FLOR DE LOTO

Flor de Loto is a novel Peruvian instrumental act whose young blood is providing an energetic flow of creativity in South American prog scene: they already have a solid cult following in their native country. The material comprised in their eponymous debut album has been written for a 1 ½ year period before the recording sessions took place, and it's fair to say that the sound production does justice to their overall energy on stage. Their prog style is quite punchy, mostly based on the interplaying between guitar and flute and robustly sustained by a versatile rhythm section: main influences range from "Red"-era KC to early 70s JT and hard rock with heavy touches of jazz-fusion and Peruvian folk, and added nuances of contemporary psychedelia. The opener 'La Entrada' kicks off with a languid atmosphere that evokes a sense of mystery before a wild interlude comes in expanding itself right up to the initial motif's final reprise. The mixture of hard-rock oriented prog and folk that is so effectively displayed in the opening number also works quite well in 'Ayahuaska' and 'El Ritual' - in many ways you can tell that these tracks are straightforward statements of Flor de Loto's musical ideology. Tracks 2, 5 & 6 are, IMHO, the album's most accomplished numbers: they epitomize the band's essential energy and comprise some of their most complex musical ideas, which gives the musicians the chance to show their skills as well as their interacting abilities more prominently than in any other parts of the album. 'Libélula' is an awesome showcase for the band's penchant for dense atmospheres in a rock context, creating well-sustained contrasts between ascents and descents all the way toward the sinister coda. Meanwhile, 'El Errante' simultaneously combines the special majesty of baroque and the intensity of blues-rock without falling into the trappings of excessive self-indulgence, but keeping a clear focus on the basic melodic motifs. Finally, 'El Niño y el Puerco' finds the band exploring the realms of jazz-rock with special depth - it includes a splendidly aggressive guitar solo over a African-Peruvian fusionesque rhythm pattern. and it works beautifully! 'Negativos de una Memoria Inexistente' comprises two distinct passages: the first one is an explosive metal-oriented tour-de-force in which the flute surprisingly feels at home, while the second one is an ethereal Andean-based motif. 'El Ritual', which has been metioned before, has a very cosmic feel to it, melting the candid touches of folk and the oppressive moods of post-rcok and psychedlic prog in a very effective manner. 'Flor de Loto' is a bucolic 3- minute acoustic instrumental that shows the band's introspective side, bringing a momentary occasion for easy relaxing. The closing track is basically a pretext for each individual member's soloing: on the basis of a few varying motifs (including a brief reggae passage), the successive guitar, flute, bass and drum solos flow on as a kind of ultimate celebration. A nice ending for a great album: in conclusion, "Flor de Loto" is an excellent debut, and that's why the namesake band gives us Peruvian prog-heads justified hope for the preservation of good prog music in our country.

I have recently bought this release. Its packaging is wonderful ,featuring super art work. The music is as Caesars review describes and has lots of influences based around flute guitar and key board interplay.Some of the guitar tones are magnificient. My only complaint would be the sound of the flute in this albums recording.At times the players tone is too thin for real interplay with the other players and unfortunately is rarely to the forefront in the mix.Also I would prefer a more aggressive style of playing on some numbers.Aggresssive flute playing and folk melodies can be done and not always by Ian Anderson , just check out the track Molly Bloom on Molly Blooms excellent self titled debut album where flautist Stevie Dundon excels( Hope Molly eventually get a slot on this site Molly Bloom have been on the suggested list for over a year ). However , I digress Flor de Loto is an excellent album and is worth a rating between 3.5 - 4 stars

Flor de Loto is Jethro Tull peruvian. The atmosfera of the andes reflected in the surrounding sound of flauta and zamponas, huge executed by Johnny Perez, elevates us at other levels of conscience. A disc that must be listened to obligatorily.

I'm quite dissapointed with this album. As a big fan of South american prog I was very enthusiastic about listening to this, expecting that gorgeous fusion of Andean folk and rock, that always makes me dream I'm there, the Andes mountains What I got is not a bad album, but not good or recommendable at all. Just an average band trying to do something innovative, good try, but flawed. Not always complex instrumentation means high quality. No interesting and high quality pieces here. Some nice instrumentation, but uninteresting material. Moreover, it is completely unlistenable. The poor sound quality helps to destroy ir even more.. I don't know where these guys recorded this album, but it's terrible!!! Moreover, eventhough it has some interesting passages during the first portion of the album, it then gets extremely boring and repetitive, to the point where I decided to stop it and return it ASAP to my friend who recognised it was a mistake to purchase this album. Jethro Tull??? It must be a joke...hehe It is a just one spin album. You won't go back to it again. Forget about it.

