Chicha Libre

• country:
  USA
• region or city:
  North America
• style(s):
  Latin
• label:
  Crammed Discs
• type:
  Band
• gender:
  male
• instrumentation:
  instrumental, vocal
• artist submitted by:
  guilty76 artist management

Inspired by the Amazonian music craze that shares its name with the liquor favoured by the Incas and still very popular throughout Peru, this new Brooklyn-based band intoxicate with their potent mixture of Latin rhythms, surf music and psychedelic pop. Chicha Libre draw their inspiration from chicha, a form of Peruvian music that emerged in the early '70s, loosely derived from Colombian accordion-driven cumbias but incorporating Andean melodies, some Cuban son and heady swirls of surf guitar, farfisa organ and moog synth. Chicha Libre combine covers of forgotten chicha classics with French-tinged originals, re-interpret '70s pop classics (such as "Popcorn" and Joe Dassin/Toto Cutugno's 1975 hit "Indian Summer"), and even take some Ravel and Satie pieces to the cumbia cleaners. They pay homage with humour, pushing past pastiche into a strange, sun-blanched epiphany. Crazy.