Juaneco y su Combo

Masters of Chicha Vol. 1

BY Sergio ElmirPublished Jan 19, 2009

After the success of 2007's Roots of Chicha, Barbes Records returns with a series of albums dedicated to the Masters of Chicha. Chicha, which was born in Peru in the late '60s, takes its inspiration from Cumbia but focuses on Andean melodies with a splash of psychedelic surf guitars. One of the groups to popularize this genre was Juaneco y su Combo, who would combine Chicha with a similar percussion-based music from Latin America and, of course, psychedelic rock, creating some of the genre's most groove-inspired music, which remains as funky today as it did over 40 years ago. Taking much of their aesthetic from the Shipibo Indians that inhabited their hometown, the band would dress in traditional costumes, sing about the jungle and write songs under the influence of Ayahuasca, a shamanistic drug found in the Amazon rain forest. The result: hypnotic, hip-shaking, percussion-heavy, psychedelic-laden grooves perfect for hippies or hipsters of all-shapes and colours.
(Barbes)

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