This is unique progressive rock from Peru, it sounds as a pleasant combination of ethnic music (mainly flutes) and rock music (electric guitar), sometimes with echoes from Los Jaivas but without keyboards and harder-edged. The rhythm-section plays fluent and adventurous, the interplay between the flutes (pan - and traverse flute) and the guitar is strong. The compositions deliver lots of shifting moods and some splendid build-ups. My only negative remark concerns the atmospheres in the songs, these are often similar because the emphasis is, in my opinion, a bit too much on the flutes and guitar. But the electric guitar work is great, from sensitive and bluesy to fiery and heavy, the influences range from Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton to Jimmy Page and Carlos Santana. A wonderful album, way ahead from the mainstream progrock. If Flor De Loto matures in writing (and I beg for the addition of keyboards!), this band will succeed to generate my attention for the whole album.

Flor de Loto is harder-edged instrumental prog rock quartet from Peru. The music on this first studio album is electric guitar- and flute-dominated, including hints to Peruvian folk music. In two compositions we can hear zampona (Peruvian pan-pipe, can't print ~ on n) in addition to flutes. My personal fave spots are one-minute-lasting psychedelic jam in the centre of "Negativos de una Memoria Inexistente", the beginning of "Ritual" (because of juicy synth-addition) and more experimental guitar-led shorter track "Y". Worth to discover.

This debut album by Peruvian band FLOR DE LOTO actually has been a very nice surprise for me when I received it more than one year ago. In fact I ordered it without knowing anything about that group and before hearing one single note from them, mainly inspired by the nice surrealistic cover art. Of course one's always happy when such "blind" purchases turn out to be very worthy and one realizes after the very first listen already that the music's even more appealing than the artwork.

Though certainly to be called derivative in a way what these brilliant musicians are offering here it's as well sounding much inspiring and quite unique on the other hand. The purely instrumental music dominated by excellent guitar and awesome flute play can be described as a blend of ethnic, jazz and psychedelic elements. Though revealing a similar style the ten fairly complex compositions on here are sounding quite versatile with an excellent rhythmic section and many shifts between more up-tempo and heavier tracks and more atmospheric dreamy ones. Most obvious comparison coming to one's mind listening to this music is of course JT but not only due to the occasional use of pan flute being typical for Inca folk music FLOR DE LOTO managed quite successful to generate their very own self-contained sound. I listened to this disk already quite a lot of times and it's for me with each repeated spin again a very exciting and enjoyable experience. BTW the funny psyche comic cover art can be unfolded to a 24 x 48 cm mini-poster (just as a marginal information for the grown-up kids amongst us).

I think this album by Peru's most important Prog band can be certainly considered an excellent addition to any collection and should appeal not only to fans of instrumental or folk progressive music.

This is the first studio album of one of the best (If not the best) peruvian band of these days. It has less compositions and more imrovisations that it's follow u "Madre Tierra", but for me this one is something special, because is the one that was recognized by the critics as a masterpiece of contemporanean rock-folk. this album is much more psychedelic than it's follow up and thats quite good because is something that can be considered Psychedelic-prog-folk if something like that exists.

La Llegada: it's a good start for the album. It starts with great winds by Jhonny and then the percusions of Puccini and the charango unite to the melody. Then the elctric guitar enters and the track start to be more and more strong, with great flute and guitar solos. The drums still great all over the track. This song could easily defind the sound of the album, folkish, psychedelic and jazz-influenced. 9/10

La Libelula: This song can only be discribed as a sweet psychedelic song, it starts with a great bass-line that will be lthe theme of the whole song. The guitar by Alonso is greatfull and the flute is also great in this one. The whole song has a strong psychedelic atmosphere made by the guitar mixed with the folkish flute and the jazzy bass/drums duet made thi track unic. Classic FDL and for me classic prog-folk. 10/10

