Various Artists
(Vampi Soul)
The plethora of re-issues and re-issue labels in the last 10 + years has made clear one truth that had previously been well known to record collectors, DJs and the musically adventurous but largely off the radar of the world at large: the explosion of rock & roll in the 1960s was truly world-wide, affecting virtually every corner of the planet. From Thai, Russian and Australian surf bands to Mexican, Cambodian and Turkish psychedelic acts, whatever spark The Beatles struck set off a conflagration that ignited youth culture in a universal flame.
South America got it bad, with Brazil, Columbia, Argentina, Chile, and other countries instantly producing 100s (or more likely 1000) of acts mixing up garage rock and psychedelic music with their own local and regional music and whatever they were hearing on the radio from neighboring countries. Seemingly overnight thousands of kids grabbed electric guitars and Farfisa organs and jumped into the fray.
One such hybrid that came out of Peru, chicha, has been experiencing a well-deserved renaissance of recognition in a the last few years. The roots of chicha go back to the 50s and the abundance of orchestras and combos that came out of Columbia and Peru, playing successive waves of mambo, guaguanco, merengue, cha cha cha and cumbia, eventually blending in Afro-Cuban grooves, ska and rocksteady from Jamaica, various other Carribbean blends and American soul, R&B, jazz and rock& roll.
Although a couple of tracks on Cumbia Beat Vol. 1 date back to 1966, including Los Demonios de Corocochay's "La Chicera" (named after a local liquor, it gave the new music it's moniker), chicha really took off in 1968 in an explosion of psychedelic clothes, hair and culture, and especially the wide and varied use of the electric guitar. The guitar - fuzzed out, wah wahed, reverbed, rapidly picked and strummed, ubiquitous - and the use of organ and other amplified instruments of rock & roll mixed and matched with all of the other available sounds of the era became the calling card of chicha. The guitars on Cumbia Beat Vol. 1 are a guitar lovers dream and fun to track the influences of, including the clean, precise picking of jazz, the tremolo and reverb-drenched leads of surf music, the dirtier fuzz of garage rock and psychedelia, and the shimmering tones of African highlife. When mixed with the percussion heavy, surging rhythms of cumbia and regional Andean musics, chicha became an instant dance music phenomenon, picked up largely by the working classes in Peru, but also listened to across class and geographical boundaries.
Vampi Soul's double CD, 25 track collection Cumbia Beat Vol 1 is a sexy, expansive companion to Barbes Records earlier Roots of Chicha CD from 2007. Featuring key tracks from chicha acts like Los Destellos (featuring the pioneering chicha guitar player Enrique Delgado Montes), Los Beta 5, Silvestre Montez y sus Guantanameros, Los Orientales de Paramonga, Manzinita y su Conjunto, Los Mirlos and several others, it's an impressive collection. Energetic, guitar driven rave-ups like "Guajira Sicodelica" by innovators Los Destellos, "Lobos al Escape" by Los Orientales de Paramonga and "La Jorobita" by Los Beta 5 will be real eye openers to anyone unfamiliar with amazing vitality of chicha. Los Beltons "Cumbia Pop" sounds like a Latin American Link Wray. The tastefully psychedelic freakout of "Lamento de un Galax" by Los Galax could only come from Peru, from chicha. Every song is a ringer, there's no filler. Of special note are Santiago Alfaro and Alfredo Villar's wonderful, comprehensive liner notes that puts chicha in it's musical, cultural and political context. It's also beautifully packaged, with an eye-catching collection of band photos and album cover art and an appropriately psychedelic cover.
You should listen closely. This is some of the most perfectly syncopated music ever produced, and there's incredible sophistication in the syncopation. It really gets its groove on. The twenty-five tracks here are some of the most joyous, positive music I've ever heard, and if some part of this music doesn't get some part of your body started you might have a problem. I hear there's more.
DOWNLOAD: "La Chichera," "Lobos al Escape," "Guajira Sicodelica," "Cumbia Pop," 21 others. CARL HANNI
