You've Ruined Me Eddie! (1958)

This movie connects perfectly with the tradition of David Lynch movies! Set in rural Florida, near the swamps, where the owner of the town, in complicity with the corrupt and sweaty chief of police, spend their free time swatting flies and beating rebellious teenagers. The movie tells the story of a rich and completely psychotic girl who gets pregnant with a rockabilly.

Los Chicos del Pantano : Zombie

Video realizado por Manolo Marin con una pequena ayuda de sus amigos !

Tema de una oscura banda mexicana de los 60s Los Sleepers y llevada a la pantalla por la banda berlinesa Los Chicos del Pantano el 2015.

La sociedad del espectaculo de Guy Debord

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJTuVaEKGPo

GARAGE BEAT & SURF – ESCENA PERUANA CONTEMPORÁNEA (1991-2006)

Cumbia All Stars Tour Europeo 2013 : Reportaje.

Entrevistando a la banda

Sentado en un restaurant cerca del centro de Berlín inicié mi conversación con Lucho Carrillo, cantante del super grupo Cumbia  Allstars. “La rompimos !” me contestó con entusiasmo cuando le pregunté cómo les había ido en el Womex.
Cumbia All Stars había llegado a Berlín después de varias actuaciones iniciadas con su concierto en la World Music Expo en Cardiff, Reino Unido, representando al Perú juntos a  artistas de todo el mundo como Sidi Touré de Mali, Les Tambours de Brazza del Congo o los famosos Van Van de Cuba.
Sentados en la misma mesa ( poco antes de su concierto) tuve el honor de ver a los músicos fundadores de la cumbia peruana, ahora conocida bajo diversos motes, entre ellos “Cumbia Psicodélica” o el que a mí más me gusta “Cumbia Beat”.
Lucho Carrillo fue durante cuatro décadas el vocalista de Los Diablos Rojos, con los que recorrió el país y bajo la dirección de Marino Valencia grabó una decena de Lps: “ Nuestra cumbia era aguarachadita “ me comenta confidente, “ nosotros teníamos nuestro estilo, Los Destellos el suyo, reconocías nuestro sonido al toque, no como los grupos de ahora que suenan tan parecidos unos a otros”

Preguntando por su tour europeo me comentan que en la carpa peruana del Womex, al principio  costó trabajo poner el sonido a punto, pero después la gente, su público, se entregó completamente bailando al son de esa música caliente que ellos llevan en los cueros y en la sangre.
Y es que, además de excelentes músicos, los integrantes de Cumbia All Stars  son perfeccionistas del sonido y con orgullo quieren dejar huella en el público europeo. Un concierto para ellos es como abrir la puerta de sus casas y dejarte entrar en su mundo, un mundo en el cual la simpatía y la alegría de vivir te hacen pasar una noche inolvidable.
“Y todo gracias a Selvamonos, es por ellos que estamos aquí, porque querían que tocaramos la auténtica, original cumbia peruana. Convocaron cerca de veinte músicos y hemos quedado solo ocho” y mientras me lo decía, al verlos comiendo juntos poco antes de subirse al escenario del Glas Haus, fué claro que además se llevan muy bien, como cuando más tarde durante su concierto cada uno de ellos fueron haciendo “solos” en sus respectivos instrumentos :

Fernando Díaz Loli arrancando octavas imposibles de su stratocaster para terminar tocando las cuerdas con los dientes al más puro estilo del rockanroll ! o Manuel Pecho, saliendo de la sombra para hacer un solo de bajo eléctrico, empezando con las notas graves y profundas y llegando hasta abajo ! del instrumento me refiero.  Y es que la picardía sale al menor descuido.
Qué es lo que define una agrupación de Cumbia Peruana? “Las guitarras eléctricas !” me responde Enrique Yllescas, “...le anadíamos efectos como el Fuzz y el Wah Wah” remarca Lucho “...y Los Pakines solían usar el Eco de Cinta !” (antecesor del Delay) - añade Enrique nuevamente.

Y cómo aceptaron los colombianos esa reinterpretación de la cumbia,  esos nuevos sonidos desde Perú? pregunto curioso: “Mira - me cuenta Lucho Carrillo - yo fuí a Colombia invitado a la ciudad de Bucaramanga, y cuando llego habían cerrado varias calles de la ciudad y armado tremendo fiestón, con unos equipos de sonido enormes ! Más de tres cuadras de gente bailando en la calle y lo que bailaban era cumbia peruana! Los pinchadiscos ponían Los Destellos, mi grupo entonces Los Diablos Rojos...todo! Me quedé 15 anos viviendo en Colombia pero el destino me trajo aquí, a Europa, a ser la voz de Cumbia All Stars “
“Después de Berlin, cuando regresemos a Perú vamos a poner a punto las grabaciones de lo que será el primer disco con la banda, vamos a terminar las mezclas y la masterización.” concluye Lucho Carrillo. Conversando después con José Rodriguez “el gato”, persona clave y tour manager de la banda, me aclara que el disco será oficialmente presentado el 3 de Enero en Lima.













Mis agradecimientos al equipo Selvamonos, en especial José Rodríguez y Juliette Boggio y Lakino Berlin.

The man is gone

Lou Reed is gone, the waiting has ended.
Music recorded by Ricardo Malpartida (sing & play all the instruments)
Picture: Colibri Underground by Juan Avellanosa.

What "Sellouts" Were

Este blog está dedicado a mis propias experiencias y normalmente no posteo nada de otros escritores, pero esto es importante:
por Hamilton Nolan

Once upon a time not so long ago, there was an idea: that some things in this world should be able to exist free from the influence of money—that these things should be done because of their own intrinsic value. You would be forgiven for scoffing at the notion that this idea was ever taken seriously at all.

