NOVALIMA

Outside Peru, most people are still unfamiliar with the country's rich black cultural tradition.

When they think of Peruvian music, many think of the Andean folk style, with its mournful flutes and panpipes.

They couldn't be more wrong.

The music of black Peru is not ethereal, but firmly entrenched in its earthy tribal roots. It's the Peruvian equivalent of the North American Blues, of the Brazilian Samba and of the Cuban Son.

100% Peruvian

Afro-Peruvian music was created by black slaves who arrived in Peru in the 16th century from West Africa to work the cotton and sugar cane fields in the valleys scattered along the Peruvian coast.

Forbidden to own instruments by the Church and the Spanish rulers, these slaves managed to secretly create music from everyday utensils.

A box designed to carry the harvest was used as a drum (the 'Cajon') and is today Peru's national instrument.

Unknown for many years beyond Peru, it is not unusual to find it today in Brazilian, Cuban or even Spanish flamenco groups. The famous Spanish flamenco guitarist and composer, Paco de Lucía, has been using the cajón in his band for the past decade.

And ironically, today, many people think that the instrument is Spanish. It is in fact 100% Peruvian.

Humble instruments

Another famous Afro-Peruvian musical instrument is the cajita, a little wooden box with a top that is rhythmically opened and closed.

The cajita was adapted from the wooden boxes that Catholic priests used every Sunday in church to gather the weekly collection.

But probably the strangest Afro-Peruvian instrument is the quijada de burro. A real jaw bone from a donkey, with loosened teeth which vibrate when struck and which can also be used as a scraper by running a stick along the teeth.

One rarely sees more humble musical instruments used so effectively.

Vibrant

After long working days in the fields, black people used music and dance to express their intense suffering, but also to celebrate or simply to mock the Spanish master, using African dialects and chants, often spiced with erotic sensuality.

Hence, instead of eradicating the old rituals and rhythms, considered the devil's work, the Church and Spanish authorities unwittingly helped create a new genre: Afro-Peruvian music- the music of black Peru, and one of the most vibrant styles on the continent.

Given its geographical and historical context, Afro-Peruvian music resulted in a unique blend of African, Spanish, and Andean traditions.

Lyrics are mainly sung in Spanish (spiced up occasionally with African words), and the guitar is used as the main musical instrument.

The Andean influence is felt through the melancholy of certain musical forms.

But predominantly, it is the all-pervading African roots which drives the seductive and visceral tribal rhythms and chants, passed down from generation to generation through dance and word-of-mouth in these small coastal communities.

Afro-Peruvian music

Although Afro-Peruvian music is 400 years old, it has only recently become widely recognised in the 20th Century through the work of historians such as Nicomedes Santa Cruz, Caitro Soto and Rosa Mercedes Ayarza.

They decided to track down, compile and put down on paper the lyrics and music of songs that where known only to the oldest patriarchs of black families, thereby reconstructing and resurrecting Afro-Peruvian music.

Today, this music is the pride of Peru, and has attracted the creative talents of the country's best contemporary musicians, who have furthered the evolution, growth and spread of this music beyond the country's borders.

In the mid 90's, Susana Baca was the first artist to popularize Afro-Peruvian music at an international level, and in the past few years, Novalima have been the first to take it to worldwide clubs and dance floors.

A sound that had been shielded for the listening pleasure of just a few communities has now reached a wider audience more than four centuries after its inception.

The secret is now out there. - BBC

La World Music Expo, más conocida como Womex, que fuese creada por The World Music Charts Europe (WMCE) anunció a los ganadores de este año en la categoría Top 20 World Music CDs of the Year, donde Novalima con su disco Coba Coba se ubicó en Top 5 entre los discos lanzados globalmente en 2009.

La elección se hace en base a los rankings musicales de más de 47 radios especializadas de 24 países.

Cabe resaltar, que este es el puesto más importante que ha alcanzado algún grupo peruano, habiendo superado lanzamientos de 2009 de latin music y world music de bandas como Fabulosos Cadillacs, Lila Downs, Amadou y Aterciopelados, entre otros.

La premiación de Womex se realizará en Copenhague, Dinamarca, el 8 de noviembre próximo, evento al que asistirán representantes de la disquera Cumbancha/Putumayo y miembros del equipo de productores de Novalima.

Gracias a los lanzamientos en 2009 de Chowoniso, The Idal Raichel Project y Novalima, la disquera Cumbancha se ubica entre los tres primeros sellos disqueros en la categoría de World Music.

Asimismo, Novalima culmina la gira Coba Coba World Tour en nuestro país este jueves 17 de septiembre en la discoteca Vocé luego de presentarse entre marzo y julio de este año en los más importantes festivales de verano en Europa, Estados Unidos y Canadá.

