Chicha Libre

Chicha Libre is the brainchild of New York's nightclub owner Olivier Conan who, during a trip to Peru, fell under the spell of chicha, a half-forgotten '70s local subgenre that blended Colombian cumbia with the sounds and instrumentation of American rock, psychedelia, and surf music. Upon his return, Conan released a compilation titled The Roots of Chicha, whose unexpected success prompted him to put together a multinational combo to take the genre into the 21st century. Based in Brooklyn, Chicha Libre was initially conceived as a platform to perform old chicha hits, but the p...