Release Date: 09 July 2021
Label: Analog Africa
Packaging Type: Gate Fold Vinyl
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 4260126061477
Genres: World Music Latin Music
Description
New Ltd Dance Edition Vinyl from Analog Africa
I was in Lima, hanging out with collector-extraordinaire Victor Zela, who had spent the previous few years pouring
his passion for Peruvian Cumbia into the blog "la cumbia de mis viejos", a trove of incredible music. But after the
birth of his first child, his priorities shifted and he decided to part with some of his rarest LPs. I was one of the
lucky few given an early chance to examine his treasures, and when I picked up the album Manzaneando com
Manzanita, Victor said: "Take it! its one of the best LPs ever recorded in Perú … easily in the top five". That was
all the encouragement I needed … two years later many of the songs from that masterpiece have made it onto
Manzanita y su Conjunto, a compilation of electrifying Cumbia sides from Manzanita's golden era.
Berardo Hernández – better known as Manzanita – first surfaced during the psychedelic Cumbia craze. At the
head of the scene were the magnificent Los Destellos, whose leader, Enrique Delgado, was such a six-string
wizard that other guitarists found it impossible to escape his shadow. But when Manzanita arrived, his electric
criollo style sent shockwaves through Lima's music scene and posed a serious threat to Delgado's dominance as
king of the Peruvian guitar.Manzanita had come to Lima from the coastal city of Trujillo, five hundred miles up the coast – a place where
Spanish, African and indigenous populations had been living and making music together for centuries – and came
of age at a time when the first wave of psychedelic rock from the US and UK was starting to sweep the airwaves.
But the sounds of Cream and Hendrix disappeared from the radio just as quickly in 1968 when Juan Velasco
seized control of the country in a military coup. The new regime, which favoured local traditions over cultural 'imports' from the north, was a blessing in disguise for the Peruvian music scene.
Record labels flourished as new bands, raised on a hybrid diet of electric guitars and Cuban rhythms, rushed in
to fill the vacuum created by the lack of imported rock. A new genre, known as Peruvian cumbia, was born and
Manzanita quickly became one of its most original voices.
Starting in 1969, Manzanita y su Conjunto released a steady stream of singles that used Cuban guaracha
rhythms as the foundation for dazzling electric guitar lines. After countless 45s and several years on the touring
circuit, the band signed to Virrey, an important Peruvian label, and recorded two LPs acknowledged as masterpieces among aficionados of tropical music. Most of the songs on Analog Africa's new compilation Manzanita y su
Conjunto are drawn from those legendary sessions of 1973 and 74.
Although he scored a few more hits in the later 70s, his dissatisfaction with the music industry caused him to
withdraw from the scene for several years; and when he finally retired for good, the golden age of Peruvian cumbia was a distant memory. But when Manzanita was at the top of his game he had few equals. Victor Zela was
right: this is some of the best music ever recorded in Perú.
Tracklisting
Various Artists
The Good Samaritans
Various Artists
Sonido Verde de Moyobamba
Ernesto Djedje
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
