Like the drink it takes its name from, chicha music was born from a lot of different ingredients. In the late ’60s, immigrants from across South America moved to oil-boom towns in Peru and took their regional musical styles with them. Andean folk songs, Colombian cumbia, Cuban percussion, and American psychedelic rock fermented into chicha, eventually morphing over time as different cultures added to the mix.
Here in the States, a few bands have taken up the chicha torch to reintroduce it to a new generation and audience. Adrian Quesada helped form Money Chicha in Austin a few years ago, and you can catch the band for free tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. as part of Solstice Fest in Pan Am Park. Download a Studio 1A version of “Cosa Verde” below.
–Art Levy
