What can I say about Nocturno, only that it is a project unfairly forgotten, never reissued, totally unknown and yet there is no way to talk about neither Jazz, experimental nor electronic music in Peru without having mentioned it, a project absolutely foundational.

Recorded in 1981, with the premise of the creation of a personal Nocturno, Omar Aramayo (wind instruments from Puno, city of Peruvian Highlands), Manongo Mujica (percussion) and

Arturo Ruiz del Pozo (synthesizers), gave birth to this splendid cassette where for the first time in Peru, the Andean music is merged with the electronic, out of the academic arena, to give way to experimentation.  From the three pieces here compiled, the first signed by Aramayo is my favorite.  I cannot get tired of listening to it, it is really overwhelming. The entire cassette is still a jewel though. 

The three musicians followed a singular path.  Manongo -who played in improvisation ensembles in London and went through a radical experimentation phase- arrived in Lima and got involved in video projects with Rafael Hastings, performed as percussionist in a play directed by his uncle, Enrique Pinilla.  He also engaged in the creation of visual music scores, founded a jazz band; then it would come Nocturno and another foundational project with Douglas Tarnawiecki named ‘Paisajes Sonoros’ in 1983. Eventually he founded Perujazz, recorded several solo CDs and developed a remarkable career.  On the other hand, Aramayo is a poet and had published numerous poetry books, some of them of visual poetry.  He is recently experiencing with phonetic and sound poetry. In addition, Arturo Ruiz del Pozo went back to Lima in the late 70s -after a long journey in London- where he released ‘Composiciones Nativas’, a production that fusioned electronic music with Andean music.  This project was also issued in cassette format, afterwards Ruiz del Pozo would focus on composing meditative music.  It is in this Nocturno that you can find these three musicians in a very decisive moment.  Enjoy it.

Luis Alvarado, 2009