Various – La Locura de Machuca 1975-1980
Analog Africa – 16 October 2020
This latest release from Analog Africa further realises the ceaselessly intriguing label’s quest to shine a light on exceptional music rarely before heard in the West. For ten years now, label founder and crate-digger extraordinaire Samy Ben Redjeb has treated us to a mind-whirling array of grooves. La Locura De Machuca 1975-1980; experimental psychedelic Afro-Champeta & Cumbia from Colombia supplies exactly what it says on the tin; seventeen tracks of wigged-out dance music originating from Colombians of African descent. As much as the music, this is also the story of Rafael Machuca, the Colombian former tax-lawyer who founded Discos Machuca, the label from whose catalogue these tracks are drawn. Machuca, so the story goes, experienced his Damascus moment at Barranquilla’s ‘Plaza de los Musicos,’ a gathering-place for local musicians, and devoted the following six years of his life to the beguiling sounds which had touched his soul.
A few seconds listening to opener Eberebijara by Samba Negra should be enough to tell you that you are in for a wild ride. Built upon the hypnotic repetitions of a shakere over a dazzling soup of hand-percussion, simple organ riffs and spiky guitar, the track virtually picks you up by the shoulders and shakes you into a world of rainbow colours and wavering, groovy lines.
From there on in this compilation never lets go. Monkey’s Dance by King Somalie, fuelled by a blipping Casio rhythm, sounds, for all the world, like a wonderful Sesame Street children’s song, washed and rinsed in pure-grade psyche. Some beautiful and fluid guitar runs weave in around simplistic lyrics which will tie your brain up in knots even as it unwinds your soul. Rio Latino by Ayu is bouncing, bright Afro-beat with shuffling drums, dancing bass, keyboard vamps and beguiling vocals, married to far-out stereo effects and wah-wah guitar.
Throughout history, cultural cross-pollinations have resulted in some of the most interesting and enduring music. Whether brought about by shifts in socio-economics, politics, migration or darker events, reverberations from the meetings of diverse groups and ideas almost always make for fascinating musical statements. The phenomenon of psychedelia, which began in the United States, found a musical spokesperson in the form of Roky Erickson and his 13th Floor Elevators (among many others) and was popularised by The Beatles, may have been a relatively brief, burning fire in the West, but, as shown here, its echoes were felt around the world.
Rafael Machuca clearly had an ear for the best. Every track here is fascinating. Juipiti by El Grupo Folclorico skips and whirls bright and melodic, like the deceptively simple flight of a butterfly. It’s a poly-rhythmic delight, flitting gracefully through a hot breeze of twinkling, winking guitars. Another of that group’s contributions, El Tornillito, brings an ear-catching mash-up of cocktail-lounge keyboards and Caribbean beats. Caracol by Grupo Bola Roja features a sparkling lead female vocal, which soars and swoops above a haze of churning percussion.
Taken as a whole, La Locura De Machuca amounts to another astounding entry in the Analog Africa catalogue. If you are not a fan of psychedelia, or you are more familiar with the lighter end of Afro-beat, you may find the distinctive delights displayed here a little overwhelming at first. Happily, this is a disc which stands repeated listens. In no way is this throwaway music. The artistic statements rendered here are joyous, enticing and a boon for the soul.
Pre-Order via Bandcamp: https://analogafrica.bandcamp.com/album/la-locura-de-machuca-1975-1980