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LP
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BR 178LP
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$34.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 1/26/2024
From the re-reading of Jorge Luis Borges' famous story "The Circular Ruins," Peruvian composer, percussionist, and painter Manongo Mujica approaches some of his great obsessions with a new perspective: the desert of the Peruvian coast and the pre-Hispanic ceremonial centers found there. For years, the impressions of these places have evoked in Mujica a highly personal aesthetic, born from understanding the desert as a space for inner listening, and the ceremonial centers or "huacas" as a representation of mystery. Ritual Sonoro para Ruinas Circulares (Sound Ritual for Circular Ruins) is the synthesis, the dreamlike and sound amalgamation, and perhaps Manongo Mujica's ultimate album on his unique vision of the sound landscape and the desert. Building on a heritage of meditative and ethnic music, avant-garde jazz, and improvisation, here is a strange sound universe, based on the use of various drum and percussion rhythms (udu, djembe, gong, cajón, seeds, Chinese bells, etc.), field recordings and sound montages, dense, reverberating, gloomy, immersive, and hypnotic soundscapes. These gradually give way to a solitary and penetrating cello (performed by Fil Uno). Crescendos introduce electroacoustic processes (created by the Norwegian Terje Evensen), interweaving panpipes and ritualistic voices (performed by Gabriela Ezeta), shaping the atmosphere like that of a magnificent ceremony. The album features the participation of Cristóbal, Daniel and Gabriel Mujica, sons of Manongo. As well as with the participation of Fil Uno, Terje Evensen and Gabriela Ezeta. It was recorded by Juanjo Salazar at the La encía del Leopardo studio. Mastered by Mario Breuer. And with the cover art by Yerko Zlatar, based on photographs by Pauline Barberi. It is published by Buh Records in digital and in a vinyl edition, limited to 300 copies.
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BR 134LP
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$34.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 1/26/2024
This album compiles a series of sound pieces produced by the Peruvian artist Teresa Burga (Iquitos, 1933 -- Lima, 2021) during the 1970s. It includes works that were part of various artistic projects, mainly sound installations, as well as pieces commissioned to musicians and inspired by her work. This album thus embodies an approach to a sound universe that has accompanied Burga's very personal work, which has transcended the limits of the artistic medium and disciplines. In the last decade, Teresa Burga's work has been present in numerous retrospectives and anthologies, as well as in various critical studies, which has cemented her standing in the art world, both in her home country and internationally. A founding member of the avant-garde art collective, Arte Nuevo, Burga began painting and then embarked on an experimental path influenced by conceptual art. Her works emphasized her status as a woman in an eminently male art scene, as well as her experience as a public worker in the national tax administration system, which familiarized her with the bureaucratic language of reports and records -- a distinctive feature of her artistic style. Her work has explored multiple mediums and the use of technological resources, which can be seen in her light installations, videos, pieces that allude to computer processes, and sound installations, highlighting the place which women occupied in a world of technological mediations. This album includes the sound pieces "Estructura Informe Corazón" (Structure Informe Corazón) (1972) and "4 mensajes" (4 Messages) (1974), composed of heart sounds and distorted television signals. It also includes the interpretation of the conceptual score "Esctructura Propuesta Sonido" (Structure Proposal Sound I) (1978), based on the poem "Cruz y Ficción" by Blanca Varela, in versions by the Peruvian Nicolás Wangeman, and by the Argentineans Alma Laprida and Alan Courtis. Also included is the piece "Borges" (2017), a commission by Burga to the Peruvian composer Jan Diego Malachowski, for the installation of the same name, here presented in a synthesizer version by Laprida and Courtis. The publication includes a booklet with extensive notes by curator and researcher Luis Alvarado, as well as extensive visual documentation. This album is published by Buh Records with the support of Proyecto AMIL, who have joined efforts to develop a collection dedicated to presenting fundamental Peruvian works that operate at the borders of visual arts and sound.
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BR 171LP
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$35.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 12/8/2023
This compilation brings together for the first time diverse Peruvian musical groups that immersed themselves in dance music following the codes brought by the disco revolution. As a phenomenon of a new culture, the global dissemination of disco music had various variations and reformulations. The way it took root in Peru constitutes a fascinating yet underexplored history, despite the numerous recordings that came to light, mainly in the 1980s, running parallel to the boom of Peruvian tropical music, the emergence of a new pop rock scene, and the widespread use of synthesizers and electronic drums. And even though the groups were eclectic and moved across various musical genres, their dance music hits have now become cult pieces. From Lima to Trujillo, from Iquitos to Tarapoto, this compilation presents a wide range of sounds designed for the dance floor: unrestrained, eclectic, and high-energy. From pioneering groups with brief yet foundational trajectories like Rollets (composed of members from the rock group Laghonia) or Santodomingo Kid (led by experimental musician Luis David Aguilar), who range from boogie to soul disco with electrifying synthesizer sounds. But also, the exotic arrangements of Grupo América and Grupo Cremolada, to the tropical disco pop sound of Grupo San Francisco or Los Roller's de Tarapoto. From the space disco ventures of Grupo Swing to the synthesized pop sound of Pepo Rock, Jaque Mate, or Annie. Viva el sábado: Hits De Disco Pop Peruano (1978 - 1989) constitutes a fabulous and unique document to delve into Peruvian dance music and initiates a new series at Buh Records that will present in various volumes some of the treasures of disco music in Peru. Compilation and research by Luis Alvarado. The album includes a booklet with extensive information and visual documentation. Mastered by Alberto Cendra. Art and design by Estudio Famas.
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BR 169LP
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Relikte aus der Zukunft (Relics from the Future) is a new album by experimental German artist Baldruin. Growing up in a small Bavarian village rectory around 10 meters beside the church and serving as an altar boy; organ music, church bells, and spiritual chanting were very much present in Johannes Schebler's ears during his childhood years. This experience was probably the basis for his ongoing interest in transcendental and mysterious atmospheres, he recalls. Schebler started making music as Baldruin back in 2009 with DIY experimentations which were first released on tape, a CD-R 3" and later on several LPs all over Europe (Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Finland, Netherlands, Slovakia), as well as in the USA and Japan. While in the beginning Baldruin's tracks were mostly created with acoustic instruments, later synthesizers and other electronic sound sources joined, expanding the sound palette and letting primordial and futuristic worlds merge organically into each other. Although Relikte aus der Zukunft feels like a journey to the unknown, with constantly changing moods, all of the recordings were done in a small and improvised home studio in Schebler's living room in Wiesbaden, Germany, using mostly a single MIDI-keyboard for recording. The tracks are full of color and amazement, detailed and thorough when evoking the setting and conjuring the experience. They can be playful and bright, or suspenseful and ominous, until bursting into ritual and hallucination. The gloomiest soundscapes can jump into a ship fueled by retro sci-fi arpeggios, the solemn can turn to rejoice, and a star can shrink into a fireplace. Mastered by Alberto Cendra at Garden Lab Audio. Cover art by Johannes Schebler. Edition of 300.
