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IN THE TRUNK: “El Botecito” by Los Orientales de Paramonga

By on August 1, 2014

Los-Orientales-de-Paramonga-El-Botecito

My brother Miguel once told me about a blog called Super Sonido run by Joseph Franko. On it, I found this incredible classic cumbia called “El Botecito” (the little boat) by Los Orientales de Paramonga released on the Peruvian Dinsa label. In this song you can hear a sound called chicha, which is a mixture of Columbian cumbia, psychedelic rock, and Peruvian folk music. Los Orientales de Paramonga formed in Paramonga, Peru, a city not far from the capital Lima, a town gave birth to many great groups in the sixties. Though their history is an elusive one, Los Orientales de Paramonga recorded at least four albums and were pioneers in a movement of new sounds in Peru during the seventies and eighties.

This electronic gem is short but so sweet I could listen to it on repeated loop for hours at a time.  The way the guitar starts it off with the güiro is just so infectious and sexy it could make a paralyzed man want to sway his hips to and fro. Although the song is instrumental, it has a chorus and several versus that leave it’s meaning to the imagination. I’m probably getting it wrong but I think it refers to a kind of rocking back and forth. A dance or a jam. Either way, it is truly a party rocker if you ever find it! On this song you can hear Victor and Carlos Ramirez on guitar, Severino Rino Ramirez on drums, Evert Rosales on timbales, Manuel Mañuco Rea on tumbas and the quinto, Victor Rojas on the güiro. And the group is lead  by Maximiliano Chavez.

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Robert Liu-Trujillo

Parent, illustrator, author, owner of Come Bien Books, muralist, activist, and self-proclaimed believer in the power of music and its infinite sonic vibrations. Follow him @RobertTres
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