Aplaudidos por el diario británico "The Independent" y luego de haber recibido las mejores criticas de de las principales revistas y medios del mundo tales como Standard (UK), Songlines (UK), Metro (UK), Telerama (Francia), Billboard (USA), entre otras, Novalima ha sido considerado como el "futuro de la música afro latino" .

Carlos Li Carrillo comenta: "Estamos muy contentos con el reconociemiento de Womex, es un honor que una banda peruana alcance esta designación que estamos seguros abrirán puertas a otros músicos peruanos para que sus trabajos se conozcan en Europa y Estados Unidos en el diverso, rico y globalizado mundo del World Music".

La banda peruana destaca en la escena electrónica internacional logrando el Nº 1 en el European World Music Radio Charts en el mes de abril, el Nº 1 en los CMJ Radio Charts de Estados Unidos durante 17 semanas consecutivas en las categorías New World Music y Latin Alternative y el Nº 1 en los Earshot Radio Charts de Canadá durante 2 meses (febrero y marzo) en la categoría International Music.

Asimismo, dos canciones del exitoso disco Coba Coba fueron seleccionadas como las "Top Tune of the Day" en las importantes radios KCRW (Los Ángeles) y KEXP (Seattle) de Estados Unidos: la canción "Camote" fue seleccionada por iTunes para su promoción Discovery donde permite a sus usuarios descargarla gratuitamente y el tema "Yo voy" fue seleccionada por ZUNE para su promoción "ZUNE Indie Download de la Semana" a través del portal Remezcla.com que marca la tendencia Latino Alternativa en Estados Unidos.

El video del tema "Coba Guarango", producido y dirigido por Ojo Rojo Producciones, logró en un solo día, 80 mil visitas en el home page de YouTube y para el especial cierre en nuestro país de esta gira, las entradas se encuentran a la venta en Teleticket. El costo de la entradas en pre venta es de S/.15 y en la puerta de Vocé, el 17 de septiembre, de S/.20 - RPP

From Lima in Peru comes a refreshingly original band who set out to mix electronics with styles that were first brought from Africa to South America back in the days of slavery and Spanish colonial rule. Their strength is in their percussion, with a subtle use of electronic beats matched against an array of traditional rhythm instruments that include cowbells, jawbones and the cajon box drum. The result is a series of infectiously slinky riffs and rhythm patterns. But, having created this gloriously cheerful starting point, Novalima are not always sure what to do next. The best tracks - such as Liberta, a song of black struggle - match the rhythms against the drifting vocals of lead singer Milagros Guerrero. Elsewhere, there are dub effects and contributions from an array of special guests including New Zealand's Mark de Clive-Lowe that don't always match the originality and vitality of the percussionists. - The Guardian

Few would have thought that the ancestral, gritty sounds of Afro-Peruvian music, made from a cajón (wooden box) and the rattle of a donkey jawbone, would become a modern sensation.

But it has, thanks to the creative sounds of Novalima, an 8-year-old, four-member Peruvian band that has given a contemporary twist to the music of its country’s African slaves.

This month, Novalima is releasing worldwide its third CD, "Coba Coba," and it’s scheduled to bring its electronica-folk infectious brew to New York in March.

"It’s different from the rigid, traditional folklore," says deejay and keyboardist Ramón Pérez-Prieto, from Lima, referring to the style popularized by Peruvian artists like Susana Baca, Perú Negro and Eva Ayllón.

"And with this twist to the black Peruvian music, we’ve interested the youth and transmitted this culture."

He explains that what makes Novalima’s sound different is a "little touch" of Moog synthesizer, bass, electronic beats and an electric guitar.

The new CD also strays into a variety of genres, from dub to hip hop to salsa.

The song "Libertá," remembering Peru’s abolition of slavery in 1856, is likely to resonate in the U.S. for its lyrics: "Black man will be president / black man will be a lawyer / black man will sing Mass ... because now we’re free."

"We actually thought of sending this song to Obama," says Pérez-Prieto, laughing.

The 12-track album includes several original songs mixed with others that are 100 or 200 years old.

"Most of the lyrics are melancholic because they come from the slaves," says Pérez-Prieto, adding that the band has been researching the music for years.

"The only outlet they had back then was through singing. And since they couldn’t disrespect the patrons, many of the lyrics were concealed and it’s difficult to know what they’re trying to say."

For instance, the rural song "Camote" (sweet potato) is supposedly about using one’s feet to harvestpotatoes: "A sacar camote con el pie," it goes, or "pulling sweet potatoes with the foot."