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BR 177LP
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Implosiones is the second album by Búho Ermitaño, Peruvian psych explorers. With references to kraut rock and the Andean folk of groups like El Polen, the sound of Búho Ermitaño is immersed in hypnotic instrumental explorations, melodic passages, and bursts of cosmic rock. Implosiones is a renovating sound synthesis that places the band as one of the new referents of psychedelic rock in Peru. Formed in Lima in 2008 by Franz Núñez (guitar) and Diego Pando (guitar), they began as a jam band. With the addition of Irving Fuentes (charango) and Leo Pando (synthesizers), the group's sound began to have its own color, which found its final formation with the inclusion in 2014 of Ale Borea (percussion) and Juan Camba (drums). Since then, they have been an active band in the underground circuit of Lima, alternating with psychedelic rock bands and experimental music artists (several members of Búho Ermitaño play at the same time in various sound experimentation musical projects). It is with this formation that the group has recorded Implosiones, incorporating a wide range of instruments that includes guitars, bass, drums, synthesizers, theremin, electronic loops, bongos, flutes, djembes, charango, among others. All of this is reflected in songs like "Herbie" with a marked percussion base, or in "Explosiones", and their high-energy neo-psychedelia, unlike their first album, the inclusion of vocals in song format is now present, opening up a new creative path. Implosiones also includes some of the group's classic songs such as "Buarabino", a drift of psychedelic folk, but also new compositions such as "Entre los cerros", where synthesizers set a course for space rock. Implosiones has been recorded and mixed by Camilo Uriarte at Eco Estudio and mastered by Alberto Cendra and Camilo Uriarte. Produced by Búho Ermitaño and Camilo Uriarte. Art by About Visual Studio. Edition of 300.
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LP/7"
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BR 152LP
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Los Yndeseables was a post-punk musical project active between 1984 and 1985 in Lima. It was founded by Guillermo Valdivia, better known as Kimba Vilis, drummer and founding member of Leusemia, a punk band representative of "Rock Subterráneo", the hardcore punk movement that emerged in Lima in the mid-1980s. The complete recordings of Los Yndeseables are published here for the first time. The album includes the demo rehearsal El Perfecto Ruido, a historical document, as it is one of the first Peruvian DIY records, as well as two studio-recorded songs "Escapa del control" and "Asquerosa corrupción", with a piercing sound of dissonant electric guitar and an electronic rhythmic base, presented here on separate 7" vinyl. Under the name of Los Yndeseables, Kimba Vilis recorded a demo entitled El Perfecto Ruido (The Perfect Noise) in May 1985, using acoustic guitars, a battery-powered keyboard and sounds of home objects (cans, tubes, etc.). For this experiment, he recruited Mario Chirinos, known as Mario Almanegra, the bass player of Zcuela Cerrada, a band where Kimba had played guitar and composed some songs. Recorded at home, the ten songs that make up El Perfecto Ruido showed a particular rawness and nakedness, marked by disenchantment and existential anguish, exploring dizzying emotional states, as well as a variety of sounds that manifested an attachment to the experimental and dissonant spirit of post-punk. At the end of 1985, Kimba re-recorded at the studio Filderes two of the demo's songs in electric format for the compilation Vol 2, which brought together a new wave of underground groups. The songs "Escapa del control" (Escape Control) and "Asquerosa corrupción" (Disgusting corruption) showcased Los Yndeseables in an exercise of creative freedom and imagination without precedents in the Lima underground scene, with a piercing sound of dissonant electric guitar, a hypnotic bass line and an electronic rhythmic base, which placed the band at the vanguard of this generation. "Escapa del control" has since become a cult song played by many musicians from the following generations and is without a doubt one of the essential songs of "Rock Subterráneo". Includes extensive information and visual documentation, plus 7" vinyl Escapa del control/Asquerosa corrupción. Mastered by Alberto Cendra at Garden Lab Audio. Cover art by Héctor Delgado. Edition of 300.
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BR 174LP
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Thank You Lord For Satan is the musical project of Paloma La Hoz (a former member of 12 Garras and Mitad Humana) and Henry Gates (known for his work as Resplandor), two musicians with a long history in the independent scene of Lima, Peru. In 2021, and after the confinement caused by the pandemic, they began to work together on new songs, with a unique mix of psychedelia, folk, soul, and synthpop, for fans of bands like the Velvet Underground or The Brian Jonestown Massacre. As a result, eight songs emerged that now make up the self-titled debut Thank You Lord For Satan, an album that portrays the everyday story of two people living and discovering a moment of creative euphoria. Not only does the duo exhibit a great talent for composition, but also for performance. The way in which both voices interact gives their sound a personal as well as a mysterious quality. Listening to them is like accessing a secret exchange. On songs like "A Million Songs Ago" and "Wet Morning" they immerse themselves in the sound of neo-psychedelia. Delay effects, distortion and tremolo on the guitar are combined with the whispering and melodious voice of Paloma La Hoz. While on "Sad Song" and "Text Message" they show a crooner side, with Henry Gates on lead vocals, paying homage to some of his musical heroes, with arrangements that grow from an acoustic format to a chamber pop sound. "Isolation" is a melancholic experimental song, where the naked voice of Paloma La Hoz is accompanied by a discreet instrumentation which includes field recordings. In a related style, although with a gospel orientation, is "Devine Destinity". In "Conversations al Amanecer" and "When We Dance" the duo explores more unclassifiable paths within the pop song format. The first song makes soul and dub coexist, while the second mixes neo-psychedelia and synthpop, with an unexpected arrangement of trumpets and a vocal exercise by Paloma La Hoz, between spoken word and rapping. And although the references manage to give an idea of the path that the duo is traveling, the results are rather personal and work as a mosaic of sensations. The songs on the album have been composed and recorded by Paloma La Hoz and Henry Gates. Mixed by Jorge Balbi and mastered by Francisco Holtzman. Cover art by Goster. Edition of 300.
