Exposé Online banner

Exposé Online

Not just outside the box, but denying the existence of boxes.
Covering music from the fringes since 1993.

Reviews

Wayku — Selva Selva
(Buh Records BR192, 2025, LP)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2025-09-13

Selva Selva Cover art

One can travel all around the world and find interesting music with long cultural lineage, traditional sounds unlike any others, and one can be sure that somewhere along the way musicians will try fusing it with something more electric and eclectic — usually rock or jazz — in order to come up with something new and innovative. In recent years we have regularly covered the music of Mdou Moctar, a Touareg musician based in Niger, an excellent example of these kind of electrified world fusions. Here we have Wayku, the project name of multi-instrumentalist Percy A. Flores Navarro merging the traditional and popular sounds from the Peruvian Amazon with more contemporary sounds, a magical mix of traditional, electric jazz and rock that’s powerful enough to make this most unusual and explorative mix of sounds appealing to western tastes; the result is pandilla eléctrica, a genre closely tied to Amazonian cumbia. It’s a difficult sound to describe, as the core of the music is traditional, some songs with lyrics, some mostly instrumental, all bearing a joyous celebratory feeling, organic and masterfully executed with electric instruments, contemporary sounding harmonies and some mighty killer electric guitar solos that elicit comparison to some of the best players. The musicians are Michel Paredes on bass and  Flores Navarro on everything else (multi-guitars, percussion, some keys, traditional wind instruments, and much more). Just a duo at this point — I’m not sure if they add extra musicians to play out or if it ‘s strictly a studio project — but either way what’s here in the grooves is amazingly powerful. There are eleven songs in all, some with a strong danceable beat, others with strong psychedelic rock stylings, though at its core the music is pandilla. The celebration of music comes alive in songs like “Carnival en La Selva,” as does “Por la Marginal” and several others. “Icaro” bears a more introspective style, with lyrics presumably sung by Flores Navarro. “Tambo el el Monte” brings in a sort-of Western flavor, with a lot of interesting sounds, while “Lanta Tipina” has an unusual rhythm that carries throughout the piece. All taken, Selva Selva is a powerful collection of tunes that will introduce the listener to a whole new world of song.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Wayku

More info
http://buhrecords.bandcamp.com/album/selva-selva

 

What's new

These are the most recent changes made to artists, releases, and articles.