Juaneco Y Su Combo - El Gran Cacique

  • Sale
  • Regular price £21.99


Infopesa present a reissue of Juaneco Y Su Combo's El Gran Cacique, originally issued in 1972. At the beginning of 1966, in the Amazonian city Pucallpa of Peru, merchant and musician Juan Wong Paredes decided to form a group to share and play some upbeat music throughout the city. Wong Paredes, of Chinese ancestry, enjoyed playing music with his accordion, especially at the Peruvian jungle parties known as tahuampas. After finishing his military service, his son Juan Wong Popolizio decided to collaborate with his father's band, and was joined by his friend Noe Fachín, who took on lead guitar and composing duties. Popolizio and Fachín worked together to select six young natives from the area who shared their love for exotic music, rhythms, and modern tracks that filtered in from the Colombian and Brazilian borders. All together, these members became one of the best psychedelic cumbia bands ever: Juaneco y Su Combo. The members of the band included Juan Wong Popilizio as the director, keyboard player, and arranger, Fachín on lead guitar, and Wilindoro Cacique as the vocalist as well as the guiro and tambourine player. They were joined by Walter Domínguez on bass guitar, Rosendo Hidalgo on drums, Wilberto Murrieta on second guitar, Juvencio Pinchi on percussions, and Jairo Aguilar Tejada on bongos. In 1972, they were signed by Infopesa and recorded their first LP, El Gran Cacique. This LP, named eponymously after the nickname of the leader of the band, featured a timeless version of the Brazilian toada "Mulher Rendeira" with vocals from Cacique, becoming an instant hit. "Vacilando Con Ayahuasca," an instrumental cumbia composed by Fachín, was also recorded for this album, and it featured some sexy hypnotic vocals from Infopesa´s secretary. Nowadays, El Gran Cacique" is considered one of the world´s essential cumbia records, and after 46 years, this iconic album returns as zestful as ever in a special vinyl reissue that will surely reignite the psychedelic craze again. This vinyl release was remastered from the original analog tapes at Infopesa's studio by Aldo Montalvo under the direction of Juan Ricardo and Alberto Maraví, who produced and oversaw the original mastering of the record in 1972. It's packaged with an artwork that uses the original cover of the LP reinterpreted by well-known Peruvian collage master Yerko Zlatar.