English / Spanish
In early 1970s Peru, a thick ideological line designated what was "national" and what was "foreign." A military junta had recently come to power, bent on remaking the nation in its image. Constitutional protections were suspended. But for the first time, the nation's long-repressed indigenous groups were given land rights and cultural recognition. Rockers were caught in the crosshairs of a fraught ideological battleground. Such were the historical forces that shaped Traffic Sound, arguably Peru's most important progressive rock band of the era.
Traffic Sound had its origins in the breakup at the end of 1967 of one of the more popular cover bands of the period, Los Hang Ten's. Manuel Sanguinetti, lead singer for Los Hang Ten's, brought with him two other members of the band along with ex-members of another well-known group, Los Mads. They were now a supergroup and one of the favored bands at Lima's "temple of Peruvian psychedelia," the Tiffany Club, where their repertoire consisted of English-language covers of The Doors, Cream and Jimi Hendrix. Still, the songs were good enough to be released as singles and then as a compilation LP, A Bailar Go-Go, in the fall of 1968 on Peru's premier record label, MAG.
Then that October came the coup. Musical venues were shut down. Radio stations were discouraged from disseminating all forms of rock, especially locally produced rock. Many groups simply disbanded. Yet Traffic Sound forged ahead. They shelved the covers that had launched their career and dedicated themselves to writing and recording original music. But the band had little interest in toeing the official line of indigenous cultural nationalism. Despite or perhaps because of the ideological forces at play, the period of 1969-73 is recalled as the heyday of progressive rock in Peru.
Revolutionary groups, inspired by events in Cuba, were afoot. But the coup leadership paradoxically took inspiration as much from Cuba as from neighboring Brazil and Argentina, where right-wing militaries had recently seized control. Peru's new junta aimed to co-opt the revolutionary left. It did so by implementing its own top-down radical economic and social program. Lima's bustling, consumer-driven rock scene became a casualty of the military's left-wing agenda.
In January 1970, MAG released Traffic Sound's Virgin, the first Peruvian rock album made up entirely of original compositions. Every song on the album was written in English. Moreover, aside from some subtle conga drumming, the obvious musical references were to Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles and other progressive rock groups of the era, not to the "Andean Folkloric" sounds being promoted by the regime and the nation's intellectuals. This seeming turn away from Peru's cultural heritage shared much in common with Mexico's La Onda Chicana of the same period (subject for a future post), where most of the bands wrote original compositions in English. And it was in stark contrast with groups such as Los Jaivas in Chile, which explicitly sought to create a fusion of rock and indigenous music.
One song in particular from Virgin, "Meshkalina" (Mescaline) vaulted Traffic Sound to international stardom. Backed by a psychedelic-laden funk beat, the song's lyrics playfully managed to mock the regime's one-note cultural nationalism while furtively celebrating an indigenous drug counterculture. "Yawar Huaca [an early Incan ruler] wondered why he was high once/ . . . Spread the weed one day, all over his empire/. . . He said 'Man it's here, let's try my new substance/Give me some meshkalina/Give me some meshkalina.'" (Meshkalina is a reference to the "Peruvian Torch" cactus found in the highlands of Peru and known for its hallucinogenic properties.)
The last song on the album is an instrumental piece titled simply "Last Song." A beautiful elegy, it offers a window into the soul-searching that wracked the youth of this generation, buffeted as they were by competing and often contradictory ideological calls to arms:
In May 1970, a major earthquake struck northern Peru, killing nearly 80,000 people and leaving more than 500,000 homeless. The regime was shaken as well. Carlos Santana arrived to play a series of benefit concert and was met by more than 3,000 fans at the airport. Two days before a concert at the massive stadium at San Marcos University, the stage mysteriously burned down. The university's left-wing student organization had denounced the event as "an imperialist invasion." The junta concurred. Santana and his band were ejected from the country, accused by the regime of "acting contrary to good taste and the moralizing objectives of the revolutionary government."
Yet Traffic Sound remained prodigious in their output. That same year they recorded a second original LP, Traffic Sound. The songs reflected an experimental integration of Latin percussion and Andean-inspired woodwinds. Still, the band's strength was its "international" psychedelic sound. English remained the language of choice.
Soon after that they were contracted by Braniff Airlines to promote the company's new line of 747s. As odd as it seems, contracting Traffic Sound actually made some sense: The company had already embraced a daring marketing strategy of wrapping their planes in brilliant Pop Art colors. With Braniff as their sponsor, Traffic Sound took their music to Chile, Argentina and Brazil in 1971, representing a very different image abroad of "revolutionary Peru."