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BR 176LP
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Berlin-based Peruvian musicians Alejandra Cárdenas, AKA Ale Hop, and Laura Robles present their debut album together, released via Buh Records. With a foundation informed by decolonialism and organology, Agua Dulce is a radical deconstruction of traditional rhythms of the Peruvian coast, in which the cajón instrument plays a central role. Agua Dulce is named after the most popular beach in Lima, near where both artists lived during their childhood, houses apart, without ever meeting one another. Now, years later, the pair have joined forces, with Robles on a self-built electric cajón and Cárdenas on electric guitar and electronics. Together they explore rhythmical structures that form the backbone of the complex Afro-Peruvian music and dance traditions -- a broad term used for the various musical developments that occurred in the last two centuries, at the shores of the Peruvian Pacific. The cajón originated in coastal Peru as a percussion instrument that the black slaves created from wooden fruit boxes, when foot drums were banned at the end of the Spanish colonial-era, in the 19th century. From its birth the cajón was a symbol of resistance, experimentation and transformation, so Robles and Cárdenas strive to maintain the instrument's spirit and qualities by pushing the boundaries of its sound into the future. However, although buzzing with an intense voltage and proffering a fresh contribution to modern experimental/noise/lo-fi/percussive music, the duo's mission isn't merely capturing something sonically futuristic, but is primarily concerned with shaking off the dust: "These rhythms have become ossified nowadays, heard in Peruvian folklore shows, and on the 'global music' circuit, but our desire is to experiment and do something more radical with them, connecting to the instruments more radical past", comments Cárdenas. The two musicians take the pulses of dances like Landó, Zamacueca, Festejo, Alcatraz, Lamento and Son de los diablos, electrifying and mutating them into pure textures, or reinforcing the physical character of the cajón through repetition and distortion. Cover art by Eduardo Yaguas. Edition of 300.
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7"
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BR 173EP
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José Javier Castro (1965-2022) was a Peruvian artist and musician who emerged in the 1980s, and is known for being the leader, guitarist, and singer of the experimental rock group El Aire, as well as an emblematic figure of the Lima underground. He also developed, starting in the early '90s, various projects centered on electronic experimentation, and oriented towards ambient and cosmic music, both for soundtracks, sound installations, as well as for his own rock band, leaving an important archive of recordings unpublished. "Melodía a Gianni Toti en dos partes" (Melody for Gianni Toti in two parts) constitutes a first publication that seeks to disclose that other creative side of José Javier Castro, who was also an active promoter of the experimental music scene in Peru. José Javier Castro encountered the work of the Italian artist Gianni Toti as an active collaborator of the Túpac Amauta project, directed by Toti and produced at the Centro Internacional de Creación de Video (International Center for Video Creation) (CICV). In 1999, for the second part of the Túpac Amauta project, he was invited as a resident artist at the CICV, establishing a first-hand link with Toti, with whom he shared ideas regarding syntheatronic creation. The sound piece Melodía a Gianni Toti en dos partes was composed in 2021 and is inspired by Toti's various visions of music and aesthetics. This project led Castro to a long reflective process in search of a coherent definition of both the process and the aesthetics. It is a spontaneous and heartfelt evocation as a tribute and thanks to Toti. White/translucent blue vinyl; edition of 250.
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2LP
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BR 172LP
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Jacqueline Nova (Ghent, Belgium, 1935 - Bogotá, Colombia, 1975), a representative figure of Colombian avant-garde music, developed important and radical work within the field of electronic and instrumental music, as well as in interdisciplinary forms. This album, Creación de la Tierra - Ecos palpitantes de Jacqueline Nova: Música electroacústica e instrumental (1964-1974) ("Creation of the Earth - Throbbing Echoes of Jacqueline Nova: Electroacoustic and Instrumental Music (1964-1974)")¸ under the curatorship and research of the Colombian composer Ana María Romano G., recovers Nova's most important electroacoustic works: "Creación de la tierra (Creation of the Earth)" (1972), "Oposición-Fusión (Opposition-Fusion)" (1968) and "Resonancias 1 (Resonances 1)" (1968-69), as well as the music for the film Camilo el cura guerrillero (Camilo the Guerrilla Priest) (1974), composed during her stay at the Centro Latinoamericano de Altos Estudios Musicales (CLAEM) , of the Torcuato Di Tella Institute, in Buenos Aires, as well as in the Study of Phonology of the University of Buenos Aires. The compilation also includes the instrumental works "Omaggio a Catullus" (1972-1974), "Transiciones (Transitions)" (1964-1965), and "Asuimetrías (Asymmetries)" (1967), in which she explores randomness, timbre possibilities or the encounter between acoustic and electronic media. The interest in experimenting with the human voice, and interdisciplinary work involving visual arts, were some of the aspects that have defined Jacqueline Nova's work. Ana María Romano has written: "Nova lived in an environment hostile to change, to debate and discussion, hostile to her being an autonomous and lesbian woman. She undertook feats that make her a pioneer, even though she did not set out to be taken as one, but only as a result of the commitment, dedication and passion of a creator with her society. Jacqueline Nova died in Bogotá of bone cancer. Her tragic and early death not only cut short a career in full creative force, but also directly affected the development of electroacoustic music in the country. After her death there was a great silence -- close to 15 years -- in musical creation with electronic means. Nova challenged a conservative milieu and survived alone, working in a field thought to be exclusively masculine. But it was a woman who strengthened the use of technology in Colombian music. A risky bet that sadly represented a high cost: Nova was relegated during her lifetime, but her noises managed to shake and question the comfort zones of the Colombian musical establishment." Includes a booklet with extensive information written by Ana María Romano G.; edition of 300.
