Tigres En Fuga

The recent surge in popularity for Peruvian cumbia (aka chicha), has seen the style adopted by bands from around the world – New York's Chicha Libre and London's Los Chinches being chief among them – and wowing many a festival audience. There are, sadly, few chicha bands from Peru itself. That has now changed with Cumbia All-Stars, a supergroup reuniting some of the style's remaining exponents – musicians who helped define the style in the late 60s and early 70s, creating its highly danceable mix of teasing electric guitars, wild vocals and punchy percussion, all allied to an unstoppable rhythm.

While some of their fire may have dimmed, these musicians are still ambitious. Tigres En Fuga features plenty of new songs, as well as inventive ideas – ‘Manzaneando’ fluctuates from taut, spiralling guitar to heavy drum-bashing madness, and even finds room for a jazzy bass solo in the middle. While many of the non-Peruvians trying their hand at chicha have brought in unusual covers or elements of other styles, Cumbia All-Stars here show that they worked out a winning formula in the 70s and it ain’t broke, so they don’t fix it.