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CD Review
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Sing Out!, CD Review >>
Sometimes a song can define a movie. One example is during Babel, when Santiago crosses from San Diego into his native Mexico. On the car stereo blares "Cumbia Sobre el Rio," possibly one of the best electro-cumbia songs ever made. This song, merging three worlds--the legendary accordion of Celso Pina, the raga vocals of Blanquito Man and a hip-hop influenced production team in Control Machete--crosses generations as much as borders. Much can be said of cumbia itself, a Colombian folk style that was re-rooted in Mexico. The genre is now claimed by numerous countries, each with its own twist, although none might be as unusual, not to mention intriguing, as these late 1960s Peruvian takes on the theme. Here the term psychedelic does not imply wailing electric guitars or Theremins, though plenty of tricked-out organs and surf-inspired six-strings with wah-wah pedals appear on these 17 tracks. The four contributions by Los Mirlos are especially frenetic, with space age keys appearing on "Muchachita del Oriente" and a walking bass line behind a melancholic, though danceable, riff on "El Milagro Verde." Juaneco y Su Combo sounds a bit more contemporary, although "Ya Se Ha Muerto mi Abuelo" is a full-on organ-led jam with plenty of hard rhythm. Percussion is crucial to this music, which was always rooted in the ceremony of dance. Even with all the distortion and slightly muddled recording quality, its hard not to shake a hip to the anthem-feeling "Linda Munequita" by Los Hijos del Sola. The term chicha, after all, is an ancient drink fermented with corn that gives quite an intoxicating rush-- a perfect match for this unexplored music from Peru.
--DB 04/01/08
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