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BR 158LP
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This compilation brings together 22 sound poems, including both pioneering and current pieces, and constitutes itself as the first great overview of sound poetry from Peru. It continues a cycle that began in 2009 with the appearance of a CD called Inventar La Voz: Nuevas Tradiciones Orales [To Invent the Voice: New Oral Traditions] and was followed up in 2011 with another one called Irse De Lengua [To Let It Slip], both of which contributed to articulate diverse manifestations of poetry that used technological means, also in the context of intense activity in the local scenes of experimental music and sound art that opened spaces for interdisciplinary dialogues. What we know as sound poetry is the product of a technological revolution associated with the appearance of various means of recording, transmission and amplification of the voice. A long process that took shape in the 20th century, until it became a discipline, articulated as an international movement which, based on phonetic research, expanded into a universe of oral/vocal artistic practices as part of a new technological context. The recordings gathered here comprise a time frame that goes from 1972 to 2021. You find poems that work with montage techniques, either because they explore simultaneity or juxtaposition, such as those by Mario Montalbetti, Frido Martín, Florentino Díaz, Carlos Estela, Luisa Fernanda Lindo, Macri Cáceres, Rodrigo Vera Cubas, Tilsa Otta, Giancarlo Huapaya/Omar Córdova, Virginia Benavides, Lisa Carrasco, and Luis Alvarado. Others emphasize vocal/oral performance: you find the phonetic poems of Carlos Germán Belli and Eduardo Chirinos, as well as the concrete conceptual poems of Michael Prado, Sandra Suazo, Peru Saizprez, and the oral/guttural poem of Omar Aramayo. Finally, you find another group of pieces where the poem starts with the creation of a computational parameter or algorithm, as is the case with the pieces by Jorge Eduardo Eielson and Enrique Verástegui, eventually reaching the use of Artificial Intelligence as in the poems by Francisco Mariotti and Paola Torres Núñez del Prado. The Verbal Matter: An Anthology of Peruvian Sound Poetry is part of a series produced by Buh Records for Centro del Sonido, a website set up as a digital archive of Peruvian experimental music and sound art. Includes extensive notes and visual documentation. Mastered by Alberto Cendra. Art by René Sánchez. Edition of 300.
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BR 135LP
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Diseñar Y Destruir (Design and Destroy) is the second album by Varsovia, an electronic punk project created in Lima at the beginning of 2012 by Dante Gonzales (synthesizers), Fernando Pinzás (synthesizers), and Sheri Corleone (guitar, vocals). Unlike their celebrated debut album Recursos Inhumanos (Inhuman Resources) (BR 065LP, 2014), this new production reflects a greater influence of styles such as industrial music and EBM but maintaining the sound of analog synthesizers as a principle. The lyrics follow a concept based on the period of violence that Peru experienced in the 1980s, with samples of General Juan Velasco Alvarado and songs that refer to situations such as blackouts, bombings of terrorist groups, and the uncertainty of living in the midst of the armed conflict in a city lost in chaos. The songs of Diseñar Y Destruir were recorded between 2015 and 2017 and finished during 2021. This process was marked by the exit of Corleone (when she moved to the Netherlands) and the entry of Carla Vallenas as lead singer, with whom the first version of the album was recorded, and a promotional video was released. During this period, the band shared the stage with important artists such as She Past Away, Sixth June, Ash Code, Mueran Humanos, or the legendary group of the '60s, Silver Apples. After a few years of activity, Carla Vallenas left the band, and both Dante Gonzales and Fernando Pinzás went on to work on different personal projects. Until 2021, when, after a brief activity of Varsovia as a duo, they decided to re-record the album with Sheri Corleone on vocals and guitar, marking the return to the original formation of the group. Varsovia has gathered great international attention in recent years thanks to the inclusion of a song from its first album in the soundtrack of the HBO series Los Espookys. The band was again invited to include a new song in the second season of the series, which premiered during 2022. Includes guest musicians such as Mexican saxophonist Martín Escalante and guitarist Óscar Reátegui of the legendary band Dios Hastío. It was recorded and mixed at Paraíso del Silicio by Dante Gonzales and mastered by Alberto Cendra at Garden Lab Audio. Cover art by About Studio. Edition of 500.
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BR 140LP
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Homenaje a El Carmen (Homage to El Carmen), Los Hermanos Ballumbrosio's debut album for Buh Records, captures the true spirit of the musical tradition of El Carmen, a city located a few miles to the south of Lima that is home to the largest black community in Peru. Songs based on percussion and zapateo bring back the memories and experiences of a culture that has produced one of the greatest treasures of Peruvian music. Members of one of the main families of El Carmen, Chincha, a cotton-producing province located 200 km south of Lima and known for hosting the largest black community in Peru, the Ballumbrosio brothers are the heirs of a great cultural tradition, embodied in the figure and teachings of their father Amador Ballumbrosio Mosquera, as well as their mother Adelina Guadalupe de Ballumbrosio. The patriarch of the family was an icon of Afro-Peruvian musical culture, a violinist, a performer of zapateo (a local type of tap dance) and, for a long time, a leading exponent of the "Danza de Negritos" (also known as "Hatajo de Negritos"), a traditional religious dance that is part of the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Amador and Adelina had fifteen children, all of them heirs and practitioners of the Afro-Peruvian tradition who became great cultural ambassadors of El Carmen by turning their family house into a pilgrimage site for visitors in town. Hence, the Ballumbrosio brothers cultivated music from a very young age, training as percussionists and in particular as virtuosos of Afro-Peruvian zapateo, which constitutes a fundamental element of the "Hatajo de Negritos". Currently, the Ballumbrosio brothers are made up of Chebo, Miguel, Roberto, Camilo, and Pudy Ballumbrosio, all of them with a recognized individual career in various groups and solo projects. Homage to El Carmen, the third volume of the series "Perspectives on Afro-Peruvian Music", signals the return of the group to the recording studio, and also to the sources of rhythms such as festejo and panalivio, which they interpret with cajón, quijada (jawbone), congas, bongo, and batá. The result is a distillation and a testimony of the memories and experiences that portray the cultural universe of El Carmen. There is a selection of traditional songs that are heard during the festivities and two traditional Christmas carols. There are songs that speak of the difficulties of rural life, but they also serve as a vehicle to demonstrate the Ballumbrosio brother's mastery in the art of zapateo, a dance that is accompanied by violin and bells. Includes eight-page booklet with liner notes in Spanish and English. Produced by Manongo Mujica and Daniel Mujica. Cover by Yerko Zlatar. Edition of 300.