"But the black culture actually identified it as a dance," he says. "In their way, they always tried to stay hopeful in hard times... With all the work they had to do under the whip, they talked about dancing."

Novalima is the brainchild of four globe-trotting hipsters from Lima: Grimaldo del Solar, Carlos Li Corrillo, Rafael Morales and Pérez-Prieto.

"We’ve known each other since we were 13 or 14," says Pérez-Prieto, the only band member who still lived in Lima when they released their eponymous-titled first CD in 2003. The others had spread out to London, Barcelona and Hong Kong.

Their second album, "Afro," released in 2005, won an IMA (Independent Music Awards) for Best Album in World Fusion.

For "Coba Coba," the four members regrouped in Lima and added four Afro-Peruvian old hands, including singer Milagros Guerrero and cajón player Juan (Cotito) Medrano.

"What started as a collective has become a real band," says Pérez-Prieto. "And you can feel it." - NY Daily News

nside a wisely soundproofed studio, where Afro-Peruvian group Novalima is recording a new album, frenzied hands beat congas, bongos, and a drum set with cowbells. Sitting atop cajóns, percussionists pound on the crate-like instruments in between their legs, singing into microphones. Elsewhere in the cramped space, musicians behind laptops, keyboards, and mixers concoct bass-heavy beats as singer Milagros Guerrero bobs to the music, microphone in hand. Her velvety voice may have a melancholic gravity, but it floats effortlessly above the boisterous rhythms.

What's wholly remarkable about Novalima's music is both the unexpected fusion of traditional Afro-Peruvian music and electronica, and the effect it's having on this multiethnic, yet polarized, nation. Afro-Peruvians have long been largely marginalized – blacks comprise just 3 percent of the population – and accounts of racism are common here. Yet, Novalima, a nine-piece that also includes musicians of European and Chinese descent, is giving Afro-Peruvian culture a very public face both at home and abroad.

"The value of Novalima is that young people see hands of all colors playing Afro-Peruvian rhythms," says photographer Lorry Salcedo, who has extensively documented Afro-Peruvian culture. "Novalima is making this incredibly creative music accessible to young people, and that is very positive."

Afro-Peruvian music shares the same roots as nearly all black music in the Americas: It originated with African slaves. But in contrast to other countries with a strong black musical history, Afro-Peruvian music is not well known outside Peru. (Unlike in neighboring Brazil, the black population here doesn't receive government subsidies to promote its culture.) Inside Peru, most people have been exposed to and respect Afro-Peruvian music regardless of race or class, but it's not particularly popular among the young, who tend to listen to cumbia, salsa, reggae, rock, or hip-hop.

"Traditional Afro-Peruvian songs are sad songs with lamenting words," explains Juan Medrano, a.k.a. Cotito, a sought after cajón player and singer whose glasses and outfit gave him a hip, professorial look. During a break from the recording – a jovial session full of competitive posturing as to who should take the solo – Medrano notes that despite the genre's sobering lyrics, with direct or indirect references to slavery, it employs happy and vibrant rhythms.

Novalima is modernizing the genre. In large part, it's because the group was formed by well-traveled non-Afro-Peruvians inspired by electronica groups such as England's Groove Armada and AIR from France. Grimaldo del Solar, Ramón Pérez-Prieto, Carlos Li Corrillo, and Rafael Morales, the primary producers, began to experiment with computers and digital recording and released their first, self-titled CD, a collection of Latin American-infused electronica – including several Afro-Peruvian tracks – in 2003.

As the four continued to record new material, they found themselves wanting to put a cajón on each track. "Suddenly," says del Solar, who controls the electronic beats when playing live, "we noticed, sort of unconsciously, that all we were doing were Afro-Peruvian songs. So we decided to make an album of it."

To fulfill their vision, the founding members began to corral primarily Afro-Peruvian musicians who, in addition to the drums and cajón, played instruments such as the "quijada de burro" (donkey jaw) and the "cajita," meaning "little box," which is played by hitting its side and slamming its lid.

"Afro-Peruvian music is like a hidden treasure that no one has done anything about," says Corrillo.

Sitting on the studio's sofa, Guerrero, feet barely touching the ground, reflects on hearing Novalima's hybrid version of Afro-Peruvian music five years ago. "It was real interesting because it crossed boundaries," remarks the singer. "I was used to doing more traditional music, but I was open to investigating what this sound was about."

Percussionist Marcos Mosquera, who has played with Novalima for two years, had been slightly more hesitant. "It's not traditional Afro-Peruvian music, although it uses the traditional instruments. But little by little, I liked it," he says.

