Inca’s joyful artistry heats up Fiesta Peru

The good, the bad and the booty took center stage Friday night at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre. Fiesta Peru dragged on for three hours under a barely visible crescent moon. A shared bill between two locally based companies -- Inca, the Peruvian Ensemble, and the Afro-Peruvian troupe Cambalache Negro -- the party atmosphere was in danger of collapsing under the weight of the latter’s over-amplified, repetitious opening set.

The good news? While there was no sight of 1950s five-octave Mayan songbird Yma Sumac, there was plenty to crow about when Inca performed. A virtual Peruvian tour guide, artistic director-bass guitarist Guillermo Bordarampe took us on a provocative journey with his company’s snappy, well-executed program.

A lovely Cecilia Bohorquez sang in Spanish and also in Quechua, the language of native Incas. Her voice soared with spirit and soul. A dozen dancers also comported themselves with equal parts grace and ebullience in choreography rooted in tradition and credited to Celinda Huaman and Walter Almora.

“Carnaval de Q’atqas,” from Cusco, in southern Peru, featured male dancers brandishing wooden flutes and sashaying into fluid line formations, while dances from Peru’s northern coast had the men picking up handkerchiefs with their feet and women clenching roses between their teeth.

Ace musicians included Antonio Flores on zampona (woodwinds), Ruben Izquierdo on guitar and Juan Pedro Estanga on percussion, breezily tossing off classic tunes such as “El Condor Pasa.”

Cambalache Negro’s calling card, besides generating oodles of energy with its able seven-member musical ensemble, appeared to be butt-shaking.

Under the artistic direction of lead vocalist and choreographer Braulio Barrera, the company’s dance routines proved feeble.

Included: “Toro Mata,” a tribute to the minuet; and numbers in which the four dancers wrapped their derrieres in scarves, placed candles under them and wagged, shagged and bumped in an array of unfortunate costumes. This booty call didn’t warrant much of an answer.