"INCA", the Peruvian Ensemble was founded in 1981 in Los Angeles, for the purpose of researching, preserving and presenting Peru's rich multi-cultural heritage of ethnic and folkloric music, songs, dance and traditions. INCA performs music and dances from the Andean region (Inca heritage), from the central and northern coasts (Criollo, Hispanic heritage), from the southern coast (Afro-Peruvian, African heritage), and from the Peruvian and Bolivian Amazon jungle (jungle natives heritage). This capacity to perform multi-ethnic music and dances is a major distinction between INCA and other South American ensembles that specialize in one music and dance style or ethnicity only.
Since its onset, "INCA" has gained steadily in artistic excellence and in reputation as one of the west coast's leading ethnic performing companies. Concerts at the Hollywood Bowl, the Redlands Bowl, The Fresno Civic Auditorium, Zion National Park, El Paso's El Chamizal Amphitheater, Santa Fe's Greer Garson Theater, Albuquerque's S.B.C.C., Colorado State University, Colorado College, etc., are true indicators that the company has a feisty following throughout California and the western states. In '93-'94 "INCA" performed at Mingus Auditorium in Cottonwood, AZ; at the Luther Burbank Ctr. for the Performing Arts in Santa Rosa, CA; Saddleback Community College in Mission Viejo, CA; Fiesta Inn in Mesa, AZ.; in ‘95 “INCA” performed at the Detroit Institute of Art and in Lake Tahoe with the Tahoe Arts Project and at the John Anson Ford Theater. In ’96 INCA hosted the first Peruvian Independence Day Festival inviting the general public, not just the Peruvian community, at the John Anson Ford Theater, performing with famous Peruvian singer Ms. Edith Barr. INCA also performed with Edith Barr in San Francisco and Salt Lake City, Utah. In 2001 INCA performed at the Orange Coast College theatre. In 2002 INCA performed at the Marsee Auditorium at El Camino College and in June, July and September 2003 at the Natural History Museum in conjunction with their Machu-Picchu exhibit. On July 21st, 2003 INCA performed at the Mendocino Music Festival and August 20, 2004, INCA produced and presented "Fiesta Peru", a very successful festival of Peruvian music and dance, at the Ford Amphitheatre.
"INCA" has also received continued support from the Cultural Affairs Department of the city of Los Angeles, the California Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Community Foundation, the Arizona Commission on the Arts, the L.A. County Arts Commission, and various businesses, corporations and individuals in the southern California area.
With the aid of these grants "INCA" has produced several recordings that contain a cross section of the company's repertoire and helps the group preserve some of this ethnic material, that in many cases would be lost otherwise. In December of 1997 "INCA" released its newest C.D., "Danzante". It is being sold at various record stores in the Los Angeles area, New York Natural History Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, etc. In 2003 INCA released it's fifth album, "Que siga la Farra", which contains a lively variety of Andean instrumental pieces.
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