They formed a musical collective, resulting in 2006's critically acclaimed "Afro," popular among European DJs and played on US radio stations such as KCRW, KEXP, and WFMU.

"On the first and second CD, Novalima was a collective," says del Solar, standing in front of a small mountain of wires, speakers, laptops, and soundboards. "Now we are a band, and you can hear it."

Indeed, each new track plays like an electronic collage of exuberant, off-kilter rhythms fused with Dub, House, and R&B beats along with a splash of Cuban influences and reggae.

Novalima's mix of races harkens back to an earlier time when artists of different races – including singer Chabuca Granda – played together in small music clubs called peñas. But a wider legacy of racism still lingers.

"The racism in Peru is dangerous because it is not confronted directly," says Mr. Salcedo, the photographer. "Many black people live day-to-day; they see no future for their kids – they don't have the same opportunities as blacks in the USA."

"It's really beautiful," says Cotito, reflecting on Novalima's racial and economic mix, "but it's natural, not forced. This generation seems to be more open."

Although all members agree racism is a problem in Peru, whether it's against Afro-Peruvians or Andeans, they all appear reluctant to cite Novalima as any kind of example for bridging racial and economic divides. Most just shrug their shoulders or stare blankly when asked about the band as a kind of symbol, almost as if an interracial couple had been asked if their marriage had any kind of political agenda.

But del Solar finally concedes that the band has made a difference to his own life. "The racial mix on stage is not that unusual anymore," he says. "I would say that more unusual are the friendships we all have, [with] there being a lot of racial and economical differences. But, as they say, music is the only worldwide language, and it does not discriminate in any way. - The Christian Science Monitor

The last time Novalima visited Chicago in an appearance at Mayne Stage, I wrote “For 90 minutes on a Tuesday night, I felt like I was transported to Barcelona’s hippest club, dancing my ass off, while simultaneously being schooled in an important cultural legacy.”

At the time, the group was touring in advance of their since released Karimba. After 3 recordings for the Cumbancha label, they were picked up by the Washington D.C. based ESL, home of the pioneering world beat dance club duo Thievery Corporation. Novalima is a good fit for ESL, a label that dresses up its club oriented electronica with a plethora of global rhythms.

Novalima reverses the ESL formula, bringing an authentic Afro-Peruvian sound (including many un-earthed traditional songs) to the world’s dance floors through application of a technologically savvy club sensibility. Karimba is an album that goes deep, very deep, into the heart of Afro-Peruvian culture. Based in the Peruvian capital city of Lima, Novalima’s status as globe-trotting stars and their respect for the music of their homeland attracted guest appearances from revered figures like Pepe Vasquez, Rosita Guzman, Sofia Buitron, Roberto Arguedas and Felix Casaverde. Here’s a great measure of the band’s respect for tradition: When a journalist asked Novalima keyboardist and DJ Ramon Perez-Prieto a rather silly question about which superhero he’d write a theme for, he replied by naming 4 traditional Peruvian musicians.

Karimba’s 12 tracks are simultaneously ancient and up to the minute modern, taking Novalima’s by now trademark sound into even richer territory. There are songs of struggle and survival, but also joyful celebrations of life. The hypnotic beats drive every track home with sensuous insistency. If you can sit still while listening to Karimba, you better have someone check your pulse. - Arte y Vida Chicago.com

On first meeting, DJ and keyboard-synthesizer player Ramon Perez-Prieto seems thoroughly integrated into Western pop and media culture. He’s juggling a Blackberry (for which he apologizes), a second phone and a box of Lucky Strike cigarettes, and wearing a T-shirt with a picture of The Clash, the iconic British punk group he’s idolized since he was a teenager in Lima.

“I went to an English school in Peru, and all the kids started listening to English punk in the ’80s,” says Perez-Prieto, 40. “And I played classical piano as a kid, so when I got fed up with classical, I went to punk.”

Punk and The Clash led to reggae, which led to funk, which led to progressive rock (King Crimson is another favorite) and playing in cover bands.

In the early 2000s, Perez-Prieto started a project with three Peruvian buddies who had scattered to Hong Kong, Barcelona and London. But instead of turning to the international pop and rock they’d all been playing, they went back to their roots, to deeply traditional, folkloric Afro-Peruvian music.

“Before that we always looked at music from elsewhere than Peru,” says Perez-Prieto, who had grown up hearing it but didn’t pay much attention to what his generation considered their parents’ old-fashioned music. “Everyone knows it,” says Perez-Prieto. “But I’m not gonna buy it or go [hear it] as a kid.”

The other major ingredient in Novalima, which plays Thursday at PAX Miami, is electronic dance music. For Perez-Prieto and his friends, it was not only the newest and most intriguing international style but the easiest one on which to collaborate online as they launched Novalima from three continents.