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BR 143LP
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If, among the Afro-Peruvian music groups that have emerged in recent years, there is one that has dared to take the sound to new dimensions, it is Perkutao. Heirs to the best Afro-Peruvian tradition, they have been able to integrate Afro-Cuban elements and various contemporary popular styles, which they play with amazing with speed and precision. Mis Ancestros, is their debut album for Buh Records. Perkutao is an Afro-Peruvian percussion ensemble founded in 2005, directed by Percy Chinchilla, musician, percussionist, zapateador, and teacher of young generations of percussionists. Mis Ancestros (My ancestors) is their first record under the production of Manongo Mujica and is the fourth title of the collection Perspectivas de la Música Afroperuana (Perspectives on Afro-Peruvian Music). Chinchilla shares the artistic direction of Perkutao with William Nicasio 'Makarito', another outstanding percussionist. Both grew up in the famous Callejón del Buque, in the district of La Victoria, a spot preferred by bohemians and known by local music partying -- jaranas criollas. Both were also formed in Perú Negro, an emblematic Afro-Peruvian ensemble, and both carry in their blood the cult of percussion and Afro tradition. Perkutao arose precisely from the merging of Afro-Peruvian, Afro-Cuban and Caribbean music traditions, and have become one of the most sought-after percussion ensembles due to the intensity of their sound and their powerful performances. In addition to Chinchilla and Makarito, the ensemble is completed by Edu Campos, Andree Liendo, and Víctor Sánchez Pitín. "Azañero Colorao", "Trucutum Kiti Pa", and "Cancha con Sabor", composed based on minor percussion (cajita, quijada), zapateo and cajón, respectively, are compositions that serve as an introduction, a tribute to the essential instruments of the Afro-Peruvian tradition. The last one in particular already defines Perkutao's style: a trepidant and orgiastic rhythm, hypnotic and hard hitting, Dionysian and cathartic. With "Madre África" and "Al Tayta Bukense", for djembes and congas, respectively, you find Perkutao retaking the Afro-Cuban heritage embedded to the Afro-Peruvian sounds, abakuá and festejo. "Lloraré", a version of a famous Cuban song, mirror the ensemble's fascination with Caribbean music (salsa is another genre cultivated by its members). Mis Ancestros is an album about a tradition, but it is also a renewal. Perkutao opens a new direction for Afro-Peruvian music, its sound is an evocation and the here and now, it is deep-rooted but freely flowing percussion.
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BR 166LP
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Light Became Light is the debut album from Puppies in the Sun, a project composed of Alberto Cendra (synthesizers) and Cristóbal Pereira (drums), both originally from Peru and currently based in Rotterdam. Friends since childhood, they crossed paths again in Barcelona by sheer coincidence. This spontaneous pulse is also what dictated the beginnings of the project's characteristic sound: lengthy improvisational and sound exploratory sessions which are summed up in the project's first two EPs (Unheard EP and The Church of Puppies in the Sun, 2018). Light Became Light is Puppies in the Sun's statement towards bringing the improvisation's spontaneity and unruliness into a new phase in order to come up with their first full length. Like other well-known duos, Puppies in the Sun maximizes their compact instrumentation to establish themselves as a (noise) rock band without the presence of guitars or bass guitars. Far from being a limitation, this has provided them with great freedom. The lower end of the album's soundscape is triggered on Cendra's synthesizer scheme by Pereira's drums. This is one of the characteristics that emerge from the organic, minimal and spontaneous style of the band. As if it was a rocket, Light Became Light takes off in search of a sound and a space that pays tribute to cosmic rock and synthesizer music without leaving the melodic rawness of noise rock or even black metal behind. Some might also perceive an atmosphere that owes its existence to techno parties and a slight wink towards folk imagery. If there is anything that makes their sound iconic is the call for constructing wild and festive ambiances, state of trance and agitation. Light Became Light was recorded and mixed by Oscar Moreno at El Purgatorio (Madrid, Spain). In the middle of an intense heat wave, Puppies in the Sun locked themselves through the course of two weeks to record and process various analog and digital synthesizers, pianos, drums, and vocals, to later mix Light Became Light in a classic analog console. Artwork by the band itself and designed by Fernanda Binvignat. Edition of 300.
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BR 162LP
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Ayahuasca: Music for Film, by Luis David Aguilar (1978-1983) compiles works by Luis David Aguilar, one of the most prolific composers of film scores in Peru. It shows the great versatility and avant-garde style that has distinguished his work. Luis David Aguilar (Arequipa, 1950) occupies a fundamental place in the history of film music in Peru, not only because of the prolific nature of his work (which also includes music for television and advertising), but because of the singular, experimental style found in many of his scores. Aguilar's music blends modern academic composition with the use of native instruments, synthesizers, sound collages, and a diversity of resources, which identify him as a key figure to understand a period of Peruvian music marked by the imprint of the avant-garde and the use of native sounds, which developed during the late '70s and the early '80s. Aguilar belongs to the so called "Generation of the '70s", along with Peruvian composers such as Walter Casas, Seiji Asato, and Aurelio Tello, who were then immersed in the languages of contemporary classical music. But he also shares the spirit of renewal of a generation of musicians who came from the world of jazz and electronic experimentation such as Manongo Mujica and Arturo Ruiz del Pozo. Ayahuasca is an album that collects pieces from 1978 to 1983 and offers an overview of the different musical paths that Aguilar followed during his career as a soundtrack composer. The album opens with music from the film El viento del ayahuasca (The Wind of Ayahuasca) (1983), by director Nora de Izcue, performed by the National Symphony Orchestra and Choir of Cuba under the baton of Luis David Aguilar, with Chucho Valdés on piano. It is an ambitious orchestral and vocal composition, in which you can hear the beginning of the famous melody of "Mujer Hilandera" (Female Weaver), popularized by the Amazonian cumbia group Juaneco y su Combo. The next track is the music for the documentary Anónimo cotidiano (Anonymous Everyday) (1979), by director Jorge Rey, a unique experimental piece for synthesizers (played by Aguilar), drums and percussion (played by Manongo Mujica), with the addition of various Andean instruments (panpipes, charango, among others). And finally, Los Constructores (The Builders) (1978), by director José Carlos Huayhuaca, a salsa which incorporates unusual sounds of tubular bells and prepared pianos. Remastered audio from the original reel tapes by Aldo Montalvo. Includes a booklet with notes by Luis David Aguilar; edition of 300.
