We say: Early 70s psychedelic cumbia from the Peruvian jungle.

The cover shows a group of South America indigena musicians gathered in a jungle clearing looking just a tad self-conscious in their garb of feathers and robes. Clutching electric guitars, they appear geared-up, ready to play, although it really does not look as if they'll be able to find anywhere to plug in. The photograph is of its time, of course, and the time is the early '70s.

The shtick here is so-called "jungle cumbia," a musical genre that in later years would become better known as chicha. This re-release of two original recordings made in 1970 and 1972 claims to be the first recorded example of the genre. Jungle cumbia is not a bad definition: unlike the airy cumbia peruana of the Peruvian coast and mountains, this music — a thin soup of organ, percussion, guitars and vocals — clearly belongs to the tropical lowlands and the result is a slightly odd take on traditional cumbia that might best be described as borderline psychedelic. It's jungle with attitude (and, with a few Andean resonances thrown in, maybe altitude too).

Although there are a handful of Cuban-style boleros and guajiras in the mix, the subject matter tends to follow jungle themes, with songs about native wildlife and jungle fruits to the fore. "La Aguajerita" is about a palm fruit, while "El Llanto del Ayamama" concerns the cry of the Great Potoo bird. "Lamento en la Selva (Jungle Lament)" is about a tragedy in which 92 people, mostly from the band's home city of Pucallpa, died on a Christmas Eve jungle plane crash. This sad tale is grimly prescient as five of the nine members of Juaneco y su Combo would later die in similar circumstances in 1977.