Chicha Libre / Bombadil

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Chicha Libre plays a mixture of Latin rhythms, Surf music and Psychedelic pop inspired by Peruvian music from the Amazon. The Brooklyn-based band mixes up covers of forgotten Chicha classics with re-interpretation of 70s pop classics and French-tinged cumbias. Chicha is the name of a corn-based liquor favored by the Incas in pre-colombian days. Chicha is also the name of a South American music craze which started out in the early 70's in the Peruvian Amazon. Cumbias Amazonicas, as they were first called, were loosely inspired by Colombian accordion-driven cumbias but incorporated the distinctive pentatonic scales of Andean melodies, some Cuban son, and the psychedelic sounds of surf guitars, farfisa organs and moog synthesizers. The band features Josh Camp of One Ring Zero on the Electravox; Olivier Conan, of Las Rubias del Norte, on Vocals and Cuatro; Combustible Edison's Nick Cudahy on bass; Vincent Douglas on guitar, and Greg Burrows and Timothy Quigley on percussion.



"... imagine the lovechild of Bob Dylan and the Wiggles."
- Go Triad Magazine

Durham NC's Bombadil uses whimsical lyrics and upbeat melodies to create a helter-skelter fusion of honky-tonk, folk and pop. Their sound - a melange of instrumentation that revolves around piano-laden folk-rock with nods to classic rock and the British Invasion - is a mix of a poor man's Shins mixed with a less-countrified version of The Gourds. But one thing is certain: Bombadil's music emanates optimism.