Calle 13, in search of the real Latin America

NEW YORK — In the opening minutes of "Sin Mapa," the new documentary about Calle 13, the camera pans across a small group of curanderos (shamans) from Amantani, a tiny island in the middle of Peru's Lake Titicaca, who are gathered for a special ceremony. They brandish coca leaves, kantuta ("flowers of the earth") and a llama fetus adorned in the colors of the Peruvian flag. Their guest of honor is Calle 13's MC Rene Perez, a.k.a. Residente, come to escape the shallow trappings of overnight success.

The shamans say their prayers to the Three Worlds of the Andes; Perez, 31, invokes the name of his girlfriend, 2001 Miss Universe beauty queen and off-Broadway actress Denise Quinones; and the fires begin to burn into the night. "In that moment, my mind was filled with promise," Perez's voice-over intones. "With the energy of the fire and the power of music, I could continue to communicate with the people."

The scene recalls director Walter Salles' 2004 film "The Motorcycle Diaries," about the young Che Guevara's search for the real soul of Latin America -- except this time the protagonist is a wisecracking, tattoo-laden Puerto Rican rapper with a two-person video crew.

"Sin Mapa" ("Without a Map") takes its name from a Calle 13 paean to Latin American immigrants called "Pa'l Norte" ("To the North"); the song fades constantly in and out during the documentary, which premiered July 29 at the New York International Latino Film Festival and was just released on DVD. Juxtaposing encounters with indigenous people from Peru, Venezuela and Colombia and scenes from the band's touring life, the film details Perez's ambivalence about fame and fortune and shows him fulfilling his desire to connect to a Latin America that is almost never seen.

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Family affair

Fronting a band that includes his half-brother, Eduardo Cabra (Visitante), and his sister Ileana (PG-13), Perez and his formidable rhyming skills took the Latin music world by storm with Calle 13's self-titled debut in 2006. Though the band was classified as a reggaeton act, Perez and composer-instrumentalist Cabra always insisted they were much more.

"Calle 13 has this kooky, trendy, hipster, not exactly street kind of flavor," said Raquel Z. Rivera, co-editor of the anthology "Reggaeton" (Duke University Press). "Sometimes Rene uses this free-flowing imagery with sweet lyrics that almost remind me of [Cuban folk singer] Silvio Rodriguez."