Cesar Mendoza – La Caja de Musica (Read original review in Spanish here)

Manongo Mujica is primarily a living institution among the world of rhythms and percussive colors that beats in the heart of modern Peruvian fusion.  Veteran musician and wise investigator of sound, his prolific career within Perujazz is only an aspect of his multiple efforts for the development of avant garde music in Peru.   ‘Tribal’ is the name of his debut album, conceived through years of devoted research of the sound of pure roots (not “puristic” by the way), going against mainstream music industry which was focused on highly technological music products of ephemeral success.

The CD title serves as means to depict immediately Mujica’s intention of exploring the roots or multiple sounds created by men, reinventing them through visionary possibilities inspired by the tradition of free exploration of what we call “fusion music”.

Bearing in mind that the concrete sources of Mujica’s creative inspiration  (and occasionally of Pepita Garcia-Miro) are eclectic, the variety is guaranteed for the enjoyment of this production.  

‘El Llamado’ (The Calling) starts the CD with an electrifying and telluric percussive orgythat establishes a brotherhood among diverse tribal drums and Mujica’s drum in a explosive combination of jubilee, magic and invocation. This polyrhythmic glory, developed in a 9 minutes sequence that quickly fliesaway, deploys a powerful and enthusiast architecture that works smoothly when it comes to wake up the attention and the heart of the listener. 

‘Tribu Tribu’-the second song- starts with the rain sounds summoned by the massive tribalism of the first song and establishes a warm and soberly mysterious landscape.  The lead role of Carlos Espinoza’s soprano saxophone is key to portray the dreamy landscape that opens our ears on the basis of the percussive groove given by Mujica. It is also remarkable the intelligent use of the kalimba, ideal to enhance the musical poetry of the moment.  The crescendoemerges without breaking the nuclear lyricism of the piece.

‘Canto Arabe’ portrays again the dream and magnifies it through a dense–controlled sound environment, in tight accordance with the strong Arabic tones that impregnate the melodic scheme of the song.  Pepita’s chant and kalimbatogether with the never ending flights of Vivanco’s flute, contribute the song to excel in creating a magnificent ambience of enchantment and evoking. 

‘Río Madre De Dios’ offers a more calm sound scheme, less explicitly exuberant and inclined to broadly explore layers and textures related to contemplation and melancholy.  While the drums and the kalimbaestablish the beat of the song, the cellos and the flute join to draw floating clouds, which surrounding aura completes heartwarming sounds.

As for ‘Homenaje Al Mundo Andino’ -´Tribute to Andean World´- we can see how this song goes with such an explicit title.  Based on a traditional melody of Aymara culture (predominant language in the South highlands of Peru), Mujica et al. design a journey stylized with characteristic compases and cadence of Andean folklore.  The relevance of jazz ornaments in this final arrangement makes this tribute intimately linked to the initiative proposed by Wayruro, renowned ensemble ofPeruvian jazz circuitin the 90’s.

With ‘El Blues De La Selva’ Mujica continues to invite us exploring the innermost places of his country’s music tradition, this time combining the Rainforest tribal rhythms with the percussive syncopation of the Afro Peruvian within a hyper-stylized blues that makes enough room for jazz instrumental experimentation. 

The multi-percussion section,that extends itself briefly in the interlude,emphasizes the song intentional rhythmic eclecticism.  After two ethereal songs dominated by a controlled musicality and other two songs exploring extrovert colors, we come back to the most primitive tribality with ‘El Origen’ – ‘The Origin’- a percussive trip executed fully by Mujica. 

Unlike ‘El Llamado’, ‘El Origen’ takes us towards intimate atmospheres proper of the inner exploration of our soul,to rediscover its primitive link with the natural tone of the floor we step on and on which we live our earthly existence. The last 6 minutes of the record are reserved for ‘Africana’, song that conveniently combines the magic of the explicit celebrations with the inner mysticism flooding the previous song, even though the first of these two elements is the one prioritized.  

As seen in the CD credits, ‘Africana’ is a ‘dance of enjoyment’ and as such it gives closure to the mental trip initiated by ‘El Origen’ with the arrival of the optimistic vitality that link us to Mother Earth.   

In brief, ‘Tribal’ is a first class music pathway, a milestone within the diverse and prolific Peruvian modern fusion.