My wife just told me she heard some of this on NPR and the way she described it - Peruvian psychedelic surf - has me very intrigued. Never heard of this before?? Am I lame? If so, help me out - where to start??
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Wednesday, 18 June 2008 01:09 (fifteen years ago) link
chocha is not a style of music.
― Oilyrags, Wednesday, 18 June 2008 01:11 (fifteen years ago) link
here you go: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=232950131
― jsimp, Wednesday, 18 June 2008 01:24 (fifteen years ago) link
yeah my wife said that too, we went and bought the comp ... i would say "it's okay".
it's only really "peruvian psychedelic surf" in the sense that afro-rock from the 70s is "african psychedelic rock". i mean, to me, it sounds like latin american traditional music with a fuzz guitar part. and that's *cool* with me. but on the same trip to the record store i picked up "colombia! golden age of discos fuentes" and "panama! latin calypso and funk on the isthmus" (both albums on soundway) and i've listened to them much, much more (psych surf rock or no)
― moonship journey to baja, Wednesday, 18 June 2008 01:32 (fifteen years ago) link
i have that comp as well. I dig it - at least a few great tracks. I think Vahid is sort of right though. I mean I think it sounds more like pop music than "traditional" music, but there's basically nothing that mysterious about it.
― Hurting 2, Wednesday, 18 June 2008 02:20 (fifteen years ago) link
I don't know if it's mysterious, but it is raw and passionate. That comp rocks. The vocal hooks in that first song on the MySpace page linked upthread -- Linda Nena -- sunk into my brain for days.
― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, 18 June 2008 02:26 (fifteen years ago) link
BTW, Vahid, eMusic's getting more of those Soundway discs (not sure when, tho), and I'm v., v. anxious to hear them.
― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, 18 June 2008 02:27 (fifteen years ago) link
There are definitely some sexy tracks.
― Hurting 2, Wednesday, 18 June 2008 02:31 (fifteen years ago) link
Come to think of it, the backstory for this genre might be considered mysterious. I read someplace that, for years, the only way people outside of these villages were exposed to the music was via shortwave radio, with all its crackles and static. There's an otherworldly quality to that shortwave radio experience, and I can see where music associated with it might be seen as mysterious.
Just guessing, tho. And, as H2 says, there are some sexy tracks on that comp.
― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, 18 June 2008 02:35 (fifteen years ago) link
If you like that, the Rough Guide to Cumbia is pretty great. I think the Chica album is basically cumbia with the guitars a bit fuzzed and less accordion.
― jsimp, Wednesday, 18 June 2008 02:42 (fifteen years ago) link
read someplace that, for years, the only way people outside of these villages were exposed to the music
I was kind of under the impression that it was more of a city music, sort of analagous to earlier high-life and juju in Africa, i.e. music that resulted from new urbanization, from people bringing traditional music from small villages and combining it with the newly available electric instruments and the influence of radio pop.
― Hurting 2, Wednesday, 18 June 2008 02:51 (fifteen years ago) link
Still loving this disc.
― Daniel, Esq., Monday, 25 August 2008 04:20 (fifteen years ago) link
fwiw chicha is homemade corn beer from the Andes.
― sleeve, Monday, 25 August 2008 04:40 (fifteen years ago) link
Yeah. Odd choice for the genre's name, but there you have it.
Sexy songs on that compilation disc.
― Daniel, Esq., Monday, 25 August 2008 04:48 (fifteen years ago) link
LOS DESTELLOS!
― elan, Monday, 25 August 2008 16:22 (fifteen years ago) link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA5zAQ_oxzk
Chicha Libre, the Brooklyn band inspired by this stuff, are playing for free from 6 to 7 US east coast time at the Kennedy Center in DC wed. January 21. The gig is also being shown live on the K. Ctr. Millennium stage website and will be archived. I may go.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 21 January 2009 17:54 (fifteen years ago) link
Was busy parenting and missed the show. Will have to check out the archived video.
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 22 January 2009 13:47 (fifteen years ago) link
love love love love love love this disc:
http://wrbcradio.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/rootschichacumbia.jpeg
and so, apparently, a volume 2 is forthcoming:
http://i1.soundcloud.com/artworks-000002173693-r48jov-crop.jpg?8855b9
very excited to get this.
― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 21 September 2010 04:19 (thirteen years ago) link
"co-sign" as I believe the kids say
(rad covers too)
― Awesome Welles (admrl), Tuesday, 21 September 2010 04:20 (thirteen years ago) link
tip-o-the-hat to ALTERED ZONES, the world's greatest "international collective of music bloggers . . . highlight(ing) one of the more overlooked narratives in contemporary music -- the proliferation of home-recorded sounds, small-scale releases, and pockets of underground activity all over the world," for alerting me to the forthcoming disc.
― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 21 September 2010 04:23 (thirteen years ago) link
vol. 2 on emusic today
― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 21 September 2010 13:49 (thirteen years ago) link
love that 1st one, thanks for tipping me to this!
― sleeve, Tuesday, 21 September 2010 19:45 (thirteen years ago) link
Los Wembler's are in DC this week and I have seen them for free twice. Love their meld of chicha, cumbia and surf. They are doing a Brooklyn gig July 9 in addition to the DC ones.
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 2 July 2015 02:03 (eight years ago) link
These guys are my favorite. Masstropicas put out a six track thing of theirs a few years ago and I've sought out some more tracks on mysterious websites since then - they play a very romantic take on this stuff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_mj5RSVHqw
― Your Ribs are My Ladder, Thursday, 2 July 2015 08:49 (eight years ago) link