Music Review: Various Artists -The Roots Of Chicha Psychedelic Cumias From Peru

I've always found the habit of referring to a genre of music as "fusion" sort of redundant. I mean, by now almost every form of music we listen to or perform is going to be the result of the fusion of earlier styles of music. Even music that we tend to think of as "original" or "roots" -- like Blues and old time Country -- were the result of fusion.

Some of the results of fusion haven't been the greatest, disco is pretty good example, as was some of the pabulum "sensitive" folk rock that came out in the '70s. Most times when fusion got bland was when the music started to be mass produced and creative control was wrested away from the bands who had built the original connection.

In the mid to late '60s, it wasn't just North Americans who were exploring this combining of musical style to create some thing new. All over the world people were experimenting with how they could use the new electric instruments in the music they were playing. From Laos in South East Asia to the mountains of Peru in South America people who only a generation ago hadn't even lived with electricity were discovering what could be done with amplified instruments.

One of the strangest blends of music that I've ever heard, but also one of the most infectious and happy, came out of Peru in the mid 1960s. Chicha Music, was a mixture of the indigenous music of Peru, Colombia's cumbia rhythms, surf rock wah wah pedal guitar, and rock and roll electric organ. "Chicha" is the name of a fermented corn drink that dates back to pre-Columbian times and has long associations with the indigenous peoples of Peru.

Like other areas of the world with oil deposits Peru experienced a boom in the '60s leading to the displacement and migration of its rural population into the cities. In the urban areas, they were exposed to Western Pop music for the first time and it was in the poor neighborhoods they occupied that Chicha originated. With Peru's rich tradition of guitar-based music it was only natural that the music was guitar centered, making the distinctive sound of the Southern California beach a major element.

Article Author: Richard Marcus

Richard Marcus is the author of the forthcoming book What Will Happen In Eragon IV? and has had his work published in print and on line all over the world. The not so long-haired Canadian iconoclast writes reviews and opines on the world as he sees …

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