Mis Ancestros

Perkutao are an Afro-Peruvian percussion ensemble founded in 2005 and directed by Percy Chinchilla, musician, percussionist, zapateador and teacher. Mis Ancestros (My Ancestors) is the fourth title of Buh Records’ Perspectives on Afro-Peruvian Music series. The sleeve notes and press blurb for the album are as dense and italic-filled as a translated anthropology textbook, but the ten songs – if you can free yourself from the information overload – make for an enjoyable story-cum-journey through Afro-Peruvian rhythms – notably the abakuá and festejo – and intricate drumming sessions that veer between the tentative and orgiastic, the hypnotic and hard hitting, the Dionysian and downright dirty.

You have to admire Perkutao’s willingness to take risks. Rarely do any tunes interrupt the flow of percussion, though ‘Trucutum Kiti Pa’ features a few flourishes on guitar. The only voices are occasional chants, moans and cries. This is pared-down, pulsating music – traditional but experimental – that comes from an oft-ignored cultural corner of South America. Perkutao’s artistic practice will forever be a niche thing, but Mis Ancestros is certainly a mind-expander and after ten tracks you feel you’ve been to the roots and back of something new and strange and special.