I just got back from a great trip to Buenos Aires, various parts of Bolivia and Lima. I spent the bulk of my time on the Bolivian Altiplano, so it’s nice to take a deep breath after spending a couple weeks at 3000-5000m­.

Don’t worry, I won’t be posting any pan flute music.

I was actually hoping to find some early Bolivian rock nacional or criolla but didn’t have much time for crate digging. Instead, I stumbled upon some good Afro-Peruvian music, better known as musica criolla or musica negra. As the name implies, musica criolla is a style developed by the descendants of African slaves brought over to work in South America by the Spanish.

I had heard some Afro-Peruvian stuff before thanks to David Byrne’s Soul of Black Peru release on Luaka Bop. I was particularly struck by Lucila Campos.. beautiful voice.

Today we’ll hear more music by Campos, plus some by criolla greats Abelardo Vasquez, Oscar Avilés and Arturo “Zambo” Cavero. All of them are in their 60s now, part of an older generation of pre-synth, pre-reggaeton, Spanish and African-influenced musicians. Great stuff.

I’m by no means an authority on this style so if you’d like to learn more check-out some of the music at Afropop.

Lucila Campos & Oscar Avilés – Mayoral
Arturo “Zambo” Cavero – El Alcatraz
Abelardo Vasquez y Cumanana – Prendeme la Vela