Manco Inca
Hasta Siempre Comandante

Fortunately in my life, I have had the opportunity to travel quite a bit for work, and now that I have stopped, one of the things I miss the most is being able to enjoy or rather live music directly on location. I don't know... a bit like drinking a Guinness in Cork or indulging in a Thai massage in Bangkok, all sensory experiences that gain something extra if experienced in the places to which, by tradition and history, those same things belong.
The first time I listened to this album, however, I was sunbathing in a friend's garden, and I remember being literally struck by it from the very first listen. I immediately got the CD, and since then it has become one of my most frequent and enjoyable listens.

I Manco Inca is an inter-American group from Peru, Chile, Guatemala, and Bolivia. Their music is inspired by the musical tradition of Inti Illimani for the traditional-musical-instrumental aspects, but at the same time, it boasts European influences that make it decidedly more modern. In this context, it is necessary to give a brief overview of the figure of Manco Inca.

This character, the right arm of Atahualpa, ruler of Peru at the time of the Spanish conquest, initiated a true guerrilla warfare after the king's murder by Francisco Pizarro, in which the Spanish army was engaged for a full eight years. Upon Pizarro's death, a delegation of conquistadors managed to kill Manco Inca in an ambush, thus ending the opposition of the last Inca king.

This first work of the group is dedicated to the famous Commander Guevara. Thus arises the group's intention to draw a parallel between two figures who, in different contexts, nonetheless championed ideals of freedom and rebellion. The themes addressed by the group speak of that continent torn by enormous disparities that was (and unfortunately still is) a scene of poverty and despair but also of strong identity and dignity.
Latin America, where there was a genocide of the local populations, where an economic dictatorship was systematically established, yet it remains ever more dignifiedly autonomous and is represented through the eyes of a single people; thousands of campesinos and ordinary people with the same dreams, fears, illusions, and feelings speak through the extraordinary and touching music and words of this group.

The sound so mystical and simultaneously immediate of the Andean flute and all the "local" instruments offer touching and intimate moments. "Hasta Siempre Comandante" is offered again with Latin-jazz rhythms that enrich a historical piece. The following "Charagua" is an instrumental song that is moving, thanks to the enchanting sound of the Andean flute. "Alturas" creates melodies embedded in time and space. "La fiesta de San Benito" is a traditional Bolivian song with a slow and sweet pace, and for the writer, it can safely be defined as folk-psychedelic, even more so than the following tremendously emotional instrumental "The Lonely Sheperd".

I don't want to go on further in the description of 10 gems that I sincerely invite you to listen to.