Psychedelia slipped into
the slums of Lima, Peru, by the late ’60s and merged
with local roots for a hybrid music called chicha. With The Roots of Chicha 2, American musician Olivier Conan returns to
the genre he helped expose to the wider world, compiling a wonderful collection
of tracks recorded from 1968-1981. Many of them feature rolling melodies,
African percussion and electric guitars—sometimes with the fuzzbox on.
Occasionally echoes of Santana are heard; mostly, the influences are harder to
track on soulful Latin numbers with haunting rainforest harmonies and elastic
rhythms perfect for the dance floor.
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