RIP Mercedes Sosa - La Negra de Argentina

It's been a grim year for music losses. Of course, we had a King of Pop, the Princess of Andean Folk, and, although she's without a royal title, Argentinian folk icon Mercedes Sosa as well. Lovingly called La Negra for her dark hair, the singer passed away this past Sunday of kidney failure at the age of 74.

Back in the 70s, she recorded a version of Violetta Parra's "Gracias a la Vida" - "Thanks to Life," which became a prized song for South American leftists in those tumultuous times. Coming from the working-class sugar town of Tucuman, she became a member of the Communist Party in 1976, the start of the military dictatorship of General Jorge Rafael Videla during Argentina's "Dirty War." Her music was banned from airplay and was exiled to France and Spain in 1979, spending three years there before returning.



She came back this year with a big collaboration project "Cantora," which was ranked #1 in literally every Argentinian music store I went into this past August and also nominated for three awards at the upcoming Latin Grammy awards.

Thank you, the Black One, for your song and your struggle.

Who's buyin drinks? Little jam about payin the drink bill

Paga La Cuenta Sinverguenza - Manuel Samaniego

Alcoholism exists all over the globe for a lot of reasons, no? Other species get what the Irish call "The Thirst," as shown in the BBC segment on boozy monkeys. Then, we also see higher rates of alcoholism on low-income communities.

It's kind of a grim subject to breach on an otherwise light-hearted blog, but the drink often gets weaved into Peruvian music because it's a big part of chillin culture. Like I brought up in this piece, chicha music gets its name from the low strength, Incan corn beer that costs maybe $.13 American dolores. It's common to go through maybe 8-10 of these 16-20oz jars before wrapping up for the night and walking a surprisingly straight line back to wherever you're staying.

This song I came across at the "black market" near the bus station in Cuzco. I kinda also figured out the slang term for cash-money, which is plata. They're telling their friend to pay the chicha bill if he has money, ("Si tienes plata"), but he doesn't. It's always the question of the night and this song, with initial boozy banter over the start. Cop it!

Los Kipus - folkloric cumbia

The trio Los Kipus have been playing together for 50 years and taking traditional Peruvian folk with the occasional cumbia organ. They formed in 1955 when Luis Abanto Morales and Paco Maceda were 21, with Marcela Luna joining slightly later.



Great keys and vocal harmonies here and the video is a photo of a a girl from Chivay near Canyon Del Colca in Peru, who are known for their amazing hats (photo from my journey there below vid):

Covers of Los Hijos del Sol's "Cariñito"

I'm back in the US, my dog is great, and I'm able to sit down and digest these jams with my own computer, finally being able to make some mixes of what I've been immersed in for a past few months. Here are a couple of covers of the Los Hijos del Sol's big track "Cariñito." The track is often covered by local bands during live shows or put onto demos, always a staple to perfect if you want to get a lot of gigs. Here are a couple different takes on it, separated by about 25 years and varying in sound quality.

This version done by Los Flamencos has a slightly out of tune keyboard/guitar dynamic going on, not totally sharp, but a nice grainy production quality, making it as raw as your first attempts with a 4-track. They were part of the Iquitos jungle sound with other bands like Juaneco Y Sus Combo. Tune in on this:

Los Flamencos - Cariñito

Now here goes a version by cumbia/reggae/ska group Bareto, hometown heroes of the Barranco neighborhood in Lima. Of course, it's blessed with a pair of real life calendar girls shakin it on stage with them. I picked up a Barato mixtape and this song was not on it, so not sure if there's actually a recorded version of it.



Here's a version by a group who's name I haven't discovered yet. All these videos so far mandate a lot of booty for this particular track.



And then the original version performed live by Los Hijos Del Sol (with booty):



Grab that here, from an earlier post: Los Hijos Del Sol - Carinito

Thinking again about Charly Garcia

I´ve been very lucky on this trip because I´ve been finding some really great jams on the daily basis in formats that don´t usually function with the hostel I´m staying at. But luckily tonight, in Mendoza, Argentina, I found a place with a tape player. I thought I´d only be able to listen to tapes in my mom´s Buick, driving to get pastries at Cohen´s Bakery, but they had one here.

I had a long week in Buenos Aires. It´s very easy to have big nights there- starting your dinner at midnight, wrapping up around two, and then dancing till dawn with no probelms, which happened 7/8 nights. But on my last day, deciding whether to stay for the night or not, I walked around and found a cassette of Charly Garcia´s at a flea market (the "Modern Clicks" or "Clix Moderno" album), that sold choripan and G-N-R shirts.

I posted an item about him earlier and was not expecting to write about him again, buy the tape was great- really stellar 80s jams with a darker influence that Argentinians really love. Perfect mix of hostel resources and things I´ve been grazing on to make my night complete.

Before I get on the uploading of the tape, take a look at some more insight on Charly Garcia. The tape drove me to Youtube.gov:



an interview:



I really wasn´t wild about the Che song from below, but Argentinian enthusiasm for this man made me but the tape (see the comments on this vid). I hate to attach a western comparison to him, but he has the pop sensibilities of Elvis Costello and the lunacy of Charles Manson, save the bloodshed, all wrapped nearly 30 years of recording.

Here´s the track off the 1983 album "Modern Clix" that got me feelin him again:



another I discovered aroun:

Kumbia Queers - just what I was looking for

This band is exciting! Lead singer Ali Gau Gau moved from Mexico to Buenos Aires wanting to start some kind of new cumbia with punk influences. After coming up with the killer name "Kumbia Queers," the band formed and started doing cumbia covers of Sabbath, The Cure, and Madonna.

Everywhere you go in South America, homes, restaurants, etc., they have calendars of beer ads with very scantily clad women on them. I have seen one directly next to a photo of the Virgin Mary, too. Here´s a little homage to them:

Kumbia Queers - Chica De Calendario


With the Cure´s "Lovesong" as the backing track, Kumbia Dark got me laughing:

Kumbia Queers - Kumbia Dark


And a cover of Madonna´s "Like a Prayer"

Kumbia Queers - La Isla Con Chikas

Get at ém: http://www.myspace.com/laskumbiaqueers

Cabeza Crew here in Buenos Aires

Some wild, electrocumbia and dub mash ups here, with jams from Buju Banton, Prince, Marvin Gaye and some modern cumbia. Got in touch with these guys through my main point of contact here, cool fellow who runs La Cigale bar and a friend of DJ Dub Insurgent from back in New Orleans.

They have some electrocumbia parties at Club 69 and they´re having another one tonight at Niceto Club on Nicete Vega 5510. Get down if you´re in town!

CABEZA! 004 - Cumbia Booty - Sonido del Principe - 2009