I’ve been following Mike
P’s career with his MassTropicas record label since the beginning, when he
unleashed the peculiar and totally cool 45 “Recordando a Marion/Cumbia
delincuencial” by Los Faubulosos Chapillacs from Arequipa, Peru. All of his
subsequent releases have been refreshing and exciting, and he’s helped me gain
a deeper understanding of the diversity of music that Peru has produced over
the decades. He has doggedly stuck to his DIY punk roots, and remains loyal to
the archaic formats of vinyl and cassette tapes, despite what others who
consider themselves more business savvy may tell him to do. Above all I have
admired his honesty, hard work, and dedication to bringing out stuff that no
one else has; through it all, his fundamentally decent character – he always
wants to do right by the musicians and license things properly, for instance –
has been a shining path as it were, and it’s no wonder people like the folks at Light In The
Attic and Will "Quantic" Holland have taken notice.
For me, my interest in
the music of Peru started a bit earlier, though I’m ashamed to say that growing
up the only Peruvian “tropical” (i.e. Afro-influenced) artists I knew were the
ones who had made it to the New York salsa scene of the 70s – Melcochita and
his sister Lita Branda. I had no idea about home-grown Peruvian cumbia, rock,
or mambo. I always loved Melcochita and Lita’s sound but just assumed they were
Cuban (they did those great old-school Sonora Matancera sounding records on SAR
Records), until I found out later they were from, of all places, Lima, Peru –
who knew?!? And who knew they had careers in their home
country long before the Big Apple called them to sing salsa?
Anyway, then in the 80s, it
was the Afro-Peruvian and Andean folk recordings that my aunt brought back from
her trips to the country that caught my ear. A little later it was the 2
Afro-Peruvian divas: sexy Eva Ayllon and the super-talented Susana Baca, who
had emerged from that folkloric “criollo” scene that suddenly came to my
attention through albums they recorded and released in the USA during the
1990s. And of course there were the Rough Guide and Luaka Bop compilations to
further educate me, as well as some “world music” concerts in the UK and NYC
featuring the wonderful Afro-Peruvian troupes that reminded me so much of my
beloved Cuban rumba and guaguancó ensembles, right down to their use of clave
and cajón (percussion boxes).
But when Vampisoul
Records released their brilliant “Back To Peru” Volume 1 compilation in 2002,
it was like a flaming meteor had crashed in my front yard, fallen to Earth from
Planet Peruviana, and it was then that a whole new world revealed itself, and
the incredible psychedelic spectrum of vintage popular music form that splendid
country opened up before me like the diverse landscapes of Machu Picchu to
Cuzco, Iquitos to Arequipa, Titicaca to Nazca to La Victoria (Lima)… as seen
through some sort of magic prism that spun out of the black hole in the center
of my record player. And then a short time later, when they invited me to
design their Gozalo! Tropical Bugalu series, I was hooked. I was very excited
when they shared with me the first Cumbia Beat compilation before it was
officially released – and now their volume 2 is out, and even better (if that’s
possible). And then, in the midst of my salsa nightclub gigs, from the totally
modern perspective (though roots inflected), came Nova Lima, mixing acoustic
Afro-Peruvian folk and clubby electronica with salsa and dub, seemingly out of
the blue (Mike is going to correct that impression too – you’ll see, he’s
working on putting out their very earliest recordings when they were a hardcore
punk band, showing their evolution/history goes back farther!).
Around the same time, I
enjoyed opening for this funny little upstart New York band called Chicha Libre
in concert, as they were a lot of fun to hear and dance to, and band leader
Olivier Conan’s subsequent chicha compilations were also highly entertaining
and informative. Now the band has matured, though they have not lost their
sense of humor, and I love it even more.
Around this same time
that I stumbled on Chicha Libre and the Club Barbés scene in Brooklyn, I became
friends with Cecilia Noël, a Peruvian singer of great talent and strong
personality who I cherish as a friend to this day. I introduced her to Mike’s
discovery Los Chapillacs, and she helped tame them long enough (with her money,
professionalism, expertise, artistic talent, experience, decency and drive) to
actually get them to record and complete an entire album (brilliant!!), a super
cool slab of spaced out cumbia craziness called “Odisea Cumbia 3000” that still
needs to be released outside of the band’s home country (US indie labels, are
you listening??). Then I did my most ambitious compilation project to date, the
triple CD “Beginner's Guide To Cumbia” for Nascente, and of course, Mike was
there to help me get together some awesome cumbia peruana tracks (thanks again,
Mike!). Seemed like Peru was here to stay in my life!