Later that year, Traffic Sound released Lux. It would be their final LP. The album was more eclectic than previous projects and its m?lange of genres is somewhat unsettling. Heavy metal-influenced riffs on one track are followed on the next by lighthearted m?sica tropical. In that regard, it was a perfect reflection of a country ? an entire generation ? experiencing a profound uncertainty.
"To hell with your revolution" proclaims the opening line and refrain of the song "The Revolution." Peru's countercultural youth were caught in the middle. Better to live and let live. Another song from the album, "Survival," nicely captures the nostalgia for an era of comparative innocence, before the fear of military police in the streets and left-wing guerrillas in the mountains: "If you would like to live/If you would like to see/If you would like to breathe/You first must try to understand/That simple things are just enough/To find the loving kind/And see the brighter day/To live within ourselves":
By early 1972, the band had decided to call it quits. In a fundamental sense, the break-up of Traffic Sound brought Peru's progressive rock era to a close. As elsewhere in Latin America, a dynamic rock scene had been cut short by a combination of government repression and left-wing abuse.
?????????????????????????????????
English / Spanish
La Historia Del Rock Latino: La Psicod?lica Protesta Peruana
A principios de la d?cada de 1970 en Per?, hab?a una estricta divisi?n ideol?gica entre lo nacional y lo extranjero. Una junta militar hab?a subido al poder, dedicada a reconstruir la identidad nacional. Las protecciones constitucionales fueron suspendidas. Pero por primera vez, los grupos ind?genas, hist?ricamente reprimidos, fueron otorgados tierra y reconocimiento cultural. De un d?a para el otro, los roqueros peruanos se encontraron en medio de una batalla ideol?gica. Estas fueron las fuerzas hist?ricas que moldearon a Traffic Sound, una de las bandas mas importantes de del rock peruano de esta ?poca.
Traffic Sound origin? en 1967 con la ruptura de una de las bandas mas importantes de esa era, Los Hang Ten's, quienes se dedicaban a tocar covers. Manuel Sanguinetti, el l?der vocalista de Los Hang Ten's, trajo con el a dos otros miembros de la banda, y tambi?n a ex integrantes de otra banda conocida, Los Mads. As? fue que se form? un s?per grupo, una de las bandas favoritas que tocaban en el Tiffany Club, "el templo de la m?sica psicod?lica peruana." El repertorio de Traffic Sounds consist?a en covers en ingl?s de The Doors, Cream and Jimi Hendrix. Aun as?, las canciones eran lo suficientemente buenas como para ser publicadas por la discogr?fica m?s importante de Per?, MAG, primero como singles, y luego en un compilado LP llamado A Bailar A Go-Go, en el oto?o de 1968.
En Octubre de ese a?o, ocurri? el golpe de estado. Los establecimientos de m?sica fueron clausurados, y las estaciones de radio recibieron presi?n para no tocar m?s m?sica de rock, especialmente rock producido en Per?. Dada la hostilidad, muchas bandas simplemente dejaron de tocar. Sin embargo, Traffic Sound sigui? adelante. Dejaron de lado los covers que hab?an lanzado su carrera, y se dedicaron a escribir y a grabar sus propias composiciones. Pero la banda ten?a poco inter?s en adherirse a la cultura oficial del nacionalismo ind?gena. A pesar de la batalla ideol?gica (o tal vez como resultado de esa batalla), el periodo entre 1969 y 1973 es reconocido como la ?poca dorada del rock progresivo en Per?.
Por ese entonces los grupos revolucionarios peruanos, inspirados por los recientes eventos en Cuba, herv?an. Pero parad?jicamente, el nuevo gobierno peruano se inspir? tanto en los eventos en Cuba, como en los hechos ocurridos en pa?ses vecinos como Brasil y Argentina, donde grupos militares de derecha hab?an tomado el control. La junta militar busc? adoptar las ideas de la izquierda revolucionaria. As? fue que implement? sus propios programas econ?micos y sociales revolucionarios. La explosiva escena de rock lime?o, cay? victima de la pol?tica izquierdista del gobierno militar peruano.