These things that people believed were intrinsically valuable were called, broadly, "art." Art could be music, or dance, or graffiti, or whatever the hell else people did to express themselves. Little subcultures developed around each of these art forms. These subcultures were often fiercely protective of the perceived purity of the art. That is, they didn't just believe that the artshould be free of the influence of money and corporate sponsorship; they believed that it had to be free of those things, or else it was corrupted. They believed that art was expression, that came from your soul, and that was it. You could no more sell product placements in your song lyrics or make music at the behest of corporate brands and still remain respectable than you could inject poison into your blood and still remain healthy.

Some people, of course, did not care about this standard. Some people wanted to maximize their earnings. They didn't want to just make money from selling their art, or performing. They wanted to make money any way they could. So they did shout outs to paying brands, and made product endorsements, and allowed their songs to be sold to companies for use in television commercials for cars, or liquor, or fashion. This was perfectly legal. No one could stop them. But by doing this, these artists traded something for that money: the respect of their peers and their most devoted fans. Because they had, very consciously, chosen to sell off to the highest bidder the good will and credibility that they had earned through their art. It was understood by all parties involved that this decision would change things for the artist in two major ways. He would be much wealthier than other artists who had not made the same decision. And he would, at the same time, lose a good deal of respect from the people who cared about the art for its own sake. There was a name for this choice: selling out. It had advantages, and it had disadvantages. All of which were more or less accepted by the sellouts, the artists, the companies, and the fans alike.

Today, things are different. There are still artists, and there is still art, and there are still fans. And there are still corporate interests seeking to buy and use that art to attract customers. And there are still artists who make the choice to sell out, and cash in. The only thing that's changed, really, is that the concept of "selling out" no longer exists.

There is no longer a penalty for selling out. There is no longer a public censure that accompanies it. There is no longer an outcry within an artistic subculture when one of its members is fully subsumed by corporate America. The idea that an artist should preserve the sanctity of their work—that they should not allow it to be manipulated by commerce—is no longer considered a mainstream opinion. It is regarded as utopian, dreamy, unserious. The sellouts have lost their critics.

Consequently, the current young generation is being sold wholesale the idea that music and advertising go hand in hand. Why, there's an entire special section in Ad Age about it. It's not that using music in commercials is new; it's that advertisers have succeeded in buying the good will of musicians while those musicians stay cool. The world's biggest brands, with the help oftheir savvy friends in the advertising world, have won the battle to convince young people—who possess the inherent cool aura that corporations so crave to adopt for themselves—that it is absolutely normal and natural for artists to work on behalf of companies, selling things. That this is the proper state of affairs. That, if anything, the target of ridicule should be the person pointing out the fact that someone has sold out, rather than the sellout himself. The sellout, after all, is just living in the real world.

Selling out is now keeping it real.

I have no illusions of smashing capitalism or dissuading the advertising industry from its business. Nor of returning to a past which is long gone, for both economic and cultural reasons. I have a much more modest goal: of keeping the idea of selling out alive. Of pointing to a line in the sand that has been casually erased and saying, "This still exists." The broke young people who are the most passionate music fans in this world may not have the money or connections to be heard in the boardrooms of the world's biggest companies. But collectively, they have something even more powerful: the ability to call bullshit. The ability to deny their approval, which is what all those billions of dollars of advertising spending are really seeking. No matter how much companies talk about it, there really is no "authentic" "DNA" that resides inside a brand. There is only a shiny outward surface, composed of fictions, designed to get you to buy things. There is no soul inside.

There are people out there—powerful people, who work for powerful companies, with a lot of resources at their disposal, and the ability to bombard you everywhere you turn with the same message—who will tell you that brands are the future of the human experience. They will tell you that allowing your identity, and your art, and your thought to be defined by corporate logos is progress. It is not so. Art is free to make. And your approval is free to give. And you do not need to be crazy, or unrealistic, or a ridiculous utopian to raise your hand and register, for the record, that selling your classic song that enraptures the souls of your fans to a car company is fucking selling out, and that a loss of respect is going to ensue. That's it! You do not need to blow up the system. You just need to redraw that line in the sand. Over time, the world tends to stay within the lines. So someone needs to make sure that the lines don't disappear.

Weep not for the sellouts. Weep for the ones who didn't sell out, and nobody cared.

Cumbia Allstars se divierten

Aqui les traigo más de Cumbia Allstars y esta vez una mirada rapida para mostrar cómo los integrantes de la banda se la pasaron bomba en el festival del Agua, en La Casa de Culturas del Mundo, en Berlin, frente a un público dispuesto a bailar x gozar! Ya viene más.

Is That All There Is?

Well my friends, yes it is:that's all.

Estamos en las nubes

Bueno chicos y chicas, es el mismo Primitive track pero ahora en soundcloud.
Desde ahi uds pueden escucharlo y bajarlo y claro comentar de que manera mi humilde canción ha roto sus corazones.

Primitive

the Groupies en el local de ensayo, en algún lugar de NY
La canción Primitive fué originalmente grabada por la banda newyorkina The Groupies a mediados de los 60s. Posteriormente The Cramps realizaron una versión que aparece en su disco Psychedelic Jungle de 1981.
Aunque mi primera escucha se debió a los Cramps, las posteriores me trajeron nombres como los de Howlin Wolf a la cabeza.
Mi versión, a pesar de los ilustres antecedentes, tiene sus diferencias de sonido y definitivamente otra atmósfera, diría "pantanosa".
La grabé en casa y en la sala de ensayo con una Tascam DP004.
dibujo cedido gentilmente por : el_cielo