ACONCAGUA

ACONAGUA is not only the highest mountain in the Andes mountain range in South America but a 6,960 m / 22,837 ft above sea level, it is also the highest peak in all of the Americas. In fact it also has the distinction of being the highest mountain outside of Asia and the highest in both the Western hemisphere as well as the Southern hemisphere, so it's no doubt this mighty mountain is the subject matter of legends and mythology spanning millennia back through countless South American empires and Indigenous culture significance. Therefore it's little wonder that LOS JAIVAS chose it as the title of an album.

The next album to follow the massively successful "Alturas de Machu Pacchu," the content on the material was actually created prior to that album and primarily brought together from a number of songs that were written during the band's European tour (the band was based out of Paris since 1977's coup in Chile). This was actually supposed to be the album that followed 1979's "Los Sueños de América" but due to the insistence of Daniel Camino who convinced the band to put all its other projects aside and work on a concept album about Peru's most famous archeological site. The result was that a loose number of floating songs accumulated but deemed of high enough quality that the band still wanted to use them.

In essence of compilation of flotsam of jetsam from the late 70s and early 80s, ACONAGUA throws it all together as an album's worth of LOS JAVIAS material but that doesn't mean it's not some mighty good catchy music on it. On the contrary, while not as focused on the progressive rock aspects as its predecessor, if taken as the album that musically precedes "Alturas," ACONAGUA is an excellent slice of Rock andino, Indigenous Andean music, Taquirari ( a highly syncopated traditional music of Bolivia), rock and folk music and while the prog aspects aren't nearly as pronounced as "Alturas," they're not completely absent either. ACONAGUA features the same lineup as on "Alturas" and the tracks are all either archival ones and re-recordings of old songs with a few new songs thrown in at the last minute.

One of the last tracks to be recorded was the opening title track which was inspired by the many sightings of flying in and out of Santiago, Chile. The mountain is located only a short distance away from the Chilean capital. The festive melting pot of Latin American musical sounds and styles pretty much summarizes the album's mission which is sort of a like a musical ambassador for all things Latin American brought together under one roof. While prog purist's may sneer at the mere lack of keyboard solos and moments of European influences, the album is a treasure trove of melding Latin American traditional music sounds in a feat of contemporaneous glory all the while adding elements of rock and Western folk throughout the album's rather short playing time of just under 34 minutes in the form of seven tracks.

Noteworthy is the beautiful "Debajo de las Higueras" features wild classical piano runs in cahoots with the thundering bravado of a Mexican trumpet section as well as delivering the main melody on an electric guitar. "Takirari Del Puerto" takes on a Caribbean vibe only mixed with Andean folk music and instrumentation. The highlight is perhaps the lengthy closing "COrre Que Te Pillo" which at almost 10 minutes in length was actually recorded as a B-side as far back in 1973 and resurrected and re-recorded into an extended powerhouse Indigenous folk meets rock extravaganza. The track is basically a lengthy jam session with moments of repetitive cyclical looping for a few improvisational ideas to float around. The use of classical piano allows a nice fusion sound. Despite complexities involved the track sounds as festive and inviting as the rest of the album with a lively fiesta of the soul sort of exuberance to it.

For being a mere collection of loose track floating around for years with a few newbies recorded to top it off, ACONCAGUA is actually an infectiously beautiful album and an ethnomusicologist's dream come true with references to many styles of ethnic folk music of the Southern Hemisphere as well as adding Western aspects of rock guitar and classical piano. The band was a well-oiled machine and clearly made these tracks more lively through the re-recording process than they ever could've possibly been before. When taken into context as to this being a compilation of previously unreleased material and not the proper followup to "Alturas de Machu PIcchu" then this will make a lot more sense in its relationship to the albums that bookend it. As for my ears i find this to be a brilliantly uplifting album. The album has been released two distinct album covers. My favorite is the one with the band all gathered in the High Andes with all their instruments giving a peak performance!