial prejudices. Therefore they don’t paint their faces black,and
in this manner they yield their solidarity to our Afro-
Bolivian population.
The Dance of the Caporal is inspired in the foremen that controlled the
slaves of their own race in the colonial farms. The bells of the caporales
that are carried on the boots do the sound of chains that were tied to the
feet of the slaves, nowadays is the sound of freedom from the Spanish
slavery in the colonial times
The Afroyungueños
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They were foreigners and uninhabited, but the divine
Infinite, father of them dispossessed and humble offered
them in inheritance the territory of the Yungas (La
Paz-Bolivia), to share them with the racially mixed. The
populations of Coroico, Mururata, Chicaloma, Calacala,
Coscoma, Irupana are now place of cultural afroyungueña
production. Its original clothing was being covered for the
dresses of the epoch.
Since their social tearing they had to fight hard against the
colonial aggression and the isolation.
By this reason their cultural practices were being lost,
including their festival, language, spiritual sense, forms of
marriage etc. But the resistance was given in the
expressions through the dance and music. One of these
dances is the caporal, the saya together with Candombe.
Infinite, father of them dispossessed and humble offered
them in inheritance the territory of the Yungas (La
Paz-Bolivia), to share them with the racially mixed. The
populations of Coroico, Mururata, Chicaloma, Calacala,
Coscoma, Irupana are now place of cultural afroyungueña
production. Its original clothing was being covered for the
dresses of the epoch.
Since their social tearing they had to fight hard against the
colonial aggression and the isolation.
By this reason their cultural practices were being lost,
including their festival, language, spiritual sense, forms of
marriage etc. But the resistance was given in the
expressions through the dance and music. One of these
dances is the caporal, the saya together with Candombe.
History of the Dance
To have a clearer vision on the origin of the dance of the caporal, is necessary previously to establish the existing difference
between this and the rhythm of the saya. According to the information collected by the folklore expert Jorge Godínez Quinteros,
different rhythms inside the Afro-Bolivian culture exist that subsequently will see: the zamba represents the dance of the black
monarch, tuntuna represents the dance of the elderly counselors, the tundiqui is the dance of the town, the saya is the dance of the
youths in age of love and finally, the capanga which is the dance of the Royal Guard (the king's favorites), that is constituted in
synonyms of the caporal.
According to Godínez, the saya is converted for the man of color in the maximum instrument of social, cultural, and spiritual
expression through this that is mixture of different rhythms of percussion touched simultaneously and accompanied by canticles,
expresses its feelings of happiness and sadness, its experiences, its reality. The caporales are in no case the styling of the saya,
but more well, of the “Tundiqui Dance of the Negritos" (dances in which they paint their body of black and they sing small couplets
striking bass drums at two times).
To have a clearer vision on the origin of the dance of the caporal, is necessary previously to establish the existing difference
between this and the rhythm of the saya. According to the information collected by the folklore expert Jorge Godínez Quinteros,
different rhythms inside the Afro-Bolivian culture exist that subsequently will see: the zamba represents the dance of the black
monarch, tuntuna represents the dance of the elderly counselors, the tundiqui is the dance of the town, the saya is the dance of the
youths in age of love and finally, the capanga which is the dance of the Royal Guard (the king's favorites), that is constituted in
synonyms of the caporal.
According to Godínez, the saya is converted for the man of color in the maximum instrument of social, cultural, and spiritual
expression through this that is mixture of different rhythms of percussion touched simultaneously and accompanied by canticles,
expresses its feelings of happiness and sadness, its experiences, its reality. The caporales are in no case the styling of the saya,
but more well, of the “Tundiqui Dance of the Negritos" (dances in which they paint their body of black and they sing small couplets
striking bass drums at two times).
¿When the dance born?
The dance of the caporal, in agreement the author Jorge Godínez, is originated in the
seventies, because the youths that were in search of an energetic, strong, and new
rhythm and found in this dance the form to express this anxiety.
