LP / PERU SELVATICO. Sonic Expedition into the Peruvian Amazon 1972-1986

Perú Selvático
Sonic Expedition into the Peruvian Amazon 1972-1986
Analog Africa No. 34
Double 180-gram disc
Launched on December 16, 2022
Pressed in Germany

Less than 100 miles inland from the capital city of Lima lies the vast Peruvian jungle, an untamed land of impenetrable forests and endless, winding rivers. In its isolated towns, far removed from the trends of the capital, a unique musical style began to develop, inspired by the sounds of the surrounding forests, the flow of the mighty Amazon and Ucayali rivers, and the cumbia rhythms that drifted in from distant stations via transistor radios.

With the arrival of electricity, a new generation of young musicians began to plug in their electric guitars and replace accordions with synthesizers: Amazonian cumbia was born.

Driven by rapid-fire timbales, propelled by sharp, edgy guitar lines, and bathed in shimmering organ flourishes, Amazonian cumbia was like a hyperactive, distant cousin of surf rock, mixed with an all-night party in the heart of the jungle. While many of the genre's best tracks were instrumental and others simply celebrated jungle life, the goal of every song was to keep the party going.

Lima's radio stations remained oblivious to the new electric sounds emanating from the jungle, but a handful of pioneering record producers ventured across the mountain passes to cities like Tarapoto, Moyobamba, Pucallpa and even Iquitos — a city that can only be reached by boat or plane — and convinced dozens of bands to travel to the capital's recording studios and record their best songs.

Although many of them became local hits, few were heard outside the Amazon region… until now.

Featuring eighteen tracks from some of the biggest names in Amazonian cumbia, Perú Selvático is both the unlikely soundtrack to a beach party on the banks of the Amazon and a psychedelic safari through the jungle mysteries of the Peruvian rainforest.

-Analog Africa-

Tracklist. Duration: 50 minutes.

1. Los Royal's de Pucallpa — Descarga Royal — 3:30
2. Sonido Verde de Moyobamba — La Cervecita — 2:09
3. The Zheros — Virgin Jungle — 2:40
4. Grupo Siglo XX de Rioja — Moyobambina — 2:43
5. The Invaders of Progress — Smoke in the Jungle — 2:58
6. The Swans — The Hammock — 2:54
7. Tarapoto Youth Strawberry — Universal Cumbión — 3:35
8. The Tingo María Rangers — La Trochita — 2:40
9. The Invaders of Progress — The Buche Ball — 3:21
10. Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical — Bailando en el Infinito — 2:56
11. The Swans — Jungle Safari — 2:52
12. Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical — Baila Bonito — 2:55
13. The Zheros — Alibaba — 2:43
14. Juvenile Strawberry of Tarapoto — La Palmerita — 2:57
15. Green Sound of Moyobamba — Remembering Aguaytía — 2:18
16. Grupo Siglo XX de Rioja — El Pasito de Miriam — 2:51
17. The Swans — River Sea — 2:34
18. Los Zheros — La Uñita — 2:22

Compiled by: Samy Ben Redjeb
General Producer: Jorge Alan Pimentel
Text: James Matos Tuesta
Recording engineer: Michael Graves
Translation: Brendan James Flannery
Text editing: Jesse Simon

Special thanks to: Jorge Reyes Miranda, Leonardo Vela Rodríguez, Ygor Olaf López Ríos, Homero Llerena Velásquez, Luis Artur Alván Bardales, Margot Marquesta, Ureta Paucar, Walter Paima Vásquez, Dalmace Ríos Ruiz, Luis Seijas Peña, José Lorenzo Alván Vásquez, Iván Solsol, Luis Flores, Víctor Zela, Adolfo Barrera Rodríguez, Chico Unicornio.

This project is dedicated to the memory of Jorge Solsol Miranda and Ygor Olaf López Ríos.