VA - ANDINA: The Sound Of The Peruvian Andes 1968-1978 (2017)

A window into the full-blooded, captivating spirit of music from the Andes, ANDINA shines a fresh perspective on Peru’s Andean heritage. A co-release with Strut Records, the album is selected from records released between ‘68 and ‘78, upending clichéd ideas of Andean music and bringing to light the divergent, exciting traditions to have emerged from Peru’s strip of the iconic mountain range.

Encompassing steady-grooving, Peruvian cumbia rhythms, transcendent folkloric harp recordings and Lima big band groups taking influence from their highland neighbours, it boasts a diversity that will appeal to fans of jazz and Latin as well as tropical-minded DJs and deep digging collectors.

It was dubstep producer and DJ Mala (Digital Mystikz) who most recently shone a light on the region with his 2016 album Mirrors on Brownswood- Tiger’s Milk founder Martin Morales had accompanied him to Peru two years earlier, acting as his guide and mentor in discovering the breadth of Peru’s musical history.

Peruvian chef, restaurateur and music producer Martin was born in Peru and lived there until he was a teenager before settling in the UK. In recent years he has travelled frequently to the Andes in search of recipes, records, sounds and inspiration for a variety of projects which he and his London based team have presented. An avid DJ and record collector, Martin has teamed up with Tiger’s Milk co-founder Duncan Ballantyne (former Soundway label manager) and Peruvian crate digger Andres Tapia del Rio to create a series which starts with ANDINA and will then move to the Amazon and coast of Peru.

Tiger’s Milk is dedicated to uncovering Peruvian music past and present and it has garnered support from the likes of Mr Scruff, Basement Jaxx, Mala, Gilles Peterson, Mr Jukes (Bombay Bicycle Club) and Osunlade. The launch of this compilation coincides with a cookbook release, also titled ANDINA.

The album is compiled by Lima-based record collector Andres Tapia Del Rio, Martin Morales and label co-founder Duncan Ballantyne.