New World Fiesta at Old World : South American Celebration Is Scheduled for Sunday at Bavarian-Theme Shopping Area

A South American festival at the Bavarian-theme Old World Village shopping center in Huntington Beach? What’s next--a sauerkraut cook-off on Olvera Street?

As incongruous as it may sound, it’s for real and it is the brainchild of Juliette (Chaparro) Lewis, a native of Callao, Peru, who came to the United States in 1961. Lewis, who owns the South American Corner, a boutique in Old World that carries South American clothing and handicrafts, says she planned Sunday’s festival to “share the richness of the South American culture.”

“When American people think of South America, they think only of fiestas and maracas,” said Lewis, “but we are so much more. What we have to show them will blow their mind.”

Old World Village will shake to a Latin beat during the second annual South American Festival, a free fiesta of music, dance and food. From 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., visitors can samba the day away on the center’s cobblestone streets while sampling a variety of South American foods at area restaurants. At 7 p.m., a concert in the center’s Festival Hall will feature Peruvian singer Yma Sumac in a program of South American and international music.

Throughout the day, six South American bands and dance troupes will present half-hour shows on an outdoor stage in a program Lewis said will demonstrate the wide range of influences in South American culture.

“Everybody thinks the music of Peru, for example, is just pan pipes (a graduated series of flutes often made of reeds),” said Lewis. “We are going to show them something totally different . . . from the Incas, to the Spanish heritage, to the influence of the black people, to the very elegant modern waltz.”

Kicking off the festivities at 11 a.m. is Samb’in, a Brazilian band which combines traditional folk music with contemporary jazz; Samb’in will be followed at noon by Altures, a colorfully costumed musical troupe which pays tribute to the Inca and Aymara cultures on authentic Andean instruments.

Inca, the Peruvian Ensemble, explores the European, Spanish and African influence in Peruvian culture at 1:30 p.m. on such exotic instruments as the bombo (a drum made of a hollow tree trunk skinned at both ends with stallion hide), the quijada (a percussion instrument made from a donkey’s jaw), the charango (a small guitar formed from the shell of the armadillo), and the more widely recognized zampona and toyo (two types of pan pipes). The group will perform again at 4:15 p.m. with Cecilia Bohorquez de Courtois, who will sing in Quechua, the language of the Incas.

At 2:45 and 5:15 p.m., Esmeralda Colombiana plays the music of Colombia, Venezuela and Paraguay and features performances by harp virtuosos Luis Felipe Gonzales and Jesus Zamora.

Dance ensembles at the festival include Chile Baila and Mi Peru. Chile Baila, a 16-member troupe under the direction of Marcel Beltran, presents the folk dances of Central Chile in richly colored native costumes at 12:45 and 3:30 p.m. Mi Peru performs traditional dances of the Incas and coastal Peru. The troupe will perform with the band Inca at 1:30 p.m., followed by a fashion show of Peruvian costumes.

Old World Village restaurants are predominantly German, but many will add a little Latin spice for the festival, with several South American restaurants from across the county preparing regional dishes. At the Old World German Bakery, diners can supplement their strudel with such Peruvian pastries as alfajores and gorgueros. And on the patio of the Old World German Restaurant, a Beverly Hills Brazilian cafe will serve regional dishes--including the popular black-bean-and-pork feijoada --against a backdrop of Latin jazz.

The South American Festival is funded by the Old World Village Assn., a nonprofit group of retailers. Lewis agrees that the event is a good promotional tool; gaps between performances allow visitors time to explore the shopping center’s boutiques, which feature items from Latin America, Germany, Mexico, Spain, China, the Netherlands and elsewhere.

Admission will be charged for Yma Sumac, renown in the ‘50s and ‘60s for her multioctave singing voice and unique Latin American style, who will perform in Orange County for the first time at the festival’s evening concert.

Sumac is said to have begun her singing career as a child in the Peruvian Andes, taking part in religious pageants. She went on to win acclaim across South America but met with mixed response in the United States (according to Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, which states that she was once rumored to be a girl from Brooklyn whose real name was Amy Camus--Yma Sumac spelled backwards). In 1952, she won raves in a performance at the Hollywood Bowl; she performed into the ‘60s, and went into retirement for several years. She returned to the stage in the mid-’80s.

Sumac, who is appearing through Saturday at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, is now on her farewell tour, Lewis said. Her performance at the festival--her only appearance in Orange County--will highlight a variety of Peruvian tunes, a Russian song, and songs from around the world. Opening for Sumac is Paraguayan harp master Dr. Alfredo Rolando Ortiz and the South American band, Altures.

The second annual South American Festival will be from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday at Old World Village shopping center, 7561 Center Drive in Huntington Beach. Admission is free. The Yma Sumac concert will be at 7 p.m. in Old World Village Festival Hall. Tickets are $22.50 in advance, $25 at the door. For information, call (714) 894-5151.