EL ARTE DE SEGUIR VIVOS

For those like me who have been in touch with the art-rock scene that has been developing in Peru for the last 5 years, this debut album by Kharmina Buranna is a long overdue release. Now that "El Arte de Seguir Vivos" is a physical real item, we can stay assured that some of the best of the future of Peruvian prog rests in these crafty hands and creative minds. With three of the five tracks outlasting the 10 minute mark, you can tell that this band is going tightly headlong for the idea of complex music. The opener 'Bosque de Piedras' starts with flying colors through the synth layers and arpeggios, very Wakeman-esque indeed. Once the whole ensemble settles in, the lyricism prevails through the enhanced dynamism. Regarding influences and coincidences, it's fair to say that the song's overall mood states a fluid mixture of Yes, PFM and "Songs from the Wood"-era Jethro Tull. Some dissonant passages shared by the organ, lead guitar and rhythm section make the track shift momentarily to a full frontal heavy prog realm with a modern twist (Landberk, Areknamés) and a clever use of Gentle Giant-style keyboard ornaments. There is also a meditative stance all through the track's melodic development that at times brings out a family air to the compatriot legend Frágil. The opener has really been beautiful and effective, but I personally would have preferred that track 2, 'Del Parque', had been chosen as the opening song instead. Its initial rough drive, giving a heavily psychedelic twist to the band's symphonic leanings, is perhaps too muscular to stand somewhere in between in a whole tracklist. Anyway, this piece's robust trend owes a bit to VdGG, and it may sound occasionally coincidental with some of the bigger names of Italian heavy prog (Ossana, Museo Rosenbach). Also, some gentlegiantish adornments are inserted for good effect. The presence of tuned percussion enhances the keyboard bases, and special mentions have to go for the harmonica and lead guitar solos - incredible! The title track is the most obviously rooted with the band's blues-rock pre-history: it is, indeed, a solid blues rocker arranged and performed in such a stylish fashion that brings the majesty of good old Led Zeppelin and the colorfulness of "Stand Up"-"Benefit"-era JT, rather than, say, John Mayall's rough approach. Being the least complex track in the album, it would be misleading to label it as just simplistic, since the muscular delivery and powerful successive leads on harmonica, guitar and organ show a genuine musical devotion to the matter that is cooking at the moment. The last two tracks bring back the full progressive momentum: 'Sueños de Opio' starts with a varied, 4 minute long prelude that reflects the typical KB dynamics, eventually landing on the sung main motif. The latter is predominantly relaxing and, in some passages, even providing eerie introspective moments: the presence of brief orchestral arrangements helps to elaborate this sort of mood. The album's last 13 minutes are occupied by 'Labra un Lugar (