Sunday, September 7, 2014

Black Sugar - Viajecito (1970-72)


Black Sugar - Viajecito

A Peruvian funk/psychedelic rock band, weird huh? Not really, but their music sure is. I found them through one of their songs, sung in English, "Understanding". Beautiful, I literally spent days listening to that song. Try them!


Album information:

01 - Too Late
02 - Viajecito
03 - The Looser
04 - Understanding
05 - Fuego
06 - Valdez In The Country
07 - When You're Walking
08 - When I Needed Someone
09 - I Want To Believe
10 - Checan
11 - Kathy
12 - All Your Love
13 - Wake Up
14 - This Time
15 - Pussy Cat

Band information:

Black Sugar, the brainchild of Victor "Coco" Salazar and Miguel "Chino" Figueroa, was formed in 1969 under the name Los Far Fen, mainly because the group had a Farfisa and a Fender amplifiers as their only electronic amplification equipment.

Los Far Fen recorded three 45 rpm records with six tunes:original compositions, pop tunes and ballads. Three of those tracks, featured on this CD, show the talented arrangements of "Coco" Salazar and the inspired organ and keyboard solos of "Chino" Figueroa; also determined the future musical direction of the group and their natural ability to play Latin Funk.

In 1970 the group was given the name of Black Sugar by Jaime Delgado Aparicio, a jazz piano player and arranger that at the time was the artistic director of Sono Radio, a Peruvian label.

Delgado Aparicio, recognizing the talent of the young musicians, gave the group an opportunity to record a long play in 1971. Original compositions like "Too Late", "Viajecito" and "The Looser" made this LP an immediate best seller. Black Sugar "Black Sugar" was sold in all South America and there was a release of the LP in USA by a Miami based label.

The success of Black Sugar was not due to luck or marketing. Their members were some of the finest, if not the best, young musician from Peru. The arranger, "Coco" Salazar was also a fantastic guitar player; Miguel "Chino" Figueroa was the composer of almost all the original songs by Black Sugar, besides playing keyboards, he was also an inspired organ player; Jose Cruz was one of the most promising young jazz drummers; it is hard not to mention the rest of the musicians, players like Roberto Valdez, Luis Calixto, Antonio Ginocchio, etc... deserve an extensive description of their abilities.
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