The happiest dance music you've never heard
Jesse Kornbluth | New York | 10/14/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"When you finish reading this, you're likely to be the only person in your circle to know about chicha.
And if you bring "Masters of Chica, Vol. 1" into your home, you will almost certainly be putting this wonderful Peruvian sound into your local environment for the first time.
Chicha is that obscure.
And if you listen, this will make no sense to you, for those who have the good fortune to wander in while your chicha CDs are playing will say, in dazzled wonder, "This is great...uh, what is it?"
Good luck explaining how this music came to be invented in dive bars in Peru. Or how that Tex-Mex Farfisa organ got in there. Or why you hear surf music. And what demon slipped some LSD in the formula so there'd be a psychedelic vibe. And, not least, who ripped off the Sergio Leone Western-movie theme music.
These musicians are happy people, making music that makes other people happy. A very simple transaction, and unselfconscious, as befits music that sprang from the lower class and, if the taste-makers in South America have their way, will forever remain there.
Chicha is actually a kind of liquor, home-brewed from maize and cheaper than Coke. Peruvians drink a lot of it --- which is kind of the point. The Incas may have used it in their rituals; in Lima, it's the nickname for the Saturday night music of the working class. Which is to say: It gets you high.
"God respects us when we work, but He loves us when we dance," says the filmmaker Les Blank. If so, chicha is in God's top ten --- like Toots & the Maytals and Amadou & Mariam and Buena Vista Social Club, this music gets you out of your chair and moving in the very way that made Daddy want to lock your bedroom door.
Music despised by right-thinking people? In my experience, always a good sign.
"
Peruvian party music for poor people and dancers
Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | ...in Middle America | 12/08/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
""Chicha" music, an electrified version of the party tunes that came out of the Peruvian slums, became popular in the 1960s and '70s, when the solid-body electric guitars, keyboards and synthesizers of the North American rock scene became available to regional bands in South America. It's a giddy, propulsive genre that is hard to resist. In strict musical terms, it may seem a bit monotonous, but the addition of these modern instruments, along with their newfound amplification and distortion, added both a new sonic texture and a joyful physicality to the performances, just as they did a decade earlier when American country and blues evolved into electric rock and roll. The guitar tones are both rough and fluid, recalling the surf bands of the early '60s, and the vibrant energy still translates across several decades and a large cultural divide. This disc highlights one of the better-known bands of the admittedly obscure chicha scene, Juaneco Y Su Combo, led by Juan Wong Popolizio, a Peruvian-Chinese accordionist who took the band over from his father. Along with guitarist Noe Fachin -- whose emphatic, decisive guitar work is the core of the band's sound -- Wong forged the combo into one of the most dynamic and compelling of the chicha bands. This is a fun record, packed with perky, hopped-up versions of traditional Peruvian huaynos, joropos and other regional styles (...and great for cruising to, by the way...) Check it out, and you'll be hooked. (DJ Joe Sixpack, Slipcue music reviews)"
Stupendous
Edward R. Herrera | Santa Fe, NM, USA | 10/09/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This was a recommendation that Amazon.com made since I often buy Latin music. I heard a sampler of the tracks and was won over immediately. The beat is just outstanding and infectious, but hard to describe. It is really catchy music that makes you want to get up and dance. The combination of wah-wah, surf guitar, farfisa organ grafted onto a Colombian cumbia beat is truly unique and although Chicha music was the rage in the poor neighborhoods of Peru in the 70's and 80's, it really sounds quite contemporary. Tragically, many of the members of the original Juaneco y Su Combo group died in a plane crash in Peru and although the music didn't really catch on beyond the poor neighborhoods in its day; it is nevertheless one of these things that become popular over time once you learn to appreciate it better. I am truly happy with this purchase and would recommend it without the slightest reservation. If you like Latin music, if you like to dance, if your tastes are eclectic and broad then this CD will bring you many hours of enjoyment like it has brought me."
Track Listings (16) - Disc #1