LOS JAIVAS [AKA: EL VOLANTÍN]

Considered the best known and most influential rock band ever to emerge from all of Latin America, the Chilean LOS JAIVAS has also experienced an extensive longevity after forming as far back as 1963 only beginning its existence as The High & Bass due to the fact that at the time it was customary for Latin American bands to adopt English names. Originally solely a folk band that only played traditional forms of music such as cha cha cha, tropicalia, bossa nova and boleros, the band decided that it would be better to adopt a name in Spanish which led to the attempted Spanish-ization of the band's English name The High & Bass except when trying to translate the band mistook the English word for the bass fish for the bass instrument and ended up with the name LOS JAIVAS (literally "the high bass (fish)"!

Despite forming as far back as 1963, LOS JAIVOS didn't release its first album until 1971 however this first of three eponymously titled albums was actually recorded between 1969 and 1970 when the group engaged in a series of varies experimental sessions. The album has been nicknamed EL VOLANTÍN which refers to the album cover art of a type of kite used in Chile that is mainly raised during the month of September for the celebration of national holidays with the most common design being that of the Chilean flag. The band developed a unique style during the years prior to recording in which each musical instrument generated its own unique style and atmosphere that when played together created a totally new style of folk music often augmented with the help of audience participation. The music was highly improvisational with no actual songs written or ever performed the same.

Basically this earliest debut release memorializes the band's unique improvisational approach to traditional folk music before it began fusing the local folk flavors with psychedelic rock and the ever more complex world of progressive rock which the band would soon adopt and gain international attention. More accurately EL VOLANTÍN is the band's first attempt at formal compositional writing but utilized instrumental improvisations of past recordings without defined lyrics or melody. The vocals were later added to bring the world of harmony and melody into the band's sound and therefore the clash of the elements makes this debut album rather unique in the discography of LOS JAIVAS. This album featured in effect a transition stage that found LOS JAIVAS exiting its era of totally improvisational folk rhythms and tribal drumming to a band that slowly but surely added the world of psychedelia, rock and prog to its overall design.

Despite being an improvisational type of album and claimed by the band NOT to be very melodic, on the contrary it is chock full of beautiful melodies with Andean flutes, traditional instrumentation and looped guitar sequences. The improvisation part in this case doesn't mean a series of abstract noise but rather melodic chunks that are repeated so that various instruments can improvise around them. These recording sessions featured five musicians but dozens of instruments including: guitars, bass, drums, recorder, ocarina, congas, xylophone, bongos, cultrun, piano, güiro, rasca de metal, tambourine, maracas, and more! The opening "Cacho" sets the stage for repetitive ethnic grooves accompanied by a very psychedelic keyboard sound that fits right in with the classic 60s moog and Hammond organ sounds although keyboards seem to be uncredited.

The album continues its ethnic musical expansiveness with each track delivering a completely new approach however the strangest track on board is surely the 8 1/2 minute "Ultimo Día" which features a very melancholic approach that begins with a thundering bass groove, guitar sweeps sounding a lot like what Robert Fripp would develop on future King Crimson albums and a very scary organ sound. All of this sounds like a type of no wave in the vein of DNA years ahead and a continent away of the experimental cyclical loops that emerged in the short-lived New York City scene. To make it even stranger ethnic music sounds accompany the dissonant piano frenzies and the weirdo guitar antics. This track also displays extremely wild vocal delves sounding as crazed as Captain Beefheart but less grizzled. After that grand finale climax of excessive freakery, the band attempts a quick palette cleanse with a 25-second traditional bolero before ending the album!

While i've been familiar with the better known 80s works of LOS JAIVAS i had never really dived into their earliest endeavors and to my surprise these primeval expressions of creativity are actually extremely interesting! One could easily compare this first album to the works of the Brazilian psychedelic trippers Os Mutantes and their fractured consciousness compositions that were all unified by a single element. While these tracks are sort of a composite of sounds, usually a singular rhythm, melodic loops or unified pattern keeps them from sounding like gibberish. Basically the instruments are syncopated in extremely creative ways which makes them independent of each other yet crafts a very unique sum of the parts. This debut album was infinitely more interesting than i ever expected and am surprised how little attention it gets for its role in South America's original outsider weirdo music. This album would certainly qualify for a slot on the Nurse With Wound list, that's for sure!