Negativos De Una Memoria Inexistente: This song starts with mind-blowing sounds followed by a great flute solo by Jhonny acompanied by the incredible guitar and the rythmic duet at it's peak of executation.The guitar solo by Alonso is preety awesom and Alejandro's bass is simply amzing all over the track.Whe the song slows downit is dominated by the flute that did a preety good work. One of the famousest songs from the bamd, but I think they could do better even if its already ok. 8/10

Ayahuaska: This is the folk-rock purist I was expecting, this is what make this band southamerican Jethro Tull, and made them folk. The flute is great and the charango and the acustic guitar are also great, and again the musicianship is great, but the problem is that is a short track and it's a bit repetitive at times, so I could not rate this as the masterpiece of the album. 8/10

El Errante: Starts as a great flute dominated track but then the guitar takes the control and lead us, in a duet with the flute to a greatfull prgressive jam seccion with the impressoive soolos by Jhonny and Alonso. The acustic guitar give this song a strong Jethro Tull feeling. The song goes sometimes repetitive but then it only goes better and better and better until the mid seccion that is a great acustic guitar solo by Alonso that shows he's great guitar skills. Then the song goes psychedelic in a King Crimson style of build up, when the flute enters and then the song follows to another seccion (Even if it's not a suite) dominated by both the electic guitar and the flute to end the song with studio noise. 10/10

El Niño y El Puerco: This is obiously a jam. It is the most jazzy song in the album. The highlight of the song is the great bass by Alejandro, and the incredible drums of Jorge. I consider this song to be a good joke song because is like almost every part of the song was imrovised at the time they were recording the song, like if they had make the song in only one cut. Even the great guitar solos sound imrovised at the time like a live jam. This doesn't mean is a bad song, is almost a highlight but I can't rate it as El Errante that was a great composition effort, is jus t a good long jazzy jam. 8/10

Y: This isn't a song it's only studio noise, I think they only use this as an interlude but i can't rate this because I don't consider this as a song.

Ritual: It starts with a prominent synth that make up the mood of the whole song. The build up with the synth and the guitar is OK, but the song seem to explode to late at half of the song. The true start of the song is with a beautifull flute solo accompanied by the other instruments in a good way. The song then follows as a rocker with a mettalish guitar work, making this a kind of metal-folk song at the end. Not a Highlight but a preety good and cool song. 7 1,2/10

Flor de Loto: Another short folk song like "Ayahuska" even if this is obiusly weakest having only an acustic qguitar and flute accomopanied by the rythmic duet. Very plesant, calm and simple song, beautifull folk song. I wold not choose it as the title track because for me is a bit weak but that wasn't my desicion. 7/10

Suculentas Frutas: The operfect way to close an album is with an epic or the best track of the whole album, and tis song is both. It is still a classic and I think it will be a classic for all FDL's career. It's a great jam with solos of all the band and tha t has great musicianship like in the whole album. The song is dominated by the whole band. The strongest track on here and an all time fan favourite. It's so difficult to describe such a great song you only can listen to it if you want to know what I'm talking about. Proggresive at it's peak. This song shows why this is one of the best southamerican band of this days. Simply amazing! 10/10

Conclussion: a greatfull start for this incredible peruvian band, classic prog-folk mixed with a lot of other geners make this album a materpiece of southamerican prog and for prog-folk in general, IMHO.

Since the late 60's when Perú was one of the leading forces of Proto Prog in this part of the continent, we never had so many important Prog bands; FLOR DE LOTO, SUPAY and KHARMINA BURANA, are only some of the names we see once in a while in the newspapers and it's hard for a reviewer of this country, not to feel proud when we see their names in the same pages as glorious icons like GENESIS, YES, JETHEO TULL etc.

But what is more important, that they are doing something different than our most famous band (FRAGIL), and that's exploring our Andean roots and blending them with different genres, of course FLOR DE LOTO is leader in this field.

After several years of formation, FLOR DE LOTO is able to release their self titled album with the support of Mylodon Records of Chile, a country that has some experience, being home of the Andean Folk icons LOS JAIVAS.

