Chicha Music Guide: 8 Notable Chicha Artists

Chicha music, sometimes referred to as Peruvian cumbia, is a style of music that became popular in Peru in the 1970s.

Chicha music combined the percussion and rhythms of traditional Andean music with the electric guitars of psychedelic rock. Chicha is easily identified for its more subdued percussion and high-pitched guitar riffs that give it a laid-back feel and surf-rock sound.

The name “chicha” comes from the South American corn-based liquor—which dates back to the time of the Incas.

The roots of chicha go back to the 1950s when Andeans nearly doubled the population of Lima, Peru. By the 1960s, popular music styles like mambo and merengue began to give way to a national fascination with cumbia.

• Andean migrants bring folk music: Migrants from the Andes Mountains brought with them their traditional folk melodies. This Peruvian music was called huayno and used instruments such as guitars, flutes, and harps.
• Cumbia arrives in Peru: A music style from Colombia called cumbia spread across Latin America in the ‘60s, becoming very popular in Peru. Colombian cumbia blended traditional African music with European and Amerindian influences and used many types of percussion instruments.
• Chicha emerges: By 1970, both cumbia and huayno were popular with the working class Andeans of Peru. Eventually, artists in Peru’s Amazon basin began combining the traditional sounds of cumbia and huayno with the electric guitar riffs of popular psychedelic surf rock to create chicha. Chicha was popularized by Enrique Delgado Montes and his band Los Destellos, who were known for their eccentric guitar sounds with fuzz tones and distortion pedals.
• Chicha in the ‘80s and ‘90s: Chicha continued to evolve as bands such as Los Hijos del Sol and Los Mirlos experimented with new effects like overdrive, wah-wah pedals, reverb, and other electric guitar effects. By the late ‘90s, chicha music had mostly faded away behind the rising popularity of cumbia.
• The modern chicha resurgence: Record collectors began “rediscovering” chicha in the 2000s, creating a resurgence of interest. In 2007, multiple chicha compilation albums were released by a US record label called Barbès Records. The Roots of Chicha 1 and The Roots of Chicha 2 made chicha music available to international audiences. Modern bands like Chicha Libre, La Inédita, La Chamba, and Xixa have helped to keep chicha alive today.

Various artists have popularized the iconic psychedelic sound from Peru, including:

1. 1. Los Destellos: Enrique Delgado Montes formed Los Destellos in 1966. The band was the first to create a psychedelic cumbia sound with electrical guitars. Their popular songs include “Onsta la Yerbita,” “Guajira Sicodélica,” and “El Bungalows del Perro.”
2. 2. Juaneco y Su Combo: A Peruvian chicha band formed in 1966 known for performing in feathered costumes that represented the Indigenous peoples of the Peruvian Amazon. The band pioneered a new sound they called ola Amazonica (the Amazonian wave) which added the single-headed carimbó drum to the chicha ensemble.
3. 3. Los Shapis: A chicha music group formed in 1981 in Peru known for their colorful costumes and traditional sound. Their most popular song, “El Aguajal,” was a modern take on a traditional huayno song.
4. 4. Chicha Libre: A chicha band formed in 2008 by Olivier Conan in Brooklyn, New York that uses chicha as a base for their freestyling.
5. 5. Lorenzo Palacios Quispe: A singer known as Chacalón (Big Jackal) or El Faraón de la Chicha (the Pharaoh of Chicha). Lorenzo first performed in 1965 and became widely popular with the formation of his band, La Nueva Crema.
6. 6. Los Mirlos: Formed in Lima, Peru, the band has continued to perform for more than 40 years in many Latin American countries. Los Mirlos are featured on the Roots of Chicha and Back to Peru compilations.
7. 7. Los Demonios Del Mantaro: A Peruvian band formed in the 1960s whose “La Chichera” was one of the first major chicha hit songs.
8. 8. Money Chicha: A chicha band based in Austin, Texas, that features members of the Latin orchestra Grupo Fantasma. They combine traditional chicha with new sounds of synthesizers, funk blends, and heavy percussion.

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