After a short break we are back behind the wheel and making our way around continental America. I thought about bringing the Venezuelan leg forward in case it doesn't exist by the time we get to the letter V but in the end decided to stick with alphabetical order.
So this time out we are in Guatemala, which like many other countries in the region has suffered from US foreign policy and corporate greed. American interference throughout most of the 20th century contributed to a regular series of civil wars. Fortunately things have been relatively stable since a peace deal in 1996, with just old-fashioned corruption to worry about these days.
Guatemala is one of a number of countries for which I have struggled to find music online. While the Wikipedia entry for the music of Guatemala lists many names, a lot of them do not seem to be available though the usual channels. So I make no claims that what follows is representative, its just stuff I found and liked.
We will start with a couple of traditional(ish) acts. Jursino Cayetano is a Garifuna musician, a people of mixed African and Amerindian ancestry who have a minority presence in several countries in Central America. This track comes from the same compilation that we featured when we were back in Belize on the second leg of our journey.
The San Lucas Band were a shoo-in for the post when I read the blurb for their album "La Voz de las Cumbres": "The first reissue of cult 1974 recordings of a Mayan brass band playing funeral dirges and popular songs in its distinctive extended harmonic and rhythmic style". I have nothing to add.
Next we have a couple of bands featured on a series of six track EPs titled "Sonidos Perdidos de Guatemala 1969 - 1989". There are four volumes - the link is to the first one - and they are a sort of companion piece to the "Sonidos Perdidos de Centroamérica" compilation that we featured when we were in El Salvador (and will no doubt do so again). Like that album, they were released by Tujaal Sounds and are available on a name your own price basis.
Apple Pie were formed in 1967 by the classic line-up of Gentry Ordoñez, Rico Molina, Wicho Zelaya, and Tito Henkle. The track below was first released as a single in 1970. Of Mino I can find out nothing at all.
Probably the best known internationally of the artists being featured today is Gaby Moreno, who won a Grammy for the best Latin Pop album in 2024 and was named as one of the BBC's 100 Women of the Year the same year. This track from her 2012 album "Postales" is a cover of an old Cuban standard that has also been covered by the likes of Bing Crosby, Cliff Richard, Mari Wilson, Cake and Dennis Brown. I feel a Single Song Sunday coming on.
Sticking with the distaff side of the Guatemalan scene we next bring you Di WAV (Daniela Carpio to her Mum and Dad) and her distinctive brand of indie pop. The EP from which this track comes, "Masoquista", was the 18th most streamed Guatemalan record on Spotify in 2019, so you really have no excuse not to have heard of it before now.
Our penultimate act hail from the city of San Marcos in the west of the country. The Crystal Stones describe their music as a fusion of Rock-Pop, Noise Rock, Post Rock and Rock-Funk, or maybe just Rock for short. Today's track comes from their 2021 album "The Love Club".
We finish as always with the MAR slot, filled admirably on this occasion by La Dubvolution with a track from their 2011 album "3 Es Sonsuelto En Souldub". Its one of the better MAR entries of the series to date and is well worth a listen.
"Fádiri" - Jursino Cayetano
"El Son De Los Altos" - The San Lucas Band
"Llamate Hombre" - Apple Pie
"Nuestros Cuerpos Vamos A Quemar Al Sol" - Mino
"Quizás, Quizás, Quizás" - Gaby Moreno
"Dominos" - Di WAV
"Metaphor" - The Crystal Stones
"Soledad Enferma" - La Dubvolution