As they listened to other bands mixing traditional styles with electronica, from Afro-pop star Fela Kuti to tango modernizers Gotan Project, they saw a way to combine music that reverberated around the world with their own distinctive cultural voice.

“This gave us a path,” says Perez-Prieto. “Combined it works really well.”

And it has. Like Colombia’s Bomba Estereo, Argentina’s Bajofondo Tango Project and Mexico’s Nortec Project, Novalima has found success combining rhythm-centric traditional styles with international electronic grooves. The group’s fourth album, Karimba, topped iTunes’ world music chart and made Billboard’s world music Top 10.

Novalima has played major music events, including the Montreal Jazz Festival and the Latin Alternative Music Conference and in 100 cities in Asia, Europe, Latin America and the United States. This will be its fourth Miami appearance, part of a tour that also takes it to Cleveland, Washington, D.C., Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

(Another innovative Peruvian fusion musician, Miki Gonzalez, will play at PAX on Friday).

When they began experimenting with tradition, Perez-Prieto and Novalima’s three other founders turned for help to two cajon (box drum) players: Juan Medrano Cotito, who plays with Peruvian world-music star Susana Baca, and Manolo Vasquez, who comes from a famous family of Afro-Peruvian musicians.

“The rhythms are complex,” says Perez-Prieto. “We had to research it.”

Intricate percussion, soulful vocals and idiosyncratic rhythms dominate Karimba. But the undercurrent of electronic grooves makes the more complex sounds comprehensible and palatable to the uninitiated.

“On tour we see all these different people dancing to all these unusual beats,” Perez-Prieto says. “It’s a common language. The blend has made it easier to get to know these raw rhythms.”

That’s also true for their younger counterparts back in Lima, where other bands are experimenting with a Novalima-style sound.

“It’s made it easer for young audiences inside Peru to get excited about Afro-Peruvian music,” Perez-Prieto says. “Now kids from Peru are listening to Afro-Peruvian music. That’s something we’re really proud of.

“Music is all about learning from your past, but keeping it evolving.” - The Miami Herald

razil has such an imposing cultural presence south of the equator that sometimes it’s easy to forget the smaller guys—like Peru, for instance. Afro-Peruvian music in particular has never been short on ambassadors, from singers Nicomedes Santa Cruz and Susana Baca to the progressive ensemble Peru Negro, but for decades, even their efforts did little to crack the barriers to international awareness. As usual, it took a prominent (that is, white) rock musician to open the floodgates; when David Byrne’s Luaka Bop label released Afro-Peruvian Classics: The Soul of Black Peru in 1995, it was the first time many up North had even heard Chabuca Granda’s creole waltzes or Peru Negro’s pulsating rhythms.

Novalima owes a debt to that tradition, but most of the group’s success can be chalked up to youthful ingenuity and a near-bottomless well of tech savvy. Synthesized bleeps and electronic beats are just as likely to find their way into a Novalima session as Yoruba-style drumming and a dubwise bassline; fittingly, keyboardist and cofounder Ramón Pérez-Prieto likens Karimba (literally, “mark of fire”), the group’s fourth album, to a “musical laboratory” of experimentation, as rootsy as it is contemporary, and equally outernational in its worldview (Pérez-Prieto is the only one of the four founding members still living in Lima). Add to the mix lead singer Milagros Guerrero, whose spitfire delivery brings a real sense of Carnaval to upbeat workouts like “Guayabo” and “Festejo,” and you’ve got a sweat-inducing live experience that only gets hotter as the night goes on. Some things never change.—Bill Murphy - Time Out New York

Inside a wisely soundproofed studio, where Afro-Peruvian group Novalima is recording a new album, frenzied hands beat congas, bongos, and a drum set with cowbells. Sitting atop cajóns, percussionists pound on the crate-like instruments in between their legs, singing into microphones. Elsewhere in the cramped space, musicians behind laptops, keyboards, and mixers concoct bass-heavy beats as singer Milagros Guerrero bobs to the music, microphone in hand. Her velvety voice may have a melancholic gravity, but it floats effortlessly above the boisterous rhythms.

What's wholly remarkable about Novalima's music is both the unexpected fusion of traditional Afro-Peruvian music and electronica, and the effect it's having on this multiethnic, yet polarized, nation. Afro-Peruvians have long been largely marginalized – blacks comprise just 3 percent of the population – and accounts of racism are common here. Yet, Novalima, a nine-piece that also includes musicians of European and Chinese descent, is giving Afro-Peruvian culture a very public face both at home and abroad.

