Call Mala late to the party. I’ve been hearing/reading about Chicha, the music genre, not the drink, for maybe two years now without actually hearing the music or sitting down to study it in depth. Enter into my mailbox, The Roots of Chicha 2, to be released on Barbès Records on October 12 (Dia de la Hispanidad fyi).

According to the press release, my own reading and listening, Chicha is a label given not just Peruvian cumbia dating from the late 60′s into the early 80′s, but a label given to anything coming out of the “ghettos” of Lima if you will. While the U.S. has hip hop and it’s predecessors, Peru and other countries in South America had cumbia. To this day, cumbia in Latin American countries where it hasn’t been mainstreamed (exceptions would be Colombia and Mexico) is considered music of the lower class.

The Roots of Chicha 2 features 16 tracks from 11 bands. The songs were recorded between 1968 to 1981 and reflect diverse influences that have to to do with chronological time and geography.

Many of tracks on the Roots of Chicha 2 have rhythms that come straight from Cuba. For example it’s hard to not mentally reference Perez Prado when hearing the first few seconds of el Diablo by Compay Quinto and reading the liner notes, the guitarist for the band specialized in Cuban music. You can hear old school Cuban guaracha in Silbando by Los Ribereños. Manazanita y su Conjunto’s El Hueleguiso sounds like it could be coming out of a house party in the Bronx in the 1970′s pero is firmly rooted in South America as well and their song, Agua, erases any doubt of the connection between chicha and other psychedelic rock hybrids globally.

Some of the cumbias I was actually familiar with, like Colegiala by Walter Leon y los Illusionistas but had no idea of their Peruvian origins.

Many of the songs on The Roots of Chicha 2 are light on the lyrics, reflecting that most of this music was party music pero there are exceptions. For example, Grupo Celeste’s Como un Ave bring cumbia with a little 70′s rock edge and a universal message of searching to fit in. And while A Trabajar by Chacalon y la Nueva Crema is a without a doubt a dance song, the lyrics about hard work reflect the working class roots of Chicha. Likewise, la Danza del Petrolero‘s only lyrics are that it’s the song of the oil worker but that’s enough to remind us of the origins of the music.

The Roots of Chicha 2 is pretty much an all male cd though and that machista energy can be heard in songs like Mala Mujer by Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical. I mean I get the whole lost love genre pero calling a woman “basura” grated and made me wonder if and where were the women of chicha. The only mujer voice we hear is on the song Paga la Cuenta Sinverguenza, which has an unnamed woman complaining about how her partner has money for beer and partying but not for the water bill, electricity or rent.

Despite that one complaint, the Roots of Chicha 2 was an enjoyable collection to listen to, dance to and learn from. You can pre-order the cd and hear some samples here.