Trujillo Peru 1971 - 1974

I was in Lima, hanging out with collector-extraordinaire Victor Zela, who had spent the previous few years pouring his passion for Peruvian Cumbia into the blog *La Cumbia de Mis Viejos“, a real trove of incredible music. But after the birth of his first child, his priorities shifted and he decided to part with some of his rarest LPs. I was one of the lucky few given an early chance to examine his treasures, and when I picked up the album "Manzaneando com Manzanita", Victor said: “Take it! its one of the best LPs ever recorded in Perú ... easily in the top five”. That was all the encouragement I needed ... two years later many of the songs from that masterpiece have made it onto this compilation of electrifying Cumbia sides from Manzanita’s golden era.

Berardo Hernández – better known as Manzanita – first surfaced during the psychedelic Cumbia craze. At the head of the scene were the magnificent Los Destellos, whose leader, Enrique Delgado, was such a six-string wizard that other guitarists found it impossible to escape his shadow. But then Manzanita arrived with his electric criollo style, sent shockwaves through Lima’s music scene and posed a serious threat to Delgado’s dominance as king of the Peruvian guitar.

Tracklist