"The value of Novalima is that young people see hands of all colors playing Afro-Peruvian rhythms," says photographer Lorry Salcedo, who has extensively documented Afro-Peruvian culture. "Novalima is making this incredibly creative music accessible to young people, and that is very positive."

Afro-Peruvian music shares the same roots as nearly all black music in the Americas: It originated with African slaves. But in contrast to other countries with a strong black musical history, Afro-Peruvian music is not well known outside Peru. (Unlike in neighboring Brazil, the black population here doesn't receive government subsidies to promote its culture.) Inside Peru, most people have been exposed to and respect Afro-Peruvian music regardless of race or class, but it's not particularly popular among the young, who tend to listen to cumbia, salsa, reggae, rock, or hip-hop.

"Traditional Afro-Peruvian songs are sad songs with lamenting words," explains Juan Medrano, a.k.a. Cotito, a sought after cajón player and singer whose glasses and outfit gave him a hip, professorial look. During a break from the recording – a jovial session full of competitive posturing as to who should take the solo – Medrano notes that despite the genre's sobering lyrics, with direct or indirect references to slavery, it employs happy and vibrant rhythms.

Novalima is modernizing the genre. In large part, it's because the group was formed by well-traveled non-Afro-Peruvians inspired by electronica groups such as England's Groove Armada and AIR from France. Grimaldo del Solar, Ramón Pérez-Prieto, Carlos Li Corrillo, and Rafael Morales, the primary producers, began to experiment with computers and digital recording and released their first, self-titled CD, a collection of Latin American-infused electronica – including several Afro-Peruvian tracks – in 2003.

As the four continued to record new material, they found themselves wanting to put a cajón on each track. "Suddenly," says del Solar, who controls the electronic beats when playing live, "we noticed, sort of unconsciously, that all we were doing were Afro-Peruvian songs. So we decided to make an album of it."

To fulfill their vision, the founding members began to corral primarily Afro-Peruvian musicians who, in addition to the drums and cajón, played instruments such as the "quijada de burro" (donkey jaw) and the "cajita," meaning "little box," which is played by hitting its side and slamming its lid.
"Afro-Peruvian music is like a hidden treasure that no one has done anything about," says Corrillo.

Sitting on the studio's sofa, Guerrero, feet barely touching the ground, reflects on hearing Novalima's hybrid version of Afro-Peruvian music five years ago. "It was real interesting because it crossed boundaries," remarks the singer. "I was used to doing more traditional music, but I was open to investigating what this sound was about."

Percussionist Marcos Mosquera, who has played with Novalima for two years, had been slightly more hesitant. "It's not traditional Afro-Peruvian music, although it uses the traditional instruments. But little by little, I liked it," he says.

They formed a musical collective, resulting in 2006's critically acclaimed "Afro," popular among European DJs and played on US radio stations such as KCRW, KEXP, and WFMU.

"On the first and second CD, Novalima was a collective," says del Solar, standing in front of a small mountain of wires, speakers, laptops, and soundboards. "Now we are a band, and you can hear it."

Indeed, each new track plays like an electronic collage of exuberant, off-kilter rhythms fused with Dub, House, and R&B beats along with a splash of Cuban influences and reggae.

Novalima's mix of races harkens back to an earlier time when artists of different races – including singer Chabuca Granda – played together in small music clubs called peñas. But a wider legacy of racism still lingers.

"The racism in Peru is dangerous because it is not confronted directly," says Mr. Salcedo, the photographer. "Many black people live day-to-day; they see no future for their kids – they don't have the same opportunities as blacks in the USA."

"It's really beautiful," says Cotito, reflecting on Novalima's racial and economic mix, "but it's natural, not forced. This generation seems to be more open."

Although all members agree racism is a problem in Peru, whether it's against Afro-Peruvians or Andeans, they all appear reluctant to cite Novalima as any kind of example for bridging racial and economic divides. Most just shrug their shoulders or stare blankly when asked about the band as a kind of symbol, almost as if an interracial couple had been asked if their marriage had any kind of political agenda.

