Our third stop of our tour of the Americas finds us in Bolivia. I found compiling this post more of a challenge that I expected. It is probably something to do with the high altitude.
Nearly thirty percent of the country is up in the Andes which in musical terms can mean only one thing - bloody p*np*pes (or zampoña as they are called locally). We can't avoid them completely but we'll keep them to a minimum and get them out of the way quickly.
El Milagro Verde come from Cochabamba, the City of Eternal Spring, and their mission is to "reinvent the wonder of Bolivian folklore with the catchy sounds of cumbia and the energetic power of electronic music". Whether they have succeeded you can decide for yourself by listening to this track from their 2018 album "Orbital Chicha".
For unadulterated indigenous music you really need to get Luzmila Carpio involved. She is a performer of Quechua heritage who has long been a champion of the American Indian peoples in Bolivia, with a distinctive voice and the best bird impressions since the late Percy Edwards. We've chosen a tune from "Yuyay Jap'ina Tapes", a selection of her 1990s recordings that were remastered and reissued in 2014.
There is nothing remotely indigenous about the next couple of numbers, both of which were clearly influenced by noises being made way further north. From 1966 we have Los Bonny Boys Hot's from La Paz - perhaps not the best Bolivian band of that era but definitely the one with the best name, which is really the only reason they are here. This comes from their EP "Shakes Con Los Bonny Boys Hot's".
Around the same time back in Cochabamba Grupo 606 were making a name from themselves as one of Bolivia's finest purveyors of garage rock. This cover of a Blue Magoos tune was released on an EP in either 1967 or 1969 depending on who you ask. They are not to be confused with 606 Group the progressive rock duo from Stockport.
We skip forward now to 1979 where we find Jorge Quiroga, formerly of Grupo 606's rivals Los Grillos, attempting to fuse American rock and Andean folk music with his new band Huinca. This track comes from their self-titled first EP and is considered by aficionados to be their finest moment. They are not to be confused with the metal band from Chile with the same name.
Enough living in the past. We will bring things relatively up to date with our final three tunes. The first two are representatives of the Sound Of Young Bolivia. Some of the influences are fairly obvious but both bands are pretty decent in their own right. Both also hail from Cochabamba. It is clearly the hub of the Bolivian music scene.
First up is Astronauto Suburbano, whose "Aneural" album came out in 2020, followed by Chicas Delfin with a track from their self-titled 2018 EP. Information on both bands ranges from scant to non-existent, but you can find them both on Instagram if you really want to.
We round things off with an example of what they refer to locally as reggae boliviano (MAR to you and me). It is by Illapa Reggae - there is a clue in his name - and it comes from his 2016 album "Illapa". Listen carefully during the early part of the instrumental break and you can detect some p*np*pes that prove it is genuinely Bolivian.
"Potolo" - El Milagro Verde
"Wataq Killasnin" - Luzmila Carpio
"Torbellino" - Los Bonny Boys Hot's
"Busco Un Camino" - Grupo 606
"El Labrador" - Huinca
"Templo Gris" - Astronauto Suburbano
"Kaloba" - Chicas Delfin
"Mate Verde" - Illapa Reggae
We will start the videos with Bolivia's most popular folk group and their best known tune. Los Kjarkas celebrate sixty years in the business this year and our still going strong - the current line-up played a couple of shows in London back in April as part of a short European tour.
They call the song "Llorando Se Fue" and the tune has been used as the basis for many other records since they released theirs in 1981. The best known version led to Los Kjarkas taking legal action for being ripped off without permission. Many of you will recognise it I am sure.
You may not recognise any of the songs in the other videos but you will no doubt be humming along with them all in no time.
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