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BR 167LP
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The story of Del Cuarto Rojo (From the Red Room) began in March 2020, when the Peruvian composer and percussionist Manongo Mujica received a call notifying him that the visual artist Rafael Hastings, his friend of almost half a century, had passed away. Since then, and in the midst of the pandemic, Manongo Mujica began a personal journey searching for sounds, which has resulted in a new set of pieces that evoke the memory of a friendship. Del Cuarto Rojo (From the Red Room), subtitled Homenaje sonoro escuchando la pintura de Rafael Hastings (Sound Tribute Listening to Rafael Hastings' Paintings), is Manongo Mujica's new album, and it has also motivated the preparation of a new show by the dancer and choreographer Yvonne von Mollendorff, wife of Hastings. The history of this friendship dates back to 1974, when a young Manongo returned to Lima, after ten years living in London, while young Rafael Hastings and Yvonne von Mollendorff settled in Peru after a long period in Europe. Since then, the collaborations between these artists have been continuous, always marked by an experimental impetus. The attitude of listening to images and painting sounds was more than a metaphor and became a code that identified them and a way of working, where the crossing of disciplines set the tone, both in video works and in unusual visual/conceptual scores, works of dance and experimental music, in the context of a creative effervescence that renewed the arts and music in Lima in the '70s. Del Cuarto Rojo is an album that integrates many of the musical resources developed by Mujica. It is an amalgam that well sums up his own language: from the creation of environments with extended techniques and objects, to experiments in jazz fusion; from the use of field recordings and sound montages to compositions with string arrangements: everything around the hypnotic pulse of percussion and drums, which oscillate between moments of subtlety and explosive improvisation. The album features the participation of outstanding musicians such as Pauchi Sasaki (violin), José Quezada (cello), Terje Evensen (electronic effects), Jean Pierre Magnet (saxophone), Cristobal, Daniel, and Gabriel Mujica (sons of Manongo Mujica, on percussion, string, and wind arrangements). Includes a full color 12-page booklet with a sample of Rafael Hastings's visual art, which also illustrates the album cover.
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BR 163LP
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La Música De Los Kechwas Lamistas: Registros Sonoros De Comunidades Nativas De Lamas (The Music of the Lamista Kechwas: Recordings of Native Communities of Lamas) compiles various recordings made by Los Abuelos del Wayku, a traditional group made up of the oldest musicians from the native communities of Lamas: Medardo Cachique, Reynaldo Amasifuén, Misael Amasifuén, Daniel Sangama, Remigio Sangama, and Pedro Cachique. The selection and recording process has been carried out by the Tarapoto musician and researcher Percy Alexander Flores Navarro. These performances seek to recreate the most indigenous musical performance styles of the various musical genres practiced throughout the Lamista Kechwa nation since colonial times, as well as the foreign and national musical trends incorporated by these communities during the first half of the 20th century. Thus, this album aims to be a chronicle of the historical processes that took place in the region, as well as a guide to the cultural diversity of the Peruvian Amazon. Some of the musical genres present in these recordings are: the Christmas Carol brought by the Jesuit missionaries during the 16th century; the Amazonian pandilla and the various musical forms that comprise it since colonial times; the marinera, adapted to the Andean-Amazonian ensemble at the beginning of the 20th century; rock and roll, which was reinterpreted as the Lamista twist in the middle of the last century, and many other musical genres that constitute the repertoire of traditional and popular music of the native communities of Lamas. After the success of the anthology The Fabulous Sound of Andrés Vargas Pinedo (BR 147LP, 2021), and the launch of the anthology Around the Húmisha: The music of the traditional Amazonian groups of Peru (BR 159LP), Buh Records presents this new volume, dedicated to the music of the native communities of Lamas, and this time with the launch of a collection and platform called Central Amazónica, which will be dedicated exclusively to the rescue of various musical expressions of the Peruvian Amazon. Includes extensive information and visual documentation. Compilation and notes by Percy Alexander Flores Navarro. Art by René Sánchez.
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BR 159LP
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Around the Húmisha: The music of the traditional Amazonian ensembles of Peru is a compilation that brings together for the first-time various groups formed between the mid-60s and early '80s, which defined the sound of the popular music that emerged in the Peruvian jungle. Here, genres of indigenous Amazonian roots are represented, such as the pandilla, the chimaychi, and the sitaracuy, which are typically performed in carnivals and regional Amazonian festivals. These gatherings always culminate around a húmisha tree, a representative element of these celebrations, which is surrounded by a troupe of dancers who cut it down to the rhythm of a pandilla. Based on these native genres, these traditional ensembles were nurtured by diverse influences, coming from the Andes (huaynos), the Peruvian coast (creole waltzes), as well as from neighboring countries such as Brazil (samba, tanguiño), Colombia (cumbia), and Ecuador (sanjuanitos). The music is performed using the traditional instrumentation of quena, bass drum, and snare drum, sometimes supplemented with violin, clarinet, saxophone, guitar, and maracas. This compilation brings together songs from Conjunto Selva Alegre, Flor del Oriente y su Conjunto, Los Guacamayos, Los Solteritos, Dúo Loreto, Los Pihuichos de la Selva, Los Ribereños del Huallaga, Conjunto Esperanza de San Martín, Conjunto Típico Corazón de la Selva, Jibarito de la Selva con Los Mensajeros de la Selva, and Los Hijos de Lamas. These groups released records on the main Peruvian labels of the '70s and '80s; today, those albums are true collector's gems, hard to come by. Here we find some indisputable classics from the Amazonian repertoire such as "La leyenda del pífano" by Adolfo Sandoval in the masterful interpretation of the Dúo Loreto, "El Pucacuro" by the Amazonian diva Flor del Oriente, the highly popular "Salta Yanasita" by the Conjunto Selva Alegre, as well as the classic "Alegría en la selva" by the Conjunto Típico Corazón de la Selva, a true Amazonian anthem. Following the success of the anthology The Fabulous Sound of Andrés Vargas Pinedo (BR 147LP, 2021), and the launch of The Music of the Lamista Kechwas: Recordings of the Native Communities of Lamas (BR 163LP), Buh Records presents this new volume dedicated to exploring this fascinating universe of traditional music from the Amazonian jungle. Features extensive information and visual documentation. Compilation and notes by Luis Alvarado. Art by René Sánchez. Also features Eliseo Reátegui y Los Solteritos, Jibarito de la Selva, and Los Hijos de Lamas.
