fR321 PAGE 15_Layout 1 27/01/2010 12:56 Page 1
root salad
15 f
Chicha Libre
Psychedelic jungle surf cumbia fever! Jamie Renton
meets up with the man who kickstarted chicha mania.
F
or a musical style cooked up in Peru’s
Amazon jungle 40 years ago, chicha
is decidedly cool at the moment, a
fact which can be pretty much
attributed to one man: genial French-born,
New-York-based musician, label boss and
all-round groover and shaker Olivier
Conan. He has introduced a whole new
generation to this unlikely blend of
wigged-out surf guitar, jumpy Colombian
cumbia and local rhythms via a pair of
releases on his Barbès label: the wonderful
The Roots Of Chicha compilation and
¡Sonido Amazonico!, the debut album by
Conan’s own band of smoky, twangy
chicha revivalists Chicha Libre, that later
got wider release via Crammed. And here
he is now, perched on a sofa and ready to
talk. We’re in the shabby-chic upstairs bar
of Dalston’s happening venue Passing
Clouds, there’s thumping bass coming
from downstairs, courtesy of DJ Russ
Jones’ (see fR259/60) excellent tropical
dance session Arriba La Cumbia, at which
Chicha Libre will later play a live set.
Like Gareth Finnegan, leader of the
UK’s own chicha rebels Los Chinches (see
fR317/318), Olivier got bitten by the tropical
twang bug on a trip to Peru. He’d gone over
to check out Afro-Peruvian sounds, but
picked up some chicha CDs from street ven-
dors and was seriously smitten. “It sounded
like all the elements in music that I love, but
in a different order,” he recalls, “kinda like
the music you’d always wanted to hear!”
Returning to NY, he got together with some
musician mates and started messing with tric guitarist Vincent Douglas: “He’s had America… all these traditional musicians
chicha, initially just for fun. “We tried to at that surf sound with African influences for started experimenting with exciting new
first copy it, then emulate it, then run with it as long as I’ve known him,” Olivier sounds. They were getting into the first
as much as we can, using our own environ-
explains, “so it was all there, a perfect cheap electric organs and guitars that
mental influences and backgrounds; ways
fit.” Bass player Nick Cudahay was a were so much fun to play with and this
that are different to what they do in Peru,
founder member of ‘90s ‘Bachelor Pad’ had a huge impact on their development.
but very similar in approach.”
indie meets easy listening pioneers Com- But then the western element kind of
They had no qualms about adding
bustible Edison. “He understands that
won over and it got more codified and
their own stuff to the mix. After all, like all thing that’s above kitsch, but works in the
normalised in ways that are not as
of the finest sounds, chicha’s a crazy mix- same way.” The percussion section of Greg
exciting I think. So that’s where we draw
up in the first place. Legend has it that the Burrows and Timothy Quigley have
back from, that tender period.”
music’s ‘60s originators would sit in their between them played klezmer, jazz and Their album offers a good reflection
Amazon jungle homes trying to play all rock: “New York musicians are like that, of their sound and they’ve already devel-
the wild sounds they heard coming out of they just play everything, which is why it’s oped enough material for a follow-up
their long-wave radios: cumbia, Brazilian such a great place to live.” but, when I spoke to Olivier, they were
beats, US psychedelia… chuck in a barrel- holding back on recording until they’d
load of Peruvian rhythms and voila, a mon-
grel tropical rock ‘n’ roll sound is born.
“We started out sounding like a pretty
B
ack home in the US, CL mainly
perform in rock clubs, often
completed a debut tour of Peru in the
supporting kindred spirits Dengue
autumn. The prospect of taking their
Fever (see fR298) who take a
musical coals to Newcastle holds no fear,
average chicha band,” Olivier admits, “but
similar approach to music from a very
as they’ve already received very
we’ve developed our own chemistry.”
different part of the world. “There are
favourable responses from the sizeable
Crucial to this development has been other bands like that popping up left and
Peruvian communities in New York, LA
the consistency of band members. Chicha right, drawing on both early rock and pre-
and Washington DC. “We’re two French-
Libre still feature the same six musicians rock things,” reckons Olivier, “redefining
men and four gringos, but our sound has
they started out with three years ago. what rock means. The mid ‘60s to the
been validated by bona fide Peruvians!”
There’s Olivier on cuatro and vocals, Josh early ‘70s was a vibrant time for music
Chicha Libre should tour Europe again
Camp on electric piano and Electravox (a from all around the world: whether it was
in summer 2010.
synthesised organ/ accordeon), plus elec- being made in Asia, Africa, South
www.myspace.com/chichalibre F
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