Peruvian cumbia
Encyclopedia
Peruvian cumbia or Chicha is a subgenre of Cumbia
that became popular in the coastal cities of Peru
, mainly in Lima
in the 1960s through the fusion of local versions of the original Colombian genre, traditional highland huayno
, and rock music
, particularly Surf rock. The term Chicha is more frequently used for the pre-1990s variations of the subgenre.
Unlike other styles of cumbia, the Chicha subgenre's harmonics are based on the pentatonic scale
typical of Andean music
. It is played with keyboards or synthesizers and up to three electric guitars that can play simultaneous melodies, an element derived from the harp and guitar lines of Andean huayno
. The rhythmic electric guitar in chicha is played with upstrokes, following patterns derived from Peruvian coastal Creole Waltz. Chicha songs contain electric guitar solos, following the rock music
tradition.
electric organ
through Amazonian bands like Juaneco y su Combo. Chicha
, which is named after a corn-based liquor favored by the Incas, quickly spread to Lima. It became the music of choice of the mostly indigenous new migrant population. By the mid-1980s it had become the most widespread urban music in Peru.
The first Chicha hit, and the song from which the movement has taken its name, was "La Chichera" (The Chicha Seller) by Los Demonios del Mantaro (The Devils of Mantaro), who hailed from the central highlands of Junin
. Band Los Destellos, formed in Lima en 1966, brought electric guitars to Chicha and consolidated its characteristic features by integrating in it elements of Peruvian Andean folklore, Peruvian Creole Waltz, Cuban music and Rock music
.
During the 1980s the Amerindian immigrants to coastal cities that nurtured the subgenre became working and middle class individuals and a market for Chicha commercial radio. The Pharaoh of Cumbia, Chacalon, became one of the most popular Chicha artists through his hit "Soy provinciano" (I am from the province) and vibrant concerts. Another famous band in the 1980s were Los Shapis
, a provincial group established by their 1981 hit "El Aguajal" (The Swamp), a version of a traditional huayno.
The strong influence of Mexican tecnocumbia
became evident on the evolution of Peruvian cumbia in the 1990s. Efforts by Argentina-based Grupo Néctar
and others gave it regional recognition. Its decline during the late 1990s was followed by a revival that began in 2007. To the Andean, Northern, Amazonian and Central varieties of Chicha, a Romantic one was added, influenced by new songwriters, romantic Salsa music
and romantic Latin ballads.
Los Shapis
' standard "El Ambulante" (The Street Seller) opens with a reference to the rainbow colours of the Inca flag and the colour of the ponchos the people use to keep warm and transport their wares. "My flag is of the colours and the stamp of the rainbow / For Peru and America / Watch out or the police will take your bundle off you! / Aye, aye, aye, how sad it is to live / How sad it is to dream / I'm a street seller, I'm a proletarian / Selling shoes, selling food, selling jackets / I support my home."
Current exposure of all social classes of Peru to Chicha as well as a renovation in lyrical content, to include expressions of animation have led to its revival.
Electric guitars make extensive use of the fuzzbox and the wah-wah pedal
following the influence of Surf rock in Chicha.
The influence of Salsa has seen the recent inclusion of wind instruments in some Peruvian cumbia bands.
Cumbia
Cumbia is a music genre popular across Latin America. The cumbia originated in the Caribbean coast of Colombia, where it is associated with an eponymous dance and has since spread as far as Mexico and Argentina...
that became popular in the coastal cities of Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, mainly in Lima
Lima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
in the 1960s through the fusion of local versions of the original Colombian genre, traditional highland huayno
Huayno
Huayno is a genre of popular Andean Music and dance from Andean countries. It is especially common in Peru. It originated in Serrania, Peru as a combination of traditional rural folk music and popular urban dance music...
, and rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, particularly Surf rock. The term Chicha is more frequently used for the pre-1990s variations of the subgenre.
Unlike other styles of cumbia, the Chicha subgenre's harmonics are based on the pentatonic scale
Pentatonic scale
A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave in contrast to a heptatonic scale such as the major scale and minor scale...
typical of Andean music
Andean music
Andean music comes from the general area inhabited by Quechuas, Aymaras and other peoples that lived roughly in the area of the Inca Empire prior to European contact. It includes folklore music of parts of Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela...
. It is played with keyboards or synthesizers and up to three electric guitars that can play simultaneous melodies, an element derived from the harp and guitar lines of Andean huayno
Huayno
Huayno is a genre of popular Andean Music and dance from Andean countries. It is especially common in Peru. It originated in Serrania, Peru as a combination of traditional rural folk music and popular urban dance music...
. The rhythmic electric guitar in chicha is played with upstrokes, following patterns derived from Peruvian coastal Creole Waltz. Chicha songs contain electric guitar solos, following the rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
tradition.