But del Solar finally concedes that the band has made a difference to his own life. "The racial mix on stage is not that unusual anymore," he says. "I would say that more unusual are the friendships we all have, [with] there being a lot of racial and economical differences. But, as they say, music is the only worldwide language, and it does not discriminate in any way." - CS Monitor

Lima-born producers Novalima have excelled themselves on Afro, an exhilarating musical voyage to the heart of black Peru that stitches together fragments of Afro-Peruvian traditions collected in the 50s and 60s by people such as Nicomedes Santa Cruz and Chabuca Granda. All the classic musical forms are here, festejo, alcatraz, inga, and lando, even the tango-like waltz-criolle. Overall, it works beautifully, giving a new resonance to songs familiar from albums by Susana Baca or Peru Negro, such as ‘Toro Mata’ and ‘Samba Malato’.
Afro-Peruvian music has been evolving ever since slaves were brought to the country. Unable to build drums for their dances they converted wooden boxes into the now familiar cajón. A donkey jawbone became a scraper and shaker and the quijada de burro was born. The difference with earlier attempts to “rescue” the authentic music is that Novalima employ all the wizardry of the studio to beautifully flesh out what, on tracks such as ‘Chinchivi’ and ‘Samba Malato’, are essentially work chants from the fields. The electronic hand claps, dub echoes and funky breaks will prompt comparisons with Gotan Project but Novalima’s use of top Peruvian musicians and singers keep the sound rooted in the tradition. Their next CD could well be an Afro-Cuban project if Carlos Uribe’s earthy salsa workout on ‘Bandolero’ is anything to go by. - Russell Maddicks - SONGLINES - Top of the World 2006

The idea of a diaspora, which refers to a group of people displaced from their homeland, surfaces in more than one way on Afro. First, only one of the four Lima-born producers who formed Novalima in 2001 was actually based in Peru; the others had found new homes in Barcelona, London and Hong Kong. Their 2003 self-titled debut was recorded around the globe, mixed in London, and mastered in New York.

But the biggest manifestation of the diaspora surfaces in the music they make on Afro, a collection of adapted Afro-Peruvian songs whose origins date back to the dark age of slavery and, of course, the West African roots of the slaves themselves. In a sense, this music of the African diaspora runs parallel to similar strands in Cuba (eg. danzón, changüi, son) and the United States (blues, gospel), though it's flavored with its own particular regional instrumentation, vocal styles and song forms.

There's a huge leap in translation between the ancient folkloric origins of this music and their realization within a fully electronic context, however, which is what makes Afro so interesting. (This disc was mostly recorded in Lima, taking advantage of substantial local talent.) Novalima retains traditional Afro-Peruvian instruments like the cajón, quijada and congas, but in the process of assembling these thirteen tracks, the producers also draw from dub (emphatic bass, reverberant effects) and contemporary electronica (rich textures, multitracking, programming).

On first glance, that might seem like a contradictory and potentially toxic combination, but the organic quality of the material seems to be largely strengthened, rather than weakened, by the production. The vocals help a lot with this. On the opening “Chinchivi,” they are so upbeat they practically float, and on “Mandinga” they somehow sound dark and ancient, mixing up references to chains with a sampled male voice saying “let's dance, let's have fun!”—before heading into a clubby downtempo mode punctuated by electronic beats and trumpet riffs.

The album as a whole is nicely integrated, shifting around to maintain interest, but it always sticks close to its roots and consistently exudes a welcoming aura. - Nils Jacobson
- All About Jazz

Using slave songs and the cajon-a wooden box drum originally made from shipping crates-as a foundation for this eloquent, minimal-electronic project, four producers explore the antique folk sounds of Peru. Connecting Africa and South America sonically and socially, this outfit catalogs bits of local lore, adding synthesizers, congas, and excellent vocal sections. Swinging between the vivid (the jazzy, downtempo "Chinchivi") and the club-ready (the trucking "Candela"), and extending the community work of singers like Susana Baca into futuristic forays, Afro is at once artifact and testament and, more poignantly, a simply beautiful record. - Derek Beres
- XLR8R mag

Up to now, no one's given Afro-Peruvian music the electronic treatment that so many other global styles have been either edified or trounced by. Perhaps the folkloric sounds championed by the likes of Susana Baca, Peru Negro and Eva Ayllon were regarded with a sacrosanct, leave-well-enough-alone attitude. Even so, four Lima-based producers calling themselves Novalima have taken the Afro-Peruvian style (characterized by acoustic guitars, percussion, call-and-response vocals and lyrics rooted in African/Spanish laments) and given it a modern turn. I'm pleased to say the results are quite engaging, an energetic mixture of authentic sounds and quirky techno expansion. It's only after a minute or so into the opening track "Chinchivi" that the contemporary buzz seeps into the sound and it's seldom overplayed through the rest of the album. Like Gotan Project, Charanga Cakewalk and Da Lata before them, Novalima has taken a signature Latin sound and dressed it up for a night on a 21st century dance floor. Dub-like elongating of emotionally sung passages, abrupt surfacing of electronic washes, African-rooted beats with additions of funky bass lines and unexpected jazz piano and trumpet all come into play, animating songs like the shadowy "Mandinga" and the increasingly punchy "Alcajazz." The disc succeeds sharply in giving Afro-Peruvian music a new kick. - Tom Orr - RootsWorld

