CONJUNTO PAPA UPA

Baldomero Verdú, a master in Afro-Venezuelan drumming who has played with some of the true heavy weights on that scene such as Uno Solo Pueblo and La Parranda de Miriam, Conjunto Papa Upa bring into our lives this fabulous, double sided, never to be forgotten release. The hypnotic and driving rhythms of Vintage Voudou pays tribute to what are probably the hottest, tropical dance parties currently shaking Amsterdam with Alex more than happy to share his passion with an eager and anticipating crowd. Borne out from his love of finding lost musical treasures from some of the world’s most exotic destinations, this has now led to the opening of the shop of the same name situated in Amsterdam’s famous Red Light District, satisfying the vinyl lust for like-minded aficionados. From its hard hitting drum pattern intro to its hand claps and call and response vocals to the raw, rhythm section, we are transported back 400+ years to when the first African slaves were transported to Venezuela until the melodic, drenched in delay guitar riff pushes our senses back to the same West African coast those slaves departed from, this time in the 20th century. Camuri Chico is one of those urban beaches on the suburbs of Caracas where you can get everything besides a calm day. Groups of people playing “Tambores” accompanied by litters of “Guarapita” (a home-made Venezuelan drink made with passion fruit and cheap Aguardiente) are the norm. In this multi-ethnic proletarian chaos, a local Dick Dale wanna-be joins the frenetic Guarapita fueled drumming with his guitar, creating a surrealist scenario that turns seriously psychedelic when the barely working 1970's Farfisa organ shows up, abruptly. It’s a scary yet joyous sounding collaboration taking you on a psychedelic journey with a possessed voudou priest piloting a half broken 1970’s Caribbean space ship, taking off from the hot Venezuelan beach of Camuri Chico and landing somewhere on the African continent along the borders between Angola and the Congo. And all the time the “in-flight” entertainment will be encouraging you to accept your destiny and to never, ever sit down. Feel the warmth and enjoy the sound of Conjunto Papa Upa on their first outing and hear for yourself how they express themselves from that largely forgotten era of fine, upstanding and experimental music of Latin America from a bygone age."