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CD Review
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CMJ, CD Review >>
Faster than its popular Colombian neighbor cumbia and more modern than eastern Brazilian rumba, the Peruvian rock known as chicha adds surf guitars to local folk, injecting a psychedelic wave into traditional Andean sounds. This short-lived '70s movement was rejected by the popular culture, and never got very far from its point of origin, disappearing into obscurity for some 30 years.
But now New York-based Chicha Libre, formed by owners of the Brooklyn club Barbes and the local label of the same name, has resurrected it. The band is made up of a group of musicians, who have played in jazz, klezmer and Balkan groups, and are now coming together to sweep through working-class Amazonian villages.Their weapons of choice range from the cuatro, a South American stringed ukulele-like instrument, and upright electric bass and a genuine antique Hohner Electravox, a sort of cross-breed of an accordion and an organ, all of which add a distinguishing harmony to their unique brand of chicha.
Opening the album with a cover of Los Miralos's "Sonido Amazonico,"—first brought to the US last year on Barbes' compilation the Roots Of Chicha: Psychedelic Cumbias From Peru, the notable stateside collection that revived the genre—Chicha Libre dabbles in the classic sound of the not-so classic genre before delving into creative takes on classical music, including pieces by eccentric 20th century composers Erik Satie and Maurice Ravel, modern covers and dusty originals. Pulling the familiar "Spring" movement from Vivaldi's famed Four Seasons, "Primavera En La Selva" flips the baroque master's work into a minor key and takes classical music deep into the bowls of the Peruvian Amazon, where, Chicha Libre sings, "No hay primavera" ("There is no spring").
-- by Lisa Hresko 03/27/08 >> go there
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