First up is probably one of the best Afro-Peruvian groove records I’ve ever heard. OK, admittedly I haven’t heard THAT many Afro-Peruvian records aside from Susana Baca and that great Luaka Bop release The Soul Of Black Peru, but if I had I’m sure this would still be a great record. So what do I like about Afro Novalima? Firstly I love the insistently funky percussion that permeates seductively throughout the 59mins33secs. Secondly, the singer Milagros Guerro has a deep, sexy voice that could melt butter. I also like the retro synth touches, and the fact that there are real songs involved instead of elongated jam sessions. For me the best track is ‘Bandolero’ with its downtempo Smoke City (think Nina Miranda) flavour, and catchy vocal hook. The album has more of a bar/lounge/start-of-the-night sound in terms of DJing, but it’s certainly reignited my dwindling passion for Latin beats. —Phil Meadley
- FLY - Global Music Culture

Les cajons, quijadas et congas des musiques afro-péruviennes mènent la danse avec puissance et frénésie, nullement étouffés par les beats électro et les échos de dub. Au premier plan flamboient des voix cuivrées haut perchées, en impros allumées ponctuées ici d'une basse, là d'une trompette, ailleurs d'un accordéon. Le collectif Novalima (une quinzaine de vocalistes et d'instrumentistes) a été créé en 2001 par quatre Péruviens, vivant l'un à Lima, l'autre à Barcelone, le troisième à Londres et le quatrième à Hongkong. Après un premier CD autoproduit en 2003, réalisé entre Londres et New York, qui voguait de son en cumbia, samba et bossa, ce deuxième opus est entièrement dédié aux musiques héritées des esclaves noirs du Pérou. Associant compositions du groupe et standards traditionnels, l'album Afro a été enregistré à Lima et coproduit par le programmateur Toni Economides, qui a déjà oeuvré pour Nitin Sawhney et Da Lata. Certains comparent déjà le quatuor Novalima au trio franco-argentin Gotan Project, qui a redonné une nouvelle vie au tango. En réalité, leur seul point commun tient au dosage, plus ethno que techno, d'alliages qui visent avant tout à conquérir les dance floors, mais sont aussi de taille à convaincre les amateurs de world music. - Eliane Azoulay - TELERAMA (France)

The burgeoning genre of Latintronica has already combined shimmering electronica soundscapes with Brazilian bossa nova, Argentine tango, Mexican banda sinaloense and Colombian cumbia. So it was only a matter of time before a collective of trendy musical gourmets attempted a similar fusion with the rootsy folklore of Peru: the Afro-Peruvian sound made famous in this country by Susana Baca. That collective is Novalima, and its four members, who live in different corners of the world, have been successful in creating yet another Latintronica sub-genre. At times, the group's choices are a bit shallow (a dub version of the classic "Toro Mata" is strangely lifeless), but for the most part, Novalima strikes the perfect balance between reverential homage and joyous futurism. "Mayoral" is an irresistible dancefloor stomper, whereas the atmospheric "Mandinga" mixes crystalline female vocals with nostalgic touches of muted trumpet. Novalima's most inspired idea was to include guest spots by seminal artists from the Afro-Peruvian field such as singer Lucila Campos. Afro manages to be comfortingly authentic and playfully innovative at the same time. --Ernesto Lechner - Amazon.com

When life steals your lemons, grab an empty fruit cart, smack it like a drum, and turn the musical world on its head. That's what African slaves toiling on Peru's coast in the 16th century did, when their Spanish oppressors forbade them to play drums. Lacing rhythms coerced from crates, donkey jawbones, and church collection boxes with Spanish lyrics doused in African and Andean traditions, they gave birth to 'Afro-Peruvian' beats. The genre continues to captivate new audiences hundreds of years later, thanks, in part, to the internationally based foursome Novalima, whose latest disc infuses historic chants with electronic dance strokes. And if the group's friend list on MySpace is any indication, the 13-track album will be a sure hit among DJs and dancing queens worldwide.
-Kristen Mueller - UTNE Reader

“From Lima, Peru and the producers known as Novalima comes a gift to the dancer's hips. In their first international release, Novalima have expertly blended an alchemy of raw sounds. Conga, quijada and cajon percussion meld with sweet nylon strings and syrupy vocals singing out the soul of Afro-Peruvian music that simply leaps out of the speakers. The subwoofer can't sleep on this sound, infused with heavy dub basslines and pulsing electronics — it's all in there. Once you tire of dancing to 4/4 rhythms and the DJ can't do more for ya, get Afro to your record player and lose yourself on this.” - SYNTHESIS mag