The album is opened with "La Llegada" (The Arrival), and the name is perfect because as soon as you listen the first Antara (Peruvian wind instrument similar to the pan flute) notes of the intro, the feeling of something new starting surrounds the audience. As a thick mist, the Andean atmosphere falls upon the listener, like a sunrise in the high mountains, the drums mark perfectly the timing as the sweet flute enhances the pleasant effect. But around the middle the band explodes in a festival of sounds and moods, always melancholic as the Peruvian music from the Andes, but with the spirit of Prog present in the guitar riffs. Outstanding opener.

"Libélula" (Dragonfly) is a radical change, now without loosing that atmosphere, FLOR DE LOTO explores different sounds, like a mixture of Hard Rock and Psyche with an excellent guitar work, but again we should expect a change, a softer flute section acts as a bridge that leads us to the development of the track, where guitar, drums and keyboards blend perfectly in a faster passage but with the flute as the lead instrument. At the end they surprise us with a long jazzy section that changes the mood completely.

"Negativos de Una Memoria Inexistente" (Negatives of a Non Existent Memory) has a very short spacey intro that leads almost instantaneously to a heavy guitar based section, totally frenetic, but without loosing the ethnic atmosphere, the song develops with multiple changes, again the drum work by Jorge Puccini is simply brilliant. The flute guided finale is extremely beautiful as if a distant quena (Peruvian ancestral wooden pentaphonic flute) expressed a sentimental cry.

"Ayahuasca"(Amazonian hallucinogenic plant) surprises me, due to the name I expected something different, more psyche oriented, full of jamming, but instead it's a perfectly fluid song that flows gently from start to end, sometimes gains strength but never looses the calmed tempo, except for the short finale. In this track the band has a famous guest; Octavio Castillo from FRAGIL joins them in the flute.

"El Errante" (The Errant) shows a mature band blending a Folk sound in the style of Jethro Tull with Peruvian Folk and a Symphonic structure, it's amazing how they manage to handle radical changes so fluidly that seem like parts of a puzzle that foit perfectly, during more than nine minutes FLOR DE LOTO gives us a memorable Prog performance, with melodic speedy and frantic passages perfectly crafted.

"El Niño y el Puerco" (The Boy and the Pig) starts with a contrapuntal work between guitar and percussion, suddenly the bass announces something different is coming, but when a normal listener can expect a frenetic change, a soft but fast guitar played in a style that reminds of the great Carlos Santana starts a lengthy solo only supported by the drums, until the flute joins and the tempo changes into a frantic passage where they prove a Folk band can also rock with class, but again the atmosphere morphs into a jazzy epilog. Very interesting structure and excellent jamming.

"Y" (And) is a short and weird interlude of 1:15 minutes that combines a distorted guitar with some synthesized sounds, not too much to comment, except that works as a link to "Ritual" which starts soft and gentle, with a distant guitar jamming peacefully with an almost imperceptible keyboard making a low ranged sound, until the flute and drums join to create a soft atmospheric song that gain surrounds the listener as a mist. As the song advances keeps gaining strength, speed and volume until it morphs into a very heavy and long closing section.

"Flor de Loto" (Loto Flower) strangely sounds very medieval, as the music for a traveling Troubadour without lyrics, one of the few songs that simply flow from start to end without changes or surprises.

"Suculentas Frutas" (Succulent Fruits) closes the album in the vein of the late 60's, a Psyche mood with heavy guitar riffs and radical changes, but the show is stolen by the impressive bass solo in the middle, the drums and keyboards have their chance, but not as impressive, and after the solos, comes an impressive closing section, that finishes the album in the best possible way.

Until a few minutes ago, I was decided to rate "Flor de Loto" with five stars. But don't want to fall in chauvinism, the album is excellent, but I'm sure they can offer more, so will stay with four stars and honestly, I'm not giving this album a rating I don't believe they deserve, by the contrary, probably I'm giving them less.

Peruvian progressive rock?...Yes,why not?...I admit that the only band from Peru that I am aware of is FRAGIL,although I'm also aware of the intense ''psychedelic'' past that this country has...So,before listening to FLOR DE LOTO I didn't know what to expect really...After several listens I recognized that this in fact a ''crossover of styles'' band...And they really have a potential...but...

