My Hot Chicha Summer

My deep dive into the Peruvian Amazon's mix of Latin rhythm and surf guitar

Chicha is one of the most potent cumbia adaptations, mixing the dance rhythms of Columbian cumbia with a style of electric guitar that borrows from American surf rock as well as the musica criolla that bears influences of African culture. Throw in a few guitar pedals or an organ and you've got something that's pretty compelling.

Maybe one thing that's fascinating to new listeners about Peruvian chicha of the seventies and eighties, hearing it now, is that it feels a bit out of time and place. The rhythms are relatively simple and generally either cumbia and guajira, yet other elements conspire to make it seem like it comes from somewhere you can't quite identify. Incorporating Andean folk music themes utilizing a pentatonic scale and combining that with the modal melodies and blue notes of American surf rock guitar gives the music identity that sometimes is Latin, at other times American, Asian, even Middle Eastern. It seems like music you might hear in a fantasy urban environment, or in William Gibson's sprawl, or in a hipster bar in, say, Bangkok. Chicha didn't catch on outside Peru in its initial run, but ironically it is perfect for the time we live in now and has sparked a revival of digital interest, reducing the world-traveling exploits of crate diggers and collectors to a few clicks

Barbes Records, founded in New York in 2004, has as its mission statement the following: "Barbès Records is a label devoted to the documentation of impure music – idiosyncratic hybrids borne out of tradition but twisted into new shapes by adventurous musicians from Peru, Poland, Chile, France or the US." So it should come as no surprise that Barbes is the locus of a large number of Peruvian chicha releases. The label's Roots of Chicha compilation, released in 2007, brought listeners around the world into contact with this sound that had previously been the purview of globetrotting crate diggers. Many of the OG chicha bands are represented, including Los Mirlos, Los Hijos de Sol, Los Destellos, and Los Diablos Rios.

Chicha grew out of the dance music that had been brought from the provinces of the Peruvian Amazon to the cities, including Lima, by workers who were needed to provide cheap labor for the country's development and industrial growth. These migrants brought their own rowdy culture to the urban centers, where they laced cumbia with Andean folk melodies and variants that grew in different countries and cultures that were thrown together in a mixer by the Amazon. Their music, their dancing was looked down on by the city dwellers and the cultural elite, and so the entire culture that these 'invaders' from the rural areas represented was rejected as debased and even erosive of good moral values.

In cities like Lima, Peruvians had exposure, through radio broadcasts, to music from Mexico, Cuba, and the United States. The ascendancy of rock music was impossible to ignore, along with its elevation of instruments like the electric organ, and most especially the electric guitar. In 1968 Enrique Delgado, leader of Los Destellos, concocted the sound that would come to be known as psychedelic Peruvian cumbia. Along with second guitarist Fernando Quiroz, Delgado replaced traditional horns or accordion with guitar lines, creating a modern sound that is frequently similar to American garage rock, though it often gets pegged as 'surf' guitar, and as 'psychedelic' as well.

When we approach a music that comes from outside our cultural sphere, our reference point is nonetheless stubbornly rooted in that sphere. Terms like 'surf' and 'psychedelic' provide convenient reference points for us, but we should be careful not to assume that they carry universal cultural meaning or significance. But in at least some of these cases, these terms are not inaccurately applied in view of the musicians' deliberately turning away from traditional Peruvian culture.

The switch to electric guitars and other trappings of American rock were considered an act of resistance that should not be given free reign. The government of general Juan Velasco Alvarez that came to power in 1968 thought that rock music represented a form of cultural imperialism, promoting instead the folkloric Andean music of Peru's indigenous tribes. In 1971 Carlos Santana was barred from the country and a concert of his canceled, as were a number of other large concerts. But on the local level, the best they could do was discourage radio from playing local cumbia and chicha bands. Bands still recorded pretty freely through the early seventies, resulting in a large number of reissues and compilations since the chicha revival began around 2010.

