Los Pakines

The infectious and varied Peruvian cumbia sound of the ‘60s & ‘70s has experienced a remarkable resurgence in the last 10 years with a high tide of reissues. Legendary labels like Lima’s Infopesa (Industria Fonografica Peruana S.A.) and reissue labels like Madrid’s Vampisoul, who acquired the entire Discos MAG catalog in 2022, are some of the major movers. After some excellent overview compilations like Vampisoul’s Cumbia Beat volumes and Infopesa’s Cumbias Chichadélicas: Peruvian Psychedelic Chicha, the labels are now offering single artist anthologies and individual album reissues in response to the recent surge of interest in this music. In 2015 Infopesa released this Los Pakines collection, which includes their first two albums Los Pakines Y....."Pasto Azul" and Los Pakines in their entirety. Further, the master tapes were utilized to present both albums, originally released in 1973, in the highest fidelity possible.

Los Pakines started as a surfy instrumental group with their influences ranging from the local Lima instrumental combos like Los Belking’s, Los Jaguar’s, Los Holy’s, Los Destellos (the Flashes) to international instrumental purveyors the Shadows and the Ventures. It has been documented that Infopesa owner Alberto Maraví swayed them to augment their instrumental sound with Peruvian cumbia-itself an infectious blend of Cuban guaracha and Colombian rhythms. Brothers José "Pepe" Torres Liza and Alejandro "Pakin" Torres Liza started the band that remains active to this day. Alejandro composed a majority of their songs and played the timbales, while brother José "Pepe" provided the fluid lead guitar adorned with romantic flourishes. Alejandro's churning click-clack percussion establishes the solid rhythmic foundation for the interplay between the rhythmic and lead guitars. Their melodies go into some unexpected directions-sometimes turning corners unto entirely new melodies.

Things get going on "Ramo de Rosas" (“Bouquet of Roses”) as the bucking percussion kicks in between the driving guitar sounds. Poppy “Ya, La, La, La” vocables are hinged upon serpentine guitars that coil through tangles of tropical psychedelia on “San Luis.” Similar vocal shadings wrap around “Solitario,'' a jaunty tune that takes a circuitous route around “Theme from a Summer Place,” “Blue Moon” and even “The Bristol Stomp.”  Reflecting local color and history, they even named a song after the Peruvian 18th-century entertainer & mistress Micaela Villegas, known as La Perricholi. “La Perricholi” is a joyous, exquisite and percolating number from their debut album featuring the clicking sound of the guacharaca, a percussion instrument made from a small palm tree and also known colloquially as a scraper. The guacharaca also appears on “Tania,” reminding me of ? and the Mysterians covering “The Theme to Hang ‘em High.”

They began to get harder and heavier on their second self-titled album as unison vocals are incorporated on “Tómalo o Déjalo” (“Take or Leave It”) and mirror the North American West Coast groups like El Chicano and Santana. “Fue Una Mentira” (“It Was A Lie”) is a shimmering vocal tune featuring a liquidy guitar sound made possible by delay. The song is also reminiscent of the Ghetto Brothers, the early ‘70s Puerto Rican group from the South Bronx. The highly skilled Los Pakines had domestic success for decades and also achieved international acclaim in the ‘70s & ‘80s-as heard on the 1975 live album Los Pakines En Miami. Their songs, both simultaneously foreign and familiar, evoke distant coastal lands and cross-pollination as well as departures and landings. It is no surprise their records spread all over Latin American and are now being rediscovered. Their captivating sound helped create a golden musical era in Peru and their recordings continue to take flight 50 years later.