Origins and development
Chicha started out in the 1960s in the oil-boom cities of the Peruvian Amazon. Loosely inspired by Colombian cumbia, it incorporated the distinctive pentatonic scales of Andean melodies, Cuban percussion, and the psychedelic sounds of surf guitars, wah-wah pedals and moog synthesizers. Chicha absorbed elements of the music of the Amazonian regions of Peru and the use of the FarfisaFarfisa
Farfisa is a manufacturer of electronics based in Osimo, Italy.The Farfisa brand name is commonly associated with a series of compact electronic organs, and later, a series of multi-timbral synthesizers. At the height of its production, Farfisa operated three factories to produce instruments, in...
electric organ
Electric organ
In biology, the electric organ is an organ common to all electric fish used for the purposes of creating an electric field. The electric organ is derived from modified nerve or muscle tissue...
through Amazonian bands like Juaneco y su Combo. Chicha
Chicha
For the musical genre, see Peruvian cumbiaChicha is a term used in some regions of Latin America for several varieties of fermented and non-fermented beverages, rather often to those derived from maize and similar non-alcoholic beverages...
, which is named after a corn-based liquor favored by the Incas, quickly spread to Lima. It became the music of choice of the mostly indigenous new migrant population. By the mid-1980s it had become the most widespread urban music in Peru.
The first Chicha hit, and the song from which the movement has taken its name, was "La Chichera" (The Chicha Seller) by Los Demonios del Mantaro (The Devils of Mantaro), who hailed from the central highlands of Junin
Junín, Cundinamarca
Junín is a municipality and town of Colombia in the department of Cundinamarca....
. Band Los Destellos, formed in Lima en 1966, brought electric guitars to Chicha and consolidated its characteristic features by integrating in it elements of Peruvian Andean folklore, Peruvian Creole Waltz, Cuban music and Rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
.
During the 1980s the Amerindian immigrants to coastal cities that nurtured the subgenre became working and middle class individuals and a market for Chicha commercial radio. The Pharaoh of Cumbia, Chacalon, became one of the most popular Chicha artists through his hit "Soy provinciano" (I am from the province) and vibrant concerts. Another famous band in the 1980s were Los Shapis
Los Shapis
Los Shapis is a chicha group from Peru. They rose to prominence with their 1981 hit song, El Aguajal , a modern adaptation of traditional huayno. They were noted for their rainbow coloured costumes....
, a provincial group established by their 1981 hit "El Aguajal" (The Swamp), a version of a traditional huayno.
The strong influence of Mexican tecnocumbia
Tecnocumbia
Tecnocumbia is a style of Cumbia were there is a fusion between electronic sounds generated by electronic musical instruments through electronic drums, the electric guitar, and . The "Tecnocumbia" was a word developed in Mexico to describe this type of music...
became evident on the evolution of Peruvian cumbia in the 1990s. Efforts by Argentina-based Grupo Néctar
Grupo Néctar
The band Grupo Néctar was cumbia peruana/cumbia andina style band that formed in Buenos Aires in 1994. The band had achieved great popularity in Peru and amongst Peruvian diaspora communities worldwide...
and others gave it regional recognition. Its decline during the late 1990s was followed by a revival that began in 2007. To the Andean, Northern, Amazonian and Central varieties of Chicha, a Romantic one was added, influenced by new songwriters, romantic Salsa music
Salsa music
Salsa music is a genre of music, generally defined as a modern style of playing Cuban Son, Son Montuno, and Guaracha with touches from other genres of music...
and romantic Latin ballads.
Lyrics
While most lyrics are about love in all its aspects, nearly all songs reveal an aspect of the harshness of the Amerindian experience - displacement, hardship, loneliness and exploitation. Many songs relate to the great majority of people who have to make a living selling their labour and goods in the unofficial "informal economy", ever threatened by the police.Los Shapis
Los Shapis
Los Shapis is a chicha group from Peru. They rose to prominence with their 1981 hit song, El Aguajal , a modern adaptation of traditional huayno. They were noted for their rainbow coloured costumes....
' standard "El Ambulante" (The Street Seller) opens with a reference to the rainbow colours of the Inca flag and the colour of the ponchos the people use to keep warm and transport their wares. "My flag is of the colours and the stamp of the rainbow / For Peru and America / Watch out or the police will take your bundle off you! / Aye, aye, aye, how sad it is to live / How sad it is to dream / I'm a street seller, I'm a proletarian / Selling shoes, selling food, selling jackets / I support my home."
Current exposure of all social classes of Peru to Chicha as well as a renovation in lyrical content, to include expressions of animation have led to its revival.
Musical instruments
Unlike traditional Cumbia from Colombia, Peruvian Chicha bands feature electric lead and rhythm guitars, electric bass, electric organ, electronic percussion and synthesizer. There are one or more vocalists who may simultaneously play percussion plus timbales and conga players. There are no accordions nor woodwinds.Electric guitars make extensive use of the fuzzbox and the wah-wah pedal
Wah-wah pedal
A wah-wah pedal is a type of guitar effects pedal that alters the tone of the signal to create a distinctive effect, mimicking the human voice...
following the influence of Surf rock in Chicha.
The influence of Salsa has seen the recent inclusion of wind instruments in some Peruvian cumbia bands.