Chicha For The Jet Set (MP3s)

One of my current favorite CDs is the incredible compilation The Roots of Chicha: Psychedelic Cumbias from Peru, released last year on Barbes Records. I can't recommend it strongly enough, and you should really go out and buy it immediately, if you have not done so already.

Searching for more Chicha to satisfy my craving for irresistible good-times music, I recently found another compilation in a dark and dusty corner of the Internet. Called Chicha For The Jet Set, compiled by DJ Sonido Martines from Buenos Aires, it is apparently all ripped from vinyl 45rpm singles, and not available commercially (or on the blogosphere, for that matter). So here it is for free download, sure to cheer you up and get you dancing:

MP3s:
Amor Indio - Amor Indio | Los Esplendidos - Muchacha Provinciana | Los Clabeles de Pucallpa - Lamento del Maderero | Conjunto Génesis - Mi linda Haydee | Los Henry´s - Cumbia del Amor | Los Escorpiones - Los Sentimientos | Los Mirlos - La danza de los mirlos | Los Yabar Juniors - Marionetas | Grupo Rosado - El super corcho | Grupo Samoa - La Chinchilla | Amor Indio - Ave pa´ve | Manolo Avalos y su Conjunto Tropical - Cumbia la Cachaca | Mario Cavagnaro y Su Sonora Sensación - San Lázaro | Los Escorpiones - Igual me da | Manzanita - Serrano con orgullo | Los Iguales - Saca chaca | Los Mirlos - Lamento en la selva | Manzanita - Un sabado por la noche | Amor Indio - Chivato Bailarin | Los Iguales - El sonido de los mirlos

If you want more cumbias, check out DJ/Rupture's Mudd Up! show archives on WFMU. In fact, Sonido Martines dropped in twice in 2007 to answer questions and spin some music, on July 18 and on August 29. Listen to the archives and find out what the cumbia rebajada craze is all about. (My theory is cough syrup, but Sonido claims it has to do with bad batteries in Mexican sound systems.)

Comments

[John]

Thanks for the downloads! I love the Chica comp and interviewed compiler Olivier Conan - thought you might be interested -

http://shuffleboil.com/2007/10/29/the-roots-of-chicha-interview-with-olivier-conan/

[Neu Mejican]

I was pleased to find a Los Mirlos album on Rhapsody. I am looking forward to these.

[CapnWhizBang]

This is great. There seems to be a sonic glitch near the end of track 10 La Chinchilla. Thanks again for presenting this music.

[T. Leary]

Enjoyable tunes, but I question the use of the word psychedelic. I think it is quite a stretch to apply that word, if not downright dishonest. I see it often used by people who try to impart some kind of "coolness" to music in order to get phony hipsters to listen to it. It can stand on its own.

[spaceboy5367]

i bought this with great anticipation after seeing it in mojo (mojo gave it 4 stars.) upon listening to it...well, it's good. maybe very good (i've only listened to it a couple of times so far), but like T. Leary, i'm not hearing much "psych" in this. a little disappointed as a result. perhaps i'll listen to it again soon but psych this is NOT.

[Fernando]

Let's be fair. Although most people this side of the world can find the use of the term "psychedelic" to qualify this music, that is precisely how the public of Peru thought about it during its heyday. The application of "modern sounding" keyboards and vicious electric guitar solos to an Andean musical pattern was enough to make this music sound trippy to Peruvian ears. That, at a time in which Peruvians were also consuming psychedelic rock (so ignorance is not an argument here), was a use of the term that can befuddle some now, but not Latin-Americans.

[anonymous]

Thank you for these songs. My concern has also grown after listening Psychedelic Cumbias from Peru.