There are those who would argue that merely by observing and curating a chicha music collection, as an outsider, Barbes Records founder Olivier Conan is altering the course of discovery of this music for the rest of us. in short, we get introduced to the bands and music that he thought were most important or most prevalent. Still, as this Perfect Sound piece admits, he does have pretty good taste, and those who would explore a musical genre or scene must start somewhere. Roots of Chicha and its successor, Roots of Chicha 2, have provided that introduction for hundreds of listeners who were interested, or discovered they were after hearing them.

Without further ado, here are some standout tracks I found on my hot chicha summer.

I listened to plenty of Los Destellos, and this is one track that stood out for a few reasons. First, it is a guajira, a Cuban-based rhythm that became popular among the chicha groups. Second, it clearly was meant as 'psychedelic,' including that designation in the title. Plenty of surf-style guitar here as well as the musica criolla style of picking that gives an exotic air to this one.

'Constelacion' is another Los Destellos track, originally on the album of the same name, but like so many chichas tracks of the '70s/'80s era it has been extensively anthologized. It is perhaps indicative of an older style of chicha, but there's still room for a little fuzz tone guitar just over a minute into the record.

Los Orientales de Paramonga  was formed by guitarist Maximo Chavez in a town around three hours northwest of Lima. Chavez and Los Orientales were inspired to play a more instrumental, guitar-driven cumbia style after hearing Enrique Delgado and Los Destellos. He was inspired to purchase a wah-wah pedal, taking a bus into Lima to buy one after hearing Agusto Lucho Y Los Satelites use one. The band split into two seperate versions of Los Orientales through the years, one led by Maximo and the other by VIctor Ramirez, the group's rhythm guitarist. Maximo passed away in 2012.

Los Beta 5 is one of the chichas bands that I really have come to enjoy. They have that slight sense of menace, music you might expect to find on a Tarantino or Rodriguez soundtrack. Nelsón Canevello Pardo formed the group in Lima in the late 1960s. All but one of the original members were Pardo's brothers. You can hear some of the influence that these bands and American groups like Santana and Azteca passed back and forth around this time period.

Manzanita (stage name of Berardo Hernandez) emerged from the coastal city of Trujillo, raised on a musical diet of Spanish and African influences and the pre-coup radio broadcasts of American rock. With his musica crillo style, Manzanita was the first guitarist to post a serious challenge to the dominance of Enrique Delgado.

The German label Analog Africa's compilation Manzanita y su Conjunto: Trujillo-Peru 1971-1974 collects fourteen tracks from his two classic albums and singles and is an essential for listeners interested in exploring this period of Peruvian cumbia. From the liner notes:

"Starting in 1969, Manzanita y Su Conjunto released a steady stream of singles that used Cuban guaracha rhythms as the foundation for dazzling electric guitar lines. After countless 45s and several years on the touring circuit, the band signed to Virrey, an important Peruvian label, and recorded two LPs acknowledged as masterpieces among aficionados of tropical music. Most of the songs on Analog Africa’s new compilation Manzanita y Su Conjunto are drawn from those legendary sessions of 1973 and 74."

Also from Analog Africa comes the excellent Peru Selvatico, a compilation that will be of interest to anyone looking more deeply into chicha. It’s also the rare chicha recording available as a compact disc—most of the material h

Juaneco y Su Combo originated in the Amazonian city of Pucallpa at the beginning of the 60’s, and was founded by Juan Wong Paredes, descendant of Chinese immigrants who made their living as brickmakers. In those times the band was called Juaneco y su Conjunto.

In 1966, the son of Juan, Juan Wong Popolizio, came aboard the band as an accordionist and little by little the sound started to change.  In 1969, Juan Wong (father) retired from the group, giving the direction of the group to his son, who would later change the name to “Juaneco y su Combo”.

Los Hijos del Sol orginated in Lima in 1967. Angel Anibel Rosade was the group's founder and leader from its inception through 1987. He wrote many of their songs, including the influential 1969 hit "Cariñito." Los Hijos was the first to record it, though it  became one of Peruvian cumbia's most well-known songs. Los Hijos maintains a steady psychedelic sound on its tracks, making them a breezy and enjoyable listen for the car on those hot errand-running days of summer.