The apparition is attributed and creation of the dance of the caporal, to the Estrada
brothers, known as "saltimbanqui", who to create the dance of the caporal they had
moved to Chicaloma to observe and investigate the traditions of the Afro-Bolivian
culture expressed in the saya and the tuntuna.
To make the costumes they were inspired in the ancient clothing that used an elder of
its community, that consisted of a blouse of wide sleeves, baggy pants, girdle in the
waist, hat of straw and boots with bells that served to awake the community each
morning.
January 25, 1969, in the street Antonio Gallardo, the Estrada brothers founded the
"Caporales Urus del Gran Poder", that were constituted as the first caporales of
history. This dance reached the top, being put fashionable in the youth since the
creation of the "Entrada Universitaria", the year 1987 to our days
Caporales in the present days
The dance of the caporal, in agreement the author Jorge Godínez, is originated in the
seventies, because the youths that were in search of an energetic, strong, and new
rhythm and found in this dance the form to express this anxiety.
The apparition is attributed and creation of the dance of the caporal, to the Estrada
brothers, known as "saltimbanqui", who to create the dance of the caporal they had
moved to Chicaloma to observe and investigate the traditions of the Afro-Bolivian
culture expressed in the saya and the tuntuna.
To make the costumes they were inspired in the ancient clothing that used an elder of
its community, that consisted of a blouse of wide sleeves, baggy pants, girdle in the
waist, hat of straw and boots with bells that served to awake the community each
morning.
January 25, 1969, in the street Antonio Gallardo, the Estrada brothers founded the
"Caporales Urus del Gran Poder", that were constituted as the first caporales of
history. This dance reached the top, being put fashionable in the youth since the
creation of the "Entrada Universitaria", the year 1987 to our days
Caporales in the present days
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THE DANCE OF THE CAPORALES
We are in the new time of the Pachakuti: of eternal
return. The return to the origins of the mythical world,
that conspires itself each time that the festival is
carried out. Is a return to the origins of humanity,
where they cohabit the nature, the sky and the land;
the alaxpacha, and the mankapacha (up and down).
Part of this new time is chaos, the lack of recognition
of the things and their environment. This is what
happens with a culture transferred from the Yungas
of La Paz as the Culture of color or afroyungueña.
We are in the new time of the Pachakuti: of eternal
return. The return to the origins of the mythical world,
that conspires itself each time that the festival is
carried out. Is a return to the origins of humanity,
where they cohabit the nature, the sky and the land;
the alaxpacha, and the mankapacha (up and down).
Part of this new time is chaos, the lack of recognition
of the things and their environment. This is what
happens with a culture transferred from the Yungas
of La Paz as the Culture of color or afroyungueña.
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It is the source of the dances of the Tundiqui or Negritos, of which the dance of the Caporales was born. Nevertheless itself it
should not be confused what is the Saya of Color, with the Tundiquis or Negritos racially mixed, with the Caporales of the urban
sectors and average class.
The caporal becomes a nexus between the Bolivian folklore and youth, which this last in our days, has attracted attention of its own,
strangers and has managed to export the image of Bolivia as no other dance has done it, because of it is unjust to try to
underestimate this modern Bolivian expression that encloses a present anxiety from the Bolivian youth. The Dance of the Caporal
is the most popular among the youths of different cultures, social classes, countries, continents and is the best integration vehicle
to Bolivian folklore
Because of this its culture and folklore.
should not be confused what is the Saya of Color, with the Tundiquis or Negritos racially mixed, with the Caporales of the urban
sectors and average class.
The caporal becomes a nexus between the Bolivian folklore and youth, which this last in our days, has attracted attention of its own,
strangers and has managed to export the image of Bolivia as no other dance has done it, because of it is unjust to try to
underestimate this modern Bolivian expression that encloses a present anxiety from the Bolivian youth. The Dance of the Caporal
is the most popular among the youths of different cultures, social classes, countries, continents and is the best integration vehicle
to Bolivian folklore
Because of this its culture and folklore.
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