Continuing the Latin theme from the previous post on Brazil, this post goes deep into the world of Peruvian psychedelia. There is an incredible amount of musical output to explore here, Peru has perhaps the richest tradition of psychedelic music of any country sampled in this blog so far, and as ever this post is only a small selection of that. Featuring: psychedelic cumbias, funk, the world’s first punk band, guitar driven heavy psych and psychedelic Peruvian electronic music.

Los Charles

One of a massive host of bands playing Peruvian Cumbia, or chica as it came to be known. A psychedelic offshoot of Colombian originated Cumbia, the genre itself produces a broad range of sounds; “From the Spanish-inflected guitar tradition of música criolla, to the indigenous huayno melodies of the Andes… chicha is less a fixed genre, and more like the sum of Peru’s stunning regional diversity.” Los Charles formed in the 70’s, playing various genres from chicha, to latin soul, to more ballad tunes. Listen to their track El Juido below, and their ballad Tema De Reconciliacion here.

Los Orientales de Paramonga

From a description by Munster Records: “One of the most original and surprising guitar sounds in Peruvian tropical music would come from a sugarcane town to the north of Lima called Paramonga. There, the recently deceased guitarist Maximiliano Chávez created a very peculiar style of tropical music with deep basses, galloping percussion and wah wah guitar that could pass from fury to gentleness from one song to another.” Listen to their track El Dragón “La Molienda” below, more of their songs available on youtube.

Los Gatos Blancos

Limited pressing existed of this groups recordings, but the track below made it on to a 2013 compilation of chicha and tropical music from Peru and has quickly become a favourite of chicha showcases. The electrified, tingling guitar is what gives their groove an edge, with almost harmonic soloing over the cumbia rhythms. Not much of these white cats to link to, but their track El Chacarero below.

Los Telstars

Obscure enough a-band that even the year of their recordings doesn’t apear to be known, though was likely in the late 60’s. Latin funk, psych rock, cumbia rhythms and some soul are all influencing genres in the limited amount of recordings of the group that do exist. Whilst rhythmically driven music, it is the guitar that stands out, which the track below with its fuzzy melodies demonstrates. More of their songs on youtube.

Los Comandos

A single album band, the 1969 Moby Dick, Los Comandos arose in the late ‘60s when “Lima boasted dozens of young bands full of ideas, spontaneous and unfazed by the instability in Peru” playing funk, psych and soul sounds. This movement faded in the 70’s as military dictatorship took hold, but produced so many musical gems in its short time. Listen to Los Comandos’ track El Sermon below, and the album this comes from here.

Los Saicos

If you ask fans where punk rock originated, some may say in Manchester at the Sex Pistols’ legendary show at the Free Trade Hall in June of 1976. Others may say in Detroit in the late 1960’s with the African American group Death. But there is a solid case to be made that actually the first punk band was from Peru, in the early 1960’s. As an article on Dangerous Minds puts it; “if Peru’s Los Saicos aren’t the first punk band, they’re pretty close.” Playing a solidly garage punk style with a “freak out” kind of sound, Los Saicos were short lived, releasing six singles between 64-66, but easily qualify as musical pioneers that deserve more acclaim. As Andres Tapia of Peruvian label Repsychled Records puts it, “Around the time The Beatles were singing love songs, Los Saicos were singing songs about demolishing everything.” Listen to their track Demolicion below, and their complete recordings here, short documentary about the band here. TATATATATATA YA YA YA YA.

Juaneco y Su Combo

Formed in the early 60’s in the Amazonian city of Pucallpa, Juaneco y Su Combo were a melting pot of the various influences they were exposed to growing up there. This included the from the Shipibo peoples who were local to the region, as well as Brazilian music they could pick up on radio stations. Tragically many members of the group died in a plane crash on their way back to Pucallpa in 1977, but in their they time managed to have a huge impact on the chicha sound that was flourishing. Their song Vacilando con Ayahuasca below, and their 1975 album El Brujo here.

Dengue Dengue Dengue

One of the reasons psychedelia is a good angle from which to showcase music is because “psychedelic” music in itself is not a genre, more a kind of feeling music can have. Whilst this blog mainly features what can be broadly classified as psych rock, all kinds of genres can have psychedelic iterations, as is this case here. Dengue x 3 are part of a renaissance in electronic music in Peru, from bandcamp: “Their music is an infectious body-rocking mixture of dancehall, techno, dub, dubstep and bass mixed with traditional Afro-Peruvian instrumentation. It’s one of the most diverse sonic palettes in the global bass sphere. In 2012, they released La Alianza Profana, which set them apart from their contemporaries by morphing cult cumbia rhythms into a psychedelic dance floor haze.” Their track Alpha & Omega below, their bandcamp here.

TRIBU

A contemporary psych rock band based in Lima, they fuse traditional Peruvian instrumentation and electronic sounds whilst singer Yazmín Cuadros provides excellent vocal deliveries over experimental, atmospheric music. Only formed in late 2016, the output they have is of an impressive quality, and part of a wider re-emergence of a psychedelic rock scene in Lima after the 60’s/70’s golden era. Listen to their Taki Llayki below, and their most recent release here.

