Bareto
Psychedelic Amazonian cumbia meets urban ska energy. Swirling surf guitars and infectious tropical rhythms perfect for high-energy outdoor parties and summer nights.
Psychedelic Amazonian cumbia meets urban ska energy. Swirling surf guitars and infectious tropical rhythms perfect for high-energy outdoor parties and summer nights.
Bareto sounds like a neon-soaked street party in the heart of the Amazon. They take the vintage, trippy 'chicha' sounds of 1970s Peru and inject them with the punchy, caffeinated energy of ska and reggae. The result is a shimmering wall of sound where liquid surf-guitar lines weave through dense thickets of percussion, creating a groove that feels both ancient and urgently modern.
What makes them truly distinctive is their ability to bridge the gap between the 'alternative' rock circuit and the traditional tropical dance halls. While many cumbia bands stick to a rigid formula, Bareto experiments with jazz-inflected horn arrangements and social commentary, all while maintaining the hypnotic, circular rhythms that define the genre. It is music that feels deeply rooted in the soil of Peru but has the polished sheen of a global festival headliner.
Start with their 2008 breakthrough album 'Cumbia' to hear how they revitalized classic Peruvian standards with a rock-and-roll heart. If you want to hear their more experimental and original side, move to 'Impredecible,' where the psychedelic elements take center stage, offering a more atmospheric and sophisticated take on the tropical sound.
Bareto is a music group from Peru, known for making their own versions of classic Peruvian cumbia songs. They play and record their own material and had been nominated for the Latin Grammy Awards for their self-penned albums "Ves lo que quieres ver" (2012) and "Impredecible" (2015). The band’s musical explorations began with Jamaican ska and reggae, but quickly, and not giving up that original influence, Bareto then focused in Amazonian Cumbia and its psychedelic universe. Soon the experiment took shape in the studio album “Cumbia”, released in 2008, which pushed Bareto to national success, a peak never reached before by a band from the alternative circuit. The band’s next step forward led them to become a confirmed reference of contemporary music in Perú, which Bareto spreads went around the world during various tours, with last of them consisting of a month-long trip connecting 7 concerts in Canada (with their debut at the prestigious Montréal International Jazz Festival) and 12 dates among Europe, including Portugal, Spain, France, Austria, Sweden, Estonia and their first ever concert in Russia.
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