I was in Lima, hanging out with collector-extraordinaire Victor Zela, who had spent the previous few years pouring his passion for Peruvian Cumbia into the blog *La Cumbia de Mis Viejos“, a real trove of incredible music. But after the birth of his first child, his priorities shifted and he decided to part with some of his rarest LPs. I was one of the lucky few given an early chance to examine his treasures, and when I picked up the album “Manzaneando com Manzanita”, Victor said: “Take it! its one of the best LPs ever recorded in Perú … easily in the top five”. That was all the encouragement I needed … two years later many of the songs from that masterpiece have made it onto this compilation of electrifying Cumbia sides from Manzanita’s golden era.
Berardo Hernández – better known as Manzanita – first surfaced during the psychedelic Cumbia craze. At the head of the scene were the magnificent Los Destellos, whose leader, Enrique Delgado, was such a six-string wizard that other guitarists found it impossible to escape his shadow. But then Manzanita arrived with his electric criollo style, sent shockwaves through Lima’s music scene and posed a serious threat to Delgado’s dominance as king of the Peruvian… more
credits
releases July 2, 2021
Graphic Design: Ricardo H. Fernandes and Kathrin Remest (Analog Africa)
Interviews and Biography: Diego Hernández and Samy Ben Redjeb
Mastering: Michael Graves (Osiris Studios)
Lacquers: Frank Merritt (The Carvery)
Text Editing: Jesse Simon
Special Thanks to: Berardo Hernández Jr, Victor Zela, Genaro Reyes, Consuelo Solano, Melecio Hernández, Alfredo Villar, Hector Mattos, Francesca Dasso and Chico Unicornio for finding and digitising “Primavera 71”
This compilation is dedicated to the memory of Berardo Hernández better known as Manzanita
