Browse by Artist: EL POLEN

Artist:	EL POLEN
Title:	Cholo
Label:	LION PRODUCTIONS
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	LION 7655CD

"The fusion of native folk instruments and trippy psychedelic rock elements produced some of the finest music to emerge from South America in the early 1970s: Congregacion from Chile, Arco Iris from Argentina, Wara from Bolivia, and Genesis from Colombia. To this list of excellent bands should be added that of El Polen, artistic commune from Peru founded in 1969. Integrating European folk music with Peruvian indigenous music elements, El Polen used mandolin and violin in place of electric guitars; cello instead of bass; and percussion instead of drums. The result was a unique style where violins sounded like fuzz guitars. El Polen's debut album, Cholo, was released in 1972 as the original soundtrack music for a film about soccer player Hugo Cholo Sotil. The opening track, 'La Flor' is a psychedelic acoustic improvisation akin to the music of Brazilian legend Lula Cortez. Other tracks like 'Sitting Dreaming' and 'Tondero', start with Andean folk elements and evolve into long psychedelic excursions. For many years it was thought that the original reel-to-reel tapes were missing, but after laborious research our friends at Repsychled found the master tapes. Along with the tapes was another important discovery: an unreleased track by El Polen featuring vocals by Grammy Award winner and current Peruvian Minister of Culture, Susana Baca. This special mini-LP sleeve edition comes with a replica ticket for the first El Polen concert in 1971, a replica poster from the second El Polen concert in 1971, and a black and white photo of the band taken in Barranco. A limited, numbered edition of 400 copies, remastered from the original master tapes."

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