The Music I'm In

What a pleasure it is to be able to listen to Andino punk (Andean punk). It was only fitting, after Peruvians innovated the genre, that we would come back around to it. I have been in the process of re-experiencing my home country through an outside lens on the 20th anniversary of me no longer living there. I recently came across this disco mix, which isn't required listening (and will not be on the exam), and the top comment hit me like the ton of bricks millenials will always imagine slides off a truck on the road:

(translated for your convenience)
“It's worth noting that many of these songs are little known in Peru. They aren't played on the radio and, unfortunately, aren't part of the collective memory (like Chacalon, Los Shapis, or Los Destellos) due in part to the mediocrity of the media, which keeps repeating the same artists. We've had some excellent recordings that were successful in their time. Lately, the trend of reclaiming these rare recordings comes from foreign collectors with a different approach, geared towards an audience that enjoys the exotic. But this music was originally made for the masses.”

And, unfortunately, very little has changed. The media landscaped has only gotten more entrenched in a terrible monoculture that doesn't benefit artists (and does even less to showcase new ones). It's not a unique problem, of course, many countries have this, but I feel so protective of a Peruvian artist that doesn't get play on the radio.

La canción

Trapo Sucio - Mi taxi no sube a tu cerro

El ambiente

I am cracking open the first beer of what I don't know will be a long night, I arrived early enough to catch these guys doing a soundcheck and their bassist finally arrived in a '98 Nissan right before the owner of the bar is about to yell at them for not starting yet.

El contexto

The title of the song is both literal and a euphemism, "Mi taxi no sube a tu cerro" (Mi taxi doesn't go up the hill you live on) requires the explanation that in the urban center of Peru (Lima), many of the impoverished neighborhoods at the fringes of the city are actually located on the tops or sides of hills. The same hills are why mudslides are so devastating when it starts to rain a little or a lot but it means that the reality of many Peruvians who arrive to Lima over decades of migration has been a hostile neighborhood perceived to be full of crime (to be clear: crime isn't isolated to these neighborhoods, especially not now). So, taxi drivers themselves probably try to give the polite excuse "Mi taxi no sube a tu cerro" instead of outright sayin "Buddy, I am not going over there even if you paid me". Solo dime que no quieres ir pe, hermano, no hay xq mentir.

I would put this on a cassette tape with Triciclo Peru, Wirito, Me Fui al Norte, Nos Quieren Gobernar, Diciembre, Kumbia Faite, and Mama No Me Quiero Casar.

I told myself I had to write at least about one Peruvian band before I posted a Chilean band, it's only my national responsibility 🫡🇵🇪

Now I'm off to finish a book I haven't been enjoying so I can get to a book I'm pretty sure I will enjoy.

Any mistakes made were by accident unless they made me look or sound super cool in which case they were 100% on purpose.