Peruvian Music "Mentirosa" (Liar) by Los Mirlos

Los Mirlos is a Peruvian musical group, emerged early in the 1970's, being founded by Jorge Rodriguez Grandez in Moyobamba, a city and capital of the San Martín Region in northern Peru.

Chicha is an indigenous music that was spontaneously created by the culture clash of the '60s when the Indian population of the Peruvian Amazon discovered the Columbian pop music known as cumbia and American rock & roll. As cheap electric instruments became available, Amazon Indians put together dance bands that used the syncopated beat of cumbia -- which sounds like a laid-back Latin cousin of ska -- as the foundation for melodies that sound like Andean folk tunes, played on electric guitar with lots of effects and Tex-Mex style Farfisa. When the Indians moved to the city, most notably Lima, they brought their music with them. Like Afro Peruvian music, chicha was frowned upon by the middle and upper classes, but unlike the music of Afro-Peru, chicha never gained an international following, until now. Oliver Conan, owner of the Barbés nightclub and record label, discovered the music on a recent trip to Peru. He also discovered that the label that put out a lot of the music had gone bankrupt and many of the master recordings were lost. Roots of Chicha: Psychedelic Cumbias From Peru CD and Book. The Roots of Chicha: Psychedelic Cumbias From Peru CD and Book

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Last updated: October 12, 2008