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BR 149LP
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Síntomas De Techno presents for the first time various underground techno groups and projects that emerged in Lima in the mid-1980s. Projects such as Disidentes, Paisaje Electrónico, T de Cobre, Meine Katze Und Ich, El Sueño de Alí, Cuerpos del Deseo, Círculo Interior, Ensamble, and Reacción were responsible for introducing styles such as techno pop, EBM, industrial, and minimal synth in Peru. Coinciding with the explosion of punk in Lima and the appearance of the so-called "Rock Subterráneo" (underground rock), these techno groups shared the same DIY spirit, performing in many punk concerts and even creating their own fanzines, and, above all, opening a space for other types of sonic experiences. Meine Katze Und Ich, El Sueño de Alí, and Paisaje Electrónico were also the parallel projects of the members of Narcosis, the iconic punk band, one of the founders of Rock Subterráneo. Disidentes and T de Cobre brought extreme sounds to local electronics: visceral sound, mechanical rhythms, and the use of Casiotones or synthesizers, which resulted in an atypical sound that, in turn, portrayed a critical time in Peru, and which has made them an unavoidable reference for any historical account of techno and industrial music in Latin America. The title of this compilation is inspired by the name of a concert held in Lima in 1991, considered to be the first techno concert to have taken place in Peru. Even though not all intervening groups were doing techno at that time, they did share the fact that they all used keyboards. Four of them, however (Cuerpos del Deseo, Ensamble, Círculo Interior, and Reacción), were in fact affiliated to an electronic sound (techno pop, EBM). The concert was a sign of the diversification of musical styles in Lima's alternative scene, and in particular of the emergence of a micro scene, for which the concert Síntomas De Techno (Symptoms of Techno) represented an important step towards the development of a local culture of electronic music during the '90s. Many of the recordings included here are extracted from demos with limited circulation, practically impossible to find. Other tracks are unpublished pieces which come from the private archives of the artists themselves. The compilation has been made by Luis Alvarado and is part of the Buh Records' Essential Sounds Collection, making available a vast archive of avant garde, Peruvian music. Mastered by Alberto Cendra. Art by René Sánchez. Cover photography by Rogelio Martell. Includes extensive information and visual documentation; edition of 300.
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BR 160LP
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Oksana Linde belongs to the same creative trail started by artists such as Delia Derbyshire, Suzanne Ciani, or Laurie Spiegel, because like them she knew how to create a personal universe by exploring electronic sounds and to find a place in an eminently masculine environment. Aquatic And Other Worlds is her first album, which compiles electronic synthesizer pieces recorded between 1983 and 1989. Born in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1948, into a family of Ukrainian immigrants, Oksana Linde's work became known at the beginning of the '80s, coinciding with the emergence of a new scene of Venezuelan electronic synthesizer music, with names such as Ángel Rada, Miguel Noya, Musikautomatika, Vinicio Adames, Oscar Caraballo, Aitor Goyarrola, and Jacky Schreiber. In 1981, at the age of 33, Oksana Linde left her job as a researcher due to health issues and began to devote more time to music and painting. She borrowed a Polymoog synthesizer, then a TEAC open reel tape recorder and a Moog Source. With this equipment she set up her small home studio and began to compose her first pieces around 1983-1984. She eventually expanded her equipment, acquiring a 16-channel mixer, a Roland Tape Echo, a TR-505 drum machine, a Korg M1, and years later a Korg TR-88. Between 1984 and 1986 she recorded more than 30 pieces. Between 1989 and 1996 she continued to produce another 30 pieces, thus accumulating a large archive that has remained unpublished. Oksana Linde's music can be intensely hypnotic and psychedelic, but also melodic and playful. Linde programs and plays all the instruments and develops melodic lines that are superimposed on loops and sequences, as well as various layers of reverberant and floating sounds that come and go, and always establish a very cinematic narrative, very typical of the tradition of synthesizer music. The early work of women in electronic music in Latin America is one of those areas that has yet to be worked in depth. In Latin America, the introduction of the synthesizer in experimental, progressive and electronic music from the '70s on, is associated almost exclusively with male figures, which is why the work of Oksana Linde gains particular relevance, as she establishes herself as a figure who breaks that hegemony, and whose extensive production in turn places her as one of the most prolific and notable exponents of synthesizer music in Latin America. Compiled by Luis Alvarado. Includes notes by Oksana Linde, Ale Hop, and Luis Alvarado. Art by René Sánchez. Edition of 300.
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BR 157LP
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Gurun Gurun is made up of Tarnovski, Tomás Knoflíček, Federsel, and Ondřej Jezek who took their name from the fictional planet in the old school Slovak children's TV show She Came Out of the Blue Sky. Since the beginning, it has been clear that apprehending their working and reflecting it would be a tough nut to crack. Is this even a band? Do they play compositions or is it all improvised? On the stage, you see four men hunched over tables overflowing with strange objects, hard-to-identify electronic devices, musical and non-musical instruments, and a chaotic tangle of cables, producing slow, constantly developing melodies and a hypnotic atmosphere that works a little like falling through a strange wormhole full of sounds, noises, and soft female vocals, mercilessly sucking you in, forcing you to collapse into yourself and enter a parallel universe. This new album, Uzu Oto, featured the Kyoto-based singer Cuushe and Asuna, a sound artist from Kanazawa, was also created in concert -- each track at a different show. Despite this fact, GG do not consider it a traditional live album. And as this group generally exists independently of the common conception of time, the history of the new recording reaches back to before their previous record, Kon B (HOMEN 074CD, 2015). Attending a Gurun Gurun concert is like taking part in an expedition by a pack of monkeys to explore the wreckage of a spaceship that was shipwrecked a long time ago. Their improvised live sets are a mix of post-club-music deconstruction, metamorphosed acoustic and electronic sounds, generative music, and musique concrète. This is also the spirit of Uzu Oto. No, this is not music to play while you wash the dishes. Or perhaps it is, but you have to factor in the fact that the dishes will become a tangle of roots, threads, ropes, lianas, and spider webs. And that your entire kitchen may well catch on fire. Mixed by Tarnovski. Mastered by Jezek. Artwork by Petr Válek. Edition of 300.
