LOS JAIVAS [AKA: EL INDIO]

Considered one of the top classic albums of the entire Chilean rock scene, EL INDIO was actually the third self-titled release from LOS JAIVAS but nicknamed "The Indian" due to its cover art from painter René Olivares. This album emerged two years after "La Ventana" and after the band escaped the Pinochet occupied homeland for Argentina where they remained for a few years before finally relocating to France. A true musical leap in ingenuity, LOS JAIVAS had latched onto their signature sound after the freeform improvisations and varying fusion experiments of the past. The years spent in Zárate, a city north of Buenos Aires allowed the band to focus on crafting a more cohesive stylistic approach where it retained its indigenous rock andino heritage with the more international sounds of progressive rock and psychedelia.

This marked a period of great change for the band which lost bassist Mario Mutis who returned to Chile for personal reasons and in his stead Julio Anderson joined the team and together the band crafted its best selling album of its career and one that remains one of the top albums of all Latin America. The most noticeable difference between EL INDIO and the self-titled releases that preceded is the excellent upgrade in musicianship which found the band developing more technical chops and adding increasing elements of symphonic prog and Western classical. While the Andean folk music remains in the forefront with the strong melodies leading the way, the instrumental breaks are fortified with knottier prog workouts and the album placed the proper stepping stones for the more sophisticated albums that would follow. The closing track "Tarka Y Ocarina" took LOS JAIVAS into full-blown progressive rock territory.

Like the majority of successful Latin American albums of the 1970s, EL INDIO was overtly political and once out of the direct intervention of the newly established dictatorship that Chile experienced, LOS JAIVAS was free to deliver more biting messages. The opening "Pregón to illuminate" was a salute to the fiery spirit of neighboring Paraguay with musical melodies inspired by the Paraguayan malambo "Guyrá Campagna," a traditional protest song. Keyboardist Gabriel Parra matured nicely on EL INDIO showcasing his Chopin-inspired piano playing at the beginning of "Guajira Cósmica" and continues the virtuoso performances in both the context of classical workouts as well as psychedelic symphonic prog. "Un Día de tus Días" delivers a more straight forward indigenous folk albeit with rock elements with a stripped down approach that offers a sampling of Andean instrumentation before the band unleashes its first true progressive multi-suite track in the form of "Tarka y Ocarina."

The closing 13 minute plus track "Tarka y Ocarina" is the highlight for prog lovers with its division into three parts and an emphasis on classical piano runs and a display of the band's creative ingenuity fortified by extraordinary leaps of virtuosity and serves as a mini-opera of sort. While held together by the thread of visions of Latin American landscapes which the track serves somewhat as a soundtrack, the three segments showcase different musical ideas but held together by a subtle connective theme. The first part "Diablada" evokes the Andean mountainous regions of Chile, Peru and Bolivia and characterized by energetic piano rolls, upbeat bass and drum beats and an ambitious journey through variations that implement indigenous instruments. The second part "Trote" focuses more on the traditional ceremonial practices of the pre-Columbian Quechua and Aymara cultures while "Kotaíki" which means "love amulet" ends it all with a sensual mix of harp, piano, flue and sounds of Guaraní folklore.

A masterwork of Latin American progressive folk and rock, EL INDIO is indeed one of the many highlights in the works of LOS JAIVAS which found the band coming of age after a decade of mostly indulging in freeform improvisational approaches. The band had graduated into a bonafide top dog of creative compositional fortitude. This album provides all the right ingredients for attaining the status of classic. It features anthemic short songs that offer hope and inspiration, it offers experimental deviations from the traditions of Andean music as well as successfully integrating the world of European progressive rock into its already experimental dominion. Needless to say, if you don't have the slightest appreciation for Andean folk music then this will not appeal to you in the least but if you can dial in on the cosmic frequencies of the High Andes then this album will make a lot more sense as a mystical evocation of the musical journeys of the ancestors fortified with the contemporary experimentation that the 70s excelled in.