Chicha Libre

"One of the world's preeminent tropical psychedelic bands." MTV Back in 2008, Chicha Libre launched the first psychedelic cumbia and chicha wave in North America with its debut album Sonido Amazonico (Barbès Records). The album was a tribute to 70’s Peruvian musicians from Lima and the Amazon and their eclectic mix of tropical rhythms and psychedelic sounds. The album followed the release of the compilation The Roots of Chicha (also on Barbès Records) which first documented Peruvian cumbia and chicha outside of Peru.   With Canibalismo, their follow-up album, Chicha Libre kept forging its own path with a deeper psychedelic sensibility and a freeform approach to cumbia that integrated even more heterogenous elements. The band toured around the world and proved particularly successful in Chile, Argentina and Mexico.   After a long hiatus, they released the EP Tequila y Aguardiente in the summer of 2024 – featuring collaborations with their friends Son Rompe Pera, from Mexico, and La Sonora Mazuren, from Colombia. They followed with shows in the US, Canada and Mexico and collaborations with legendary Los Mirlos. Chicha Libre's new lineup includes musicians from Mexico, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, France and the US and incorporates their various backgrounds into the arrangements. Olivier Conan - cuatro, vocals; Joshua Camp - keyboards, accordion, vocals; Karina Colis - timbales, vocals; Dan Martinez - bass; Neil Ochoa - congas; Stephen Ulrich - guitar