Afropop Worldwide

As anyone with ears and an internet connection should probably know by this point, South America (particularly what’s been emerging from the hotspots like Columbia, Peru, and Argentina) has been pretty much dominating the global music scene lately. Kick-started by the neo-cumbia explosion, groups have honed in on the space between the traditional and the modern, mixing and blending the best of local sounds with cutting-edge international influences. While DJs (and the electronic music scene in general) did a great deal to lead the charge, there has recently been an increasing resurgence of more instrumentally focused groups playing this same type of genre-bending music. One of the more impressive of these groups that has come across our radar lately has been La Inedita. The group hails from Peru and plays a combination of chicha, a style of cumbia influenced  surf-rock and psychedelia that was popular in the 70’s, and dancehall/reggae burners, all topped off by rapid fire Spanish rapping/singing in a style somewhat reminiscent of reggaeton. The group’s blend is made more impressive by their evident instrumental talent; the guitar solos sting and bite, the rapper can really flow, the rhythm section is able to generate both genuinely threatening intensity and a dance floor filling groove (and often both at the same time). After dropping some tracks last year, La Inedita have recently released their first album Chichamuffin, which you can download for FREE from their website. While some readers may have begun to grow tired of cumbia and its endlessly mutating offshoots, I strongly recommend that you check out this set. This music has a gritty power that will be hard to find anywhere else. La Inedita also recently released their first music video, which traces a small boy’s police-slapping, boombox stealing journey through the streets of Lima. http://youtu.be/H33x1vvZS-E