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Various Artists — Tránsitos Sónicos
(Buh Records BR, 1984/2024, DL / 2LP)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2024-08-05

Tránsitos Sónicos Cover art

The title of this Various Artists compilation roughly translates to Sonic Transits: Electronic and Tape Music by Peruvian Composers from 1964-1984. Before the reader gets the wrong idea, this is nothing like conventional electronic music we know from the same period, for example Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, Beaver & Krause, Wendy Carlos, Subotnick, or anything else that could be considered even remotely ‘popular’ from that era; instead what we have here are seven pieces of experimental sound collage, most featuring some electronics, found sounds, occasional vocalizations, and other characteristics outside of the typical musical realm, what most listeners would consider experimental or avant-garde, though nothing here is particularly jarring or grotesque, just ‘out there’ to some degree. This double LP set is probably the first overview of the creations of Peruvian artists working these experimental genres from this early period, and many of the composers here left Peru during that period for advanced training in other countries which offered better access to the intenational avant-garde music scenes; the subsequent works of some of  these composers have been reviewed in the pages of Exposé in more recent years: Arturo Ruiz del Pozo and Luis David Aguilar, but the others we have not heard from yet. Side A contains three pieces composed between 1964 to 1967: Cesar Bolaños’  “Intensidad y Altura” offers an unusual collage of voices, vocalizations, percussive and electronic sounds free of any cadence; Edgar Valcárcel’s “Invención” is more of an electronic collage of unusual sounds, while Enrique Pinilla’s “Prisma” opens with an odd mix of electronic sounds that eventually morph into a percussive sound like processed bowed cymbals, and again, no cadence — this is most definitely not popular music, though it’s certainly enjoyable. Flip the vinyl over to  side B and we get a fourteen-minute extravaganza of experimental sounds by Alejandro Núñez Allauca, some seeming like sped-up versions of sounds caught on tape; it’s hard for a listener to determine what exactly any of these sounds are (other than the vocal sounds), whether they are traveling forward or backwards, so it’s probably best to just relax and enjoy whatever you hear and not think about it too much. Side C opens with “Selvynas” by  Arturo Ruiz del Pozo from ‘78, mixing wind sounds, percussion, and an unusual pulsing beat. Seven minutes later we start the thirteen-minute  “Hombres de Viento” by Luis David Aguilar, again from 1978; this extended piece, originally written for a film score, mixes native and western instrumentation, all electronically processed, resulting in a joyful musical celebration. The entirety of side D is taken up by “Aves en vuelo al sur” by Corina Bartra from 1984, the newest piece to be included; from the title one might figure this has something to do with migratory birds flying south, though much of what’s here are human vocalizations not unlike those of birds, and in time recorded bird sounds are brought in to join Bartra’s creation, along with electronics and even stranger processed sounds, plus normal western intrumentation. It’s a long but enjoyable journey, always changing as it proceeds. Each of the included compositions is very different but gives an excellent overview of the early avant-garde music scene in Peru.

Filed under: Archives, 2024 releases, 1984 recordings

Related artist(s): Various Artists, Arturo Ruiz del Pozo, Luis David Aguilar

More info
http://buhrecords.bandcamp.com/album/tr-nsitos-s-nicos-m-sica-electr-nica-y-para-cinta-de-compositores-peruanos-1964-1984

 

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