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BR 148LP
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First compilation brings together the Peruvian experimental scene from 1975 to 1988, a period was the most prolific for a generation of Peruvian artists who, based on musical conceptions derived from modern jazz and techniques inherited from avant-garde music, sought to integrate the sounds of Andean, Afro-Peruvian, and Amazonian cultures in search of a new musical universe. Native instruments and folk melodies were used in compositions that demanded modern recording techniques and electronic sounds. This generation was articulated in Lima and was made up of musicians such as Omar Aramayo, Manongo Mujica, Arturo Ruiz del Pozo, Miguel Flores (Ave Acústica), Douglas Tarnawiecki (Espíritus), Luis David Aguilar, Julio Algendones "Chocolate", and Corina Bartra. But more than a movement, it was a set of individuals from dissimilar origins, who came from rock, jazz, contemporary classical, and popular music, but also from the visual arts and poetry, and who had in common the cultural climate of the late seventies and early eighties in a country marked by a series of social and economic transformations, as well as the emergence of new visions and insertions of Andean culture and folklore in the city. The appearance of a mythical substrate connected the work of these musicians and defined an aesthetic, based on the deconstruction of folklore and the exploration of the possibilities that indigenous instruments offered. From there, these musicians immersed themselves in abstract, but also symbolic and conceptual forms. In many cases, they were strongly influenced by jazz and were keen to explore the possibilities of the recording studio. Territorio Del Eco: Experimentalismos & Visiones de lo Ancestral en el Perú (1975-1989) -- The Land of Echo: Experimentalisms and Visions of the Ancestral in Peru (1975-1989), in English -- is a compilation that offers an overview of what was one of the moments of greatest creative intensity for experimental music in Peru in its encounter with indigenous sounds. A collection of unpublished and loss pieces, rescued from private archives and limited editions on cassette, these pieces are reissued for the first time in vinyl LP format. Includes eight-page booklet with extensive notes written by Luis Alvarado, author of the compilation, as well as much visual documentation. Cover art by Paloma Pizarro. Beneficiary project of the Economic Stimuli for Culture of the Ministry of Culture of Peru. Edition of 300.
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BR 142LP
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Buh Records presents Gnose, the joint full-length by the solo acts of Paula Rebellato (Rakta) and Douglas Leal (Deafkids), members of two of the most thriving and groundbreaking bands coming out of Brazil to the world lately. Produced between 2019 and 2020 in São Paulo, Brazil, some of the compositions were first conceived for a live performance in late 2019 and then expanded into a full-length album, part recorded in studio and part at home during the first months of the pandemic. Inspired by the ritualistic potentials of music, Gnose offers a vertical and circular narrative throughout its seven themes, exploring atmospheres that may contribute to experiences of displacement and inner silence. The fusion of traditional and acoustic instruments with electronic and processed sounds highlights the strong characteristics of both projects, melted into a journey within timeless soundscapes. Paula Rebellato is an artist based in São Paulo, Brazil. Her journey with music and sound started at young age and became a more consistent path when she co-founded the genre-bending group Rakta. Paula's solo project Acavernus, active since 2013, incorporates sound, visual and written language. Inspired by sounds and atmospheres that evokes strangeness and beauty, she dives into memories and encounters that leads to her own center of intuitive and instinctive expressions, always trying to work and explore different tools and materials for composing. Her work with the voice, processed by different effect pedals, takes the listener to both comfortable and uncomfortable places. Yantra is the solo project by Douglas Leal, multi-instrumentalist, visual artist and founding member of the Brazilian psychedelic punk trio Deafkids. Douglas's solo project emerged in 2015 as a psychedelic and meditative audio-visual outlet for experimental/home-recordings but has since evolved into self-released tapes and collaborative recordings, live soundtrack for yoga and meditation sessions and improvisation sets with many different artists from São Paulo. Inspired by the modal music from different cultures around the world and using the electric guitar as the main instrument for his excursions into drones, ragas, and maqams, over time Douglas began to explore the use of acoustic sounds such as native wind instruments, the Greek bouzouki, the Turkish ney, mouth harps etc., expanding the project's color palette into unknown musical paths. Artwork by Douglas Leal. Edition of 300.
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BR 146LP
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Objetos Musicais is a collection of 13 sound pieces created by artists from South America and Switzerland, who work in an intermediate zone among the craft of luthiers, visual arts and experimental music. Their works evoke the visionary ideas of Walter Smetak, a Swiss composer who lived in Salvador, Bahia (Brazil). Smetak was a pioneer of musical experimentation in that country and developed, in the '60s and '70s, a musical poetics that was captured in two seminal albums, Smetak (1974) and Interregno (1980), both of which, after being out-of-print for a long time, have been reissued today, hence the motivation for this tribute. On those two albums, Smetak combined Afro-Brazilian ritual traditions, theosophy, microtonality studies, collective improvisation and the use of unconventional musical instruments, which he called "Plasticas Sonoras". Smetak came to build around 150 acoustic instruments, many of which are true sound sculptures of great visual impact. This latter aspect is the most directly evoked one on this album -- and it so happens that the Smetakian spirit tunes in with a new community of contemporary artists, who relate to the work of the so-called "experimental luthiers", artists who build their own instruments (Marco Scarassatti, Phillipp Laeng, Maria Anália), lead them towards radical extended versions (Ruben Dhers, Claudio Merlet), develop hybrid projects involving instruments and sound sculpture (Javier Bustos, Álvaro Icaza and Verónica Luyo, Juan Pablo Egúsquiza, Edgardo Rudnitzky) or take the exploration towards the building of resonant machines (Nicole L'Huillier, O Grivo, Zimoun, Cod.Act), without these categories being mutually exclusive, but rather tending to mix, thereby opening up new sonic possibilities. This new community of artists has begun to create a whole new field of research and, in a way, a new discipline, understandable within the context of this new paradigm opened by the maker culture, which has pushed creators and developers from all over the world to conceive alternative -- anti-hegemonic and DIY -- forms of production. Therefore, this collection allows the artists to evoke Walter Smetak but also to connect his work to this new scene -- to which it precedes -- a link for this new art that makes its way at some point among the work of experimental luthiers, sound art, experimental music and the DIY ethics. Curated by Luis Alvarado and Chico Dub. Art by René Sánchez. Edition of 300.
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