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| The cover for my Beginner's Guide to Cumbia (my lettering and art direction). |
But back to
MassTropicas. All the while during the time I was doing these other Peru-based
projects, Mike was ceaselessly searching for the next intriguing sound,
wandering far into the jungle with his recording equipment, searching deep into
moldy dusty back rooms and basements for unreleased tapes, following the trail
of some long lost musician to interview him and license obscure tracks, or even
traipsing through Lima’s hot streets to record a legless one-man-band! But
always in search of both contemporary and vintage sounds to excite and confound.
Along the way I helped a little here and there, mostly with scanning images for
him, or mastering rare tracks from vinyl sources when original tapes were not
available, and of course writing record jacket blurbs; it’s been an honor to
check out and give feedback on Mike’s test pressings and Bruno Guerra’s
wonderful graphics before the product hits the market.
I thank Mike, Vampisoul,
and Olivier (and Quantic too) for helping me discover artists who I now know well, love, and play
frequently, but had no clue about when I was first getting into Latin music.
Artists like Juaneco y su Combo, Coco Lagos, Alfredito Linares, Félix Martínez,
Enrique Lynch, Los Destellos, Grupo 2000, Conjunto El Opio, Los Ilusionistas,
Ranil, Chacalon, Grupo Naranja, Carlos Hayre, Carlos Pickling, Nilo Espinoza,
Mario Allison, Ñico Estrada, Los Yorks, Los Mirlos, Manzanita, El Combo de
Pepe, Pedro Miguel y sus Maracaibos, Carlos Centeno, and the granddaddy of them all, Lucho
Macedo, etc. – too many to list here! To realize that Peru’s music history is
as rich and incredible as that of any other Latin country, and that its
“tropical” feeling is as deep and Afro-inspired as the countries one generally
thinks of as more African influenced (Cuba, Puerto Rico, the DR, Colombia), is
nothing short of an epiphany for me of a magnitude that I am still coming to
grips with today, a decade after the first world-shattering “Back To Peru”
compilation (and I can tell you now, the second volume tops the first!). In
fact, that compilation is what inspired me to do "The Afrosound of Colombia, Vol. 1" for
Vampisoul!
So, what is the next
chapter in this Peruvian saga? For me, it’s an upcoming CD/LP for the World
Music Network folks entitled "The Rough Guide to Latin Psychedelia" (due out next
Spring) that has a very healthy dose of Peruvian psychedelic salsa, funk, and
cumbia, including some never before remastered rarities, and an entire bonus
disc dedicated to the most crazy recordings of my beloved Destellos, some never
before on CD. Again, I owe it to Mike for helping me with these selections.
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| Mock-up for the forth-coming RG to Latin Psych (my design) |
And for MassTropicas,
what is Mike up to now??
Well, it’s a brilliant new release called “Cocinando” (anything with that title is
already dear to my heart!) by a guy who called himself Martín López, and the
sound is as close as Mike has gotten to actual “salsa” (i.e. Cuban dance music
filtered through New York with Puerto Rican and Dominican flavors) thus far.
From the awesome cover art by the ever-talented Bruno to the super informative
liner notes – some from Martín López himself – this release is sure to get
those old-school salsa fanatics salivating, and it sheds light on an obscure chapter
in the history of the mighty MAG records and the stop-start career of
vocalist/musician/policeman Pedro López Valladres, also known professionally as
Martín López. The time period is classic old-school, 1969 – 1971, and there are
some cool covers of Fania-related classics here (“Sonero” and “Mi Ritmo Te
Llama”), as well as some tracks with no brass and lots of bouncy electric
guitar courtesy of the genius from surf group Los Belkings, Raúl Herrera, in
the classic Peruvian tropical mode. Make no mistake – this is not your
Nuyorican salsa; it’s actually quite a diverse mix of genres, but I do think
salsa and boogaloo collectors will like this record a lot more than they might
think. Great sound quality too, as these were remastered from the
original tapes, and fully licensed from MAG.
Check out the artwork here on my blog for a taste of the excellent packaging,
and BUY this album soon as it comes out – you won’t be disappointed.
