The Roots of Chicha 2

The second in a series from Barbes Records documenting popular Peruvian music of the '60s and ‘70s, Roots of Chicha 2 further uncovers the wild blend of traditional and modern styles that led to the creation of Chicha, which is essentially an amplified, beat-driven take on Peruvian folk music. The genre emerged in the mid-‘60s, when large numbers of Peru’s rural poor migrated to urban areas in search of work and started adding amplification and foreign musical styles (like Colombian cumbia and American surf rock and R&B) into their music. This second volume of Roots of Chicha features sounds made by heavily surf-influenced groups such as Los Shapis, Los Walkers, and Compay Quinto, all of which made aggressive instrumentals that combined Dick Dale–style reverb-laden guitars with traditional Peruvian melodies and cumbia-influenced polyrhythms. The wildest sounds here, such as Manzanita Y Su Conjunto’s fuzz-drenched “Agua,” approach full-blown psychedelia, but most of the material here is more straightforward, if no less engaging.