Los Darlings de Huanucao hails from the valley formed by the Huallaga River. The group was formed by Juan Najera, who also wrote all of their material. Juan worked in a family hardware store and as a truck driver, dedicating the little time he had left to playing music. Los Darlings de Huanucao were successful in Lima and managed to tour in other parts of the world as well, spreading the innovations of chicha. I strongly recommend giving a listen to these guys, and if you like them, pick up a copy of the Singles from 1970-1980. You'll be glad you did.

Marino Valencia Garay, who began his career at the Peña Criolla Cañete Chico, a club located in Lima's Magdalena del Mar neighborhood, created  Los Diablos Rojos. While he was conversant with local bands and Cuban son, his favorite band was The Ventures, and he sought an amalgam of flat out guitar rock and musica criolla.

Though chicha went into a period of decline in the '90s, becoming essentially electronic dance music with little or no guitar before it petered out and kind of disappeared. Crate diggers would stumble across copies of chicha releases on the original Peruvian labels and gradually listeners around the world began to become familiar with some of the bands.

Roots of Chicha and its Volume 2 followup ignited interest in the music again, and more labels began to pop up dedicated in whole or in part to the Peruvian cumbia scene. While some offer their own compilations of chicha bands, there are quite a few that are dedicated to reissuing albums by some of the bands I've mentioned and countless others. Sometimes they had access to the masters from the Peruvian label, while other releases had to be mastered from a mint copy of the original vinyl.

Discos Fantastico is a label that specializes in chicha, cumbia, musica criolla, and other aspects of Peruvian music. They have reissued recordings by Los Dios Rojos, Grupo Celeste, Los Darlings de Huanuco, Grupo Alegria, and Los Shapis and the excellent compilation Chicha Popular: Love and Social Political Songs From Discos Horoscopo, available as a digital download or a 2LP vinyl recording. The record comes with a 12 page booklet of liner notes and lyrics; valuable information given that these bands and records are not heavily documented--many of the recordings disappeared into the ether. The music was meant for dancing as well as providing social and political commentary and messaging, as noted in this comment from Chicha Popular:

"Between 1977 and 1987, the Discos Horóscopo label produced the largest wave of Andean tropical cumbia in the world; ‘chicha’, a reference to the indigenous Andean alcoholic drink. The label was filled with contemporary iconic figures such as Chacalón y La Nueva Crema, Los Shapis, Pintura Roja, Los Ovnis, Grupo Alegría and other groups which today have a cult status in Peru and beyond. Together they created a unique style with the capacity to talk about both love and uprooting, unemployment, struggle of classes, internal violence and impossible loves."

Vampisoul, founded in 2002, is located in Madrid and has become one of the foremost international reissue labels with a catalog that includes New Orleans funk, 60s R&B, East Harlem boogaloo, Cuban jam sessions, exotic soundtracks, tail-shaking soul, trippy tropical sounds, Peruvian groovers, West African highlife, East European jazz, Nigerian Afrobeat, and probably more. Of particular note is their compilation series Cumbia Beat (V.1-3), which features tracks from some of the bands I've listed above plus some others as well. Oh, I also came across this-- É O Que Ela Quer’ is a groovy Brazilian version of The Zombies’ classic ‘She’s Not There’ recorded by the obscure Mini-Trio in 1970 and released as a 7” only.

Unsurprisingly, the rediscovery of chicha has led to the re-emergence of some of the longer-term bands as well as some new bands that use the Peruvian groove as their starting point. Barbes Records has released recent new records by Los Wemblers de Iquitos, a group that has remained in play since the golden age of chicha and new records by Olivier Conan’s own project, Chica Libre.

New Directions in Music is written by a single real person. It is not generated by AI. Please help spread good content by reading (Thank you!) and sharing this post with a music loving friend. If you like what you see, please sign up for a free subscription so you don’t miss a thing, or sign up for a paid subscription if you can.