En Enero de 1970, MAG estren? Virgin de Traffic Sound?el primer ?lbum de rock peruano que consist?a completamente en canciones originales. Todas las canciones del ?lbum estaban escritas en ingl?s. M?s aun, aparte de un sutil ritmo de conga, el ?lbum estaba fuertemente influenciado por Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, los Beatles, y otros grupos de rock progresivos de la era, y no los sonidos "folcl?ricos andinos" promovidos por el gobierno y los intelectuales. Este aparente rechazo de la herencia cultural peruana, se parec?a mucho a La Onda Chicana en M?xico, la cual ocurri? durante la misma ?poca (hablaremos mas sobre este movimiento en el futuro), y tambi?n se trat? de bandas nacionales escribiendo canciones en ingl?s. Era un fuerte contraste con grupos como Los Jaivas en Chile, quienes expl?citamente buscaban crear una fusi?n entre el rock y la m?sica ind?gena. Hay una canci?n en particular del ?lbum Virgin, llamada "Meshkalina", que lanz? a Traffic Sound al estrellato internacional. Construida sobre un tiempo de funk psicod?lico, las letras de la canci?n logran burlarse del nacionalismo del gobierno militar, y a la vez celebran, furtivamente, la contracultura ind?gena de las drogas. "Yawar guaca [lider Inca] se preguntaba porque estaba volando/...un d?a esparci? la yerba, por todo el imperio/...dijo "Hombre, aqu? esta, probemos mi nueva substancia/Dame un poco de mezcalina/Dame un poco de Meshkalina." (Meshkalina se refiere al cactus que crece en los altos del Per?, conocido por sus propiedades alucin?genas).
La ?ltima canci?n del disco es una pieza instrumental, simplemente titulada "?ltima Canci?n." Se trata de una bella eleg?a, y nos da una idea de la confusi?n espiritual que viv?a la juventud peruana de esa generaci?n, golpeada por ambas facciones de una guerra ideol?gica.
En Mayo de 1970, un terrible terremoto ocurri? en el norte de Per?, matando a casi 80,000 personas, y dejando a mas de 500,000 sin hogar. El gobierno militar tambi?n se vio afectado. Carlos Santana lleg? al pa?s a tocar una serie de conciertos ben?ficos, y fue recibido por m?s de 3,000 fans en el aeropuerto. Las organizaciones estudiantiles de izquierda denunciaron al evento musical como parte de "la invasi?n imperialista." La junta militar estaba de acuerdo. Dos d?as antes del concierto en el masivo estadio de la Universidad de San Marcos, el escenario misteriosamente se incendi?. Santana y su banda fueron expulsados del pa?s, acusados por el r?gimen de "actuar en contra del buen gusto y de los objetivos morales del gobierno revolucionario peruano."
A pesar de todo esto, Traffic Sound continu? siendo una banda sumamente prol?fica. Ese mismo a?o grabaron su segundo LP, Traffic Sound. Las canciones de este ?lbum integraban sonidos experimentales de percusi?n latina, e instrumentos Andinos. Sin embargo, el enfoque de la banda sigui? siendo el sonido "internacional" psicod?lico. Y el ingl?s sigui? siendo el idioma de preferencia.
A poco de realizar su segundo LP, Traffic Sound fue contratado por Aerol?neas Braniff para promover los nuevos aviones 747. Puede parecer extra?o contratar a una banda de rock para promover una l?nea de aviones, pero fue una jugada bien calculada: Braniff hab?a implementado una atrevida estrategia de marketing al pintar sus aviones en llamativos colores psicod?licos, al estilo del arte pop. Con Braniff como sponsor, en 1971 Traffic Sounds logr? llevar su m?sica a Chile, Argentina y Brasil, proyectando as? una imagen muy distinta del "Per? revolucionario."
Mas tarde ese a?o, Traffic Sounds public? Lux, su ?ltimo LP. Este ?lbum fue mas ecl?ctico que los previos proyectos de la banda, y su mezcla de g?neros es algo desconcertante. Canciones con riffs inspirados en la m?sica heavy metal coexisten con divertidas melod?as tropicales. En ese aspecto, Lux refleja el clima que se viv?a en Per? en 1971: Una generaci?n entera viv?a una inmensa incertidumbre y confusi?n.
"?Al Diablo Con Tu Revoluci?n!" comienza la canci?n "La Revoluci?n." La contracultura de la juventud peruana estaba atrapada. Era mejor vivir, y dejar vivir. Otra canci?n de ?lbum "Supervivencia" es un retrato de nostalgia por la era de la inocencia; antes de que los corazones peruanos fuesen invadidos por el terror a la polic?a militar en las calles, y las guerrillas izquierdistas en los montes: "Si te gustar?a vivir/Si te gustar?a ver/Si te gustar?a respirar/Primero debes tratar de entender/Que las cosas simples son lo ?nico que importa/Para encontrar la gente llena de amor/Y ver un d?a mejor/Para vivir dentro de nosotros mismos."
A principios de 1972, Traffic Sound se desband?. La era del rock progresivo peruano hab?a llegado a su fin. As? como en otras partes de America Latina, una din?mica escena del rock latino fue aplastada por la combinaci?n de un gobierno represivo, y abusos de la izquierda pol?tica.
sarah ferguson plenty of fish scalloped potatoes how to tie a tie phil collins changeling scalloped potatoes recipe
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.