The things do not work that well in this first effort...First it's the production...Awful...how was this album recorder...in a garage?in the underground?It sounds so dark and almost like a live recording...and we are talking about 2005!That's one thing I do find over-negative!...What about the music...Well,this is a crossover of styles...You can find some symphonic passages,especially where the flute is added,along with the folk atmosphere,there is an over-intense psychedelic feel close to the earlier psych Peruvian bands and mostly some eclectic arrangements reminding of ANEKDOTEN and KING CRIMSON...Sounds interesting and it is,but sometimes the guys overdo it with some ''dark'' never-stopping solos or other ideas are flat or longer played than it should be,so the music often tends to monotony...

The talent is there and it's something more than clear that they can do it much better in the future...Actually and musically speaking this is a decent work that deserves in terms of music a 3 star rating...But I warn you about the poor the production...So,guys,develop your ideas a little more,check your production even more and we'll talk about a very good band in the near future!...

Peru, mysterious country for Middle-European like myself. Full of dangerous jungles (60% of area?), still present traditions (native people, folk influences) and in general, feeling of different environment, society, history and so on. Simply, brave new world.

So for me, this is obscure, truly mysterious (little bit magical, because you know that South America is land of Magic Realism - Coelho and others), full of surprises and hidden influences. And new ideas. Ever since I heard El Cóndor Pasa, I wanted to hear more and here I am, listening to something I believe that can be perfect example of traditional folk music combined with prog rock.

One strange thing, this magic doesn't work in bad loudspeakers. This review is based solely on experience from expensive headphones. Well, most of my revs are done this way, but here I feel I should say it loud. Because loud one based review would be with 3 star rating.

So, we'll get folk jamming (new prog folk is mostly done with element of rock - bass, electric guitar), jazz tunes into it, but most unique instrument here would be flute. But not Ian Anderson style one, really, let's imagine Simon&Garf version of Condor and you know what I'm talking about. Beautiful cover, very nice one (this description could be for all their three albums)

4(+), but I think that Mr. Melgar would enjoy this much more.

FLOR DE LOTO are an all-instrumental band from Peru, in fact i'd say they are without a doubt one of the best bands from that country. Listed as Folk, I guess because there is plenty of flute, but this doesn't sound like Folk to me. Lots of aggressive guitar, chunky bass lines and passionate drumming to go along with the flute excursions. No keyboards here but there is some guest synths on one track. This album simply sounds really, really good.

"La Llegada" builds rather slowly until a full sound arrives after 2 minutes with drums, guitar and flute standing out. A change 3 1/2 minutes in as the bass comes in.The flute starts to lead then the guitar as they continue to trade off. "Libelula" opens with drums as the guitar makes some noise. The guitar sounds amazing. Bass joins in.It settles 2 minutes in with flute. What a great sound to this one. Guitar and drums are prominant after 5 minutes. "Negatives De Una Memoria Inexistente" kicks in around 30 seconds with flute and a powerful sound. Love the guitar as the bass throbs. It settles before 2 1/2 minutes as the guitar solos beautifully. It settles with flute after 4 minutes. "Ayshuaska" features some guest mandolin but the flute and bass stand out early.

"El Errante" opens with some flute and such a lush sound.The guitar after 2 minutes starts to solo. Acoustic guitar before 5 minutes. It turns darker 6 1/2 minutes in before kicking back in a minute later. "El Nino Y Puerco" opens with bass, guitar and drums. Flute before a minute.The guitar starts to solo when the flute stops. Love the bass. Flute is back before 3 1/2 minutes but not for long as the guitar returns and proceeds to rip it up. "Y" is a short piece with guitar feedback and distortion throughout. "Ritual" opens with gentle guitar and atmosphere. It changes before 3 1/2 minutes as flute and a full sound take over. It kicks in a minute later as the guitar lights it up. "Flor De Loto" features flute, percussion and laid back guitar throughout. "Suculentas Frutas" gets interesting when the guitar catches fire 2 minutes in. It settles with bass and drums after 3 minutes. A drum solo after 4 minutes. I'm not big on drum solos but this is fantastic. Flute and that earlier sound after 5 1/2 minutes. A fuller sound a minute later.

I have to mention that one of my prog friends came in the store when this was playing and he commented on how great it sounded. He asked for the bands name and album title. A solid 4 star album.