Classical Peruvian chicha cumbia band Los Destellos running through New York with DJ assistance by Geko Jones and Benoit of Masala & La Congona.

You may have heard Los Destellos as remixed by Sonido Martines a year or two back:

Los Destellos – Elsa (Sonido Martines remix feat Fefe)

Sonido tracked down Los Destellos, explained to them what was going on in the slippery world of ‘new cumbia’, and with their blessings got permission to flip this remix. Now-thing realness with respect for the foundational musicans!

Head over to RCRDLBL to get an exclusive tune from the new cumbia / cumbia digital compilation, put together by the deepest digger we know, Sonido Martines!

Los Destellos – Elsa (Sonido Martines remix feat Fefe)

the jam in question is Sonido himself remixing legendary Peruvian chicha cumbia band, Los Destellos de Enrique Delgado, with remix assistance by Fefe, a Brazilian firecracker on the mic. In one example of how Sonido Martines works, he tracked down Los Destellos, explained to them what was going on in the slippery world of ‘new cumbia’, and with their blessings got permission to flip this remix. Now-thing realness with respect for the foundational musicans!

the comp esta muy wapo… Sonido Martines presents: Nueva Cumbia Argentina! fresh heat from nu-skoolers like El Hijo de la Cumbia, Fauna, and Chancha Via Circuito, and visionary early material from DJ Taz and Damas Gratis, and more! 12″ and digital out now: iTunes / Amazon / Boomkat, etc. K VIVA LA KUMBIA!!

Yes, he’ll be playing the incredible ‘One Step Beyond’ party at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan on November 13th, with DJ /rupture, Maluca, Matt Shadetek & Jahdan Blakkamoore (more on this soon). That happens on Friday. The following day the cumbia will be concentrated:

First up, a breezy mix by Novalima, who are playing NYC’s Le Pouisson Rouge (w/ support from Geko Jones) on July 16th.

This one kicks it with new versions of chicha classics by Juaneco “ya se ha muerto mi abuelo”, Los Mirlos, etc. and afro-peruvian grooves, tasteful clubby edits holding it all together.

Novalima – Selector v1 mix

they say:

1.- “La danza de los Mirlos (novalima remix)”*unreleased. Los Mirlos traditional 70′s cumbia reversion by Bareto, cumbia revival band from lima, remixed by novalima)
2.- “Macaco (novalima remix)”*unreleased – Batata y su Son Palenquero , one of the greatest afro colombian artists, our friend Lucas Silva “Champeta Man” gave us the tracks of this great trad song to remix)
3.- “El abuelo (novalima remix) – Bareto” *unreleased. Made popular by Juaneco y su Combo in the 70′s, another cumbia reversion by Bareto remixed by novalima
4.- “Tumbala” (da lata remix) this is a great afrobeat-brazilian remix by chris frank whom we’ve known since the “afro” sessions in london back in 2004, with additional vocals by da lata’s nina miranda. This track digs out cotito’s “lost verse” from tumbala which somehow didnt make it into the original version in the album
5.- “el niche” sabor y control. Our favorite peruvian salsa dura band, led by bruno majer (who sings mujer ajena in coba coba) and constantino, novalima’s timbales player
6.- “bandolero (kv5 remix)” great remix in a jamaican stylee by marc lee from london based kv5. Previously unreleased
7.- bomba (coba soundsystem) this track was the last track we finished before releasing coba coba, coba soundsystem is a.k.a. novalima dj’s rpp,rm,gs. Bomba plena an electro latin dancefloor groove
8.- tumbala (oreja remix) seiji’s house rework for tumbala.

Meanwhile Sonido Martines is playing some crazy NYE party outside Paris with the Extra Action Marching band – his plane had to make an emergency landing in Sao Paolo because something was broken and/or on fire.

traveling from one continent to another always means time out of joint.

Rebajadas/Screw music also mean time out of joint. Here’s an ill Destellos screw, they lean towards swampy country rock when that chord change hits. Powerful! Sluggish!

Los Destellos – A Patricia (Rebajada a la Congona)

this is from a 7″ in a grimy white sleeve, unlike the colorful psychedelia below.

more translation from Raúl Romero’s Andinos Y Tropicales:

Founded in Lima in 1968 by Enrique Delgado (1949-1996), Los Destellos used two electric guitars, an electric bass, and a drumkit. The congos and bongos would come later, and, in the mid-70s’, a synth…

Delgado, the lead guitarist, mixed straight instrumental cumbias with sung versions. At the song’s beginning he’d play the full melody in his characteristic style: clean, open, with slight reverb. For the final section his guitar would fill the singer’s pauses with riffs and melodic counterpoint…

But Enrique Delgado’s contributions to Peruvian cumbia went beyond playing style. In terms of repertorie, he introduced various regional roots in his songs, anticipating the potpourri of styles which would come to Peruvian cumbia in the following years. While they mainly played a kind of conventional cumbia called ‘cumbia costena’ by its followers, Los Destellos also introduced songs with Andean backdrops, like the huaynos “Valicha” and “Carnaval de Arequipa”, and also tunes steeped in the Amazon imaginary, like “La Charapita”. Given that their repertoire continued developing in the 70s and 80s, they became known to the public as Andean cumbia (“chicha”) and jungle cumbia (“cumbia selvática).

and also

Mixing different traditional rhythms, especially cumbia colombiana, el huayno, rock, and New Wave, Los Destellos quickly connected with young limeños, the children of new Lima immigrants who didn’t feel like country kids or city locals. They identified with the huayno lyrics that their parents had played, but the nostalgia and deep sadness was awkward to them – they preferred the happy cumbias and guarachas, even though their lyrics weren’t saying anything.

-Pablo O’Brien (quoted by Romero)

and youtube of the unscrewed version

“In addition to their social origins (clase trabajadora), the fact that a local band could garner the amount of attention usually reserved for foreign groups was surprising.

Mainstream opinion held that their artist merit was debatable, their technology poor, and their so-called artwork merely instinctive. … But their success was obvious.”

1. Desandinación

2. Sensualidad

3. Globalización

Los Shapis – Hombre Casado

-from: Andinos y Tropicales: La Cumbia Peruana en la Ciudad Global – Raúl R. Romero (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú), pg. 31