Conjunto Siglo 21

More of the diversity of what can fall under a “psychedelic” sound, a band on the psychedelic salsa side chicha. Hard to tell whether this is chill-out music or something to be dancing to, but the unique take on Peruvian Cumbia they play works whatever your mood. Not much of their music on the web, but listen to their track Jud Rodd below.

Matus

From bandcamp: “this quintet offers a darker journey more akin to mid-‘70s Black Sabbath on psychotropic mushrooms. If anything, they seem like spiritual successors to Tarkus, a 70’s Peruvian heavy rock band that bucked the restrictions of the repressive Alvarado regime. The lo-fi recording gives all the instruments—including the vocals—a jagged edge, but the soulful guitars and Latin percussion help the songs go down smooth.” Not much needed to add to that. Their mind-melting track Claroscuro and a link through to their bandcamp below.



Los Mirlos

Another of the defining groups of Peruvian Cumbia, Los Mirlos play with a stripped down tropical sound, deeply influenced by their Andean roots of their members who originated from the jungle town of Moyobamba. Despite the stripped down sound Los Mirlos were an 8 piece, with various percussion players to achieve the distinct cumbia rhythm, with the psychedelic surf guitars playing melodies fusing latin and western styles. Listen to their track La Danza de los Mirlos below, and their album El poder verde here.

La Kábala

Mystery remains over the origin of this band, as whilst all their pressings emerged from Peru some claim the band themselves were actually Mexican, although this is not widely agreed on. Their music, as one blog post puts it, “is a mix of late 1960’s swinging soul jazz, cruise ship styled loungers sung in Spanish, and an occasional Santana electric guitar outburst to keep everyone on their toes.” Listen to their track El Cumbanchero below, and a playlist of their work here.

Grupo Santa Fe

One of the more obscure groups in the chicha scene, but there’s an instantly listenable sound to be found in their songs. On the spectrum of of chicha they sit more towards the western psychedelic rock and funk side of things, but Latin rhythms flow throughout. Their track Simple de Santa Fe below, more of their work on youtube.

Los Pakines

A band founded in the Lima district of Rimac in 1972, they were a four piece chicha band known for their “elegant sound”. It’s not too hard to see why upon listening, with an often dampened electric guitar providing the melody over soft rhythms, they are the kind of band you could listen to jamming for hours and be entirely content. Their track Venus below, their 1975 album En Escena here.

Los Juniors

An enigmatic psychedelic rock group with a powerful and instantly gripping sound inspired by the 1960’s psychedelic rock scene of San Francisco and London, they formed originally as a high school band from San Julián School in Barranco. Initially they gained their equipment from a group Los Fannings, and were labelled Los Fannings Juniors, with the suffix of this name sticking. Listen to their Hendrix cover Tercera piedra en el sol below, more of their work available on youtube.



Hot Butter’s Sound

There’s almost no info on this band out there. This single was released in 1971, the A and B side appear to be the only known recordings of the group. They likely would have been lost to history, but for appearing on a 2002 compilation album of music from the Peruvian underground. The track below, Pa-pa-pa provides some funk induced psychedelic rock, with pop-era Beatles style vocal harmony’s to contrast with heavier guitar solos.

We All Together

From a review: “We All Together were among the best Beatlesque pop/rock bands of the early ‘70s. In fact, when the people of Peru first heard We All Together in 1972, they thought that the band was a foreign group, because of the high production values of their tracks. ‘It’s A Sin To Go Away’ is a South American psychedelic classic, which begins with Procol Harum style organ, then hits you with thick fuzz guitar riffs, and backward and phased guitar solos.” An instrumental version of It’s a Sin to go Away below, their 1974 album here.

Cacique

From a review: “Little is known about the band, they only released this one single “Cacique / Playin’ Tocando” in 1973 and others two songs (one “live” version of Playin’) in a compilation of time, produced by Geraldo Manuel. In the A-side, “Cacique” is the highlight, all instrumental and with vibrant and strong psychedelic and garage influences inserted in local rhythms like Cumbia, where we hear acidic guitar, electric organ and percussion.” Listen to their namesake track below, and the b-side of this here.

Culto al Qondor

A trio based in Lima, their music is darkly atmospheric, with an underground sound which draws on drone and space rock influences. Entirely an instrumental band, their tracks all surpass 10 minutes, often with a sense of build-up and tension that is never entirely released. Listen to their track Martillo below, and their bandcamp here.

Pax

A hard rock band formed in 1969, considered to be one of the legendary Peruvian and Latin American rock bands. Their sound is very much a precursor to more metal and heavy psych bands, along similar lines to western contemporaries like Black Sabbath. It is easy to see the tradition out of which the likes of Matus and Culto al Qondor emerge. Listen to their track Pig Pen Boogie below, and the album this comes from here.

Aniceto y sus Fabulosos

Formed by guitarist Salazar Mendoza, it is his playing style influenced both by tropical music and Chicha that stands their music out. The wail of his guitar is hypnotic, the influence of his idol Santana being evident. Originally playing between 1970-77, they reformed in 2009 and have been recording new music since. Their track Los Fabulosos en Onda below, much of their work is available on youtube.

Previously included on this blog

Los Destellos

Traffic Sound

Laghonia

Montibus Communitas