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Pacha Wakay Munan — El Tiempo Quiero Cantar
(Buh Records BR189, 2025, LP)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2025-05-20

El Tiempo Quiero Cantar Cover art

With El Tiempo Quiero Cantar, Peruvian duo Pacha Wakay Munan (Dimitri Manga Chávez and Ricardo López Alcas) present a captivating set of explorative pieces in a contemporary musical context using the centuries old pre-hispanic instruments of the Andes mountains and coastal Peru. Dimitri is a legendary Peruvian musician and wind instrument performer, and both are researchers — many of the instruments they use have been discovered in archaeological sites, though their sound has remained largely unknown: Chimú whistling vessels, pututos, Nasca antaras, and other instruments were used in ancient ceremonies. Rather than maintaining them as objects of study, the duo has figured out how to play them and brought them forward in time, the result being an interesting and engaging mix of ancient sounds in modern compositions. The opener "Pacha Wakay Munanqa" introduces many of the sounds that one will hear throughout the album, whistles and winds paired with subtle electronic sounds and some modern flutes. "El Taki Onkoy" is one of the few cuts here with any sort of vocals, in this case chanting by guest Ximena Menéndez, over scores of pounding drums. With “Mundo Posible” the duo again travels back in time, in an improvisation where the piano converses with ceramic flutes (antaras) in powerful melodies, almost sounding a bit Japanese at times. Throughout, one will hear strange and unusual sounds that make the listener wonder what the source is, and “Machu Tara” is clearly one of these perplexing mysteries. “Agua, Cuarzo y Viento” (“Water, Quartz and Wind”) begins with some subtle ambient quartz singing bowls, later overlaid by various flutes, though by the middle of the piece we are following a melody, punctuated by gongs, creating one of the most beautiful pieces in the set. “Sikura y Nasca” opens with pounding drums and whatever that main wind instrument was on “Machu Tara,” leading the listener up the side of the mountain. Closing the set, “Qinray Tema” offers standard concert flute in conjunction with ceramic and bone flutes, with hand drums guiding the way to a powerful deep mysterious wind sound. All taken, this is one powerful trip back in time, crossing the modern and the ancient.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Pacha Wakay Munan

More info
http://buhrecords.bandcamp.com/album/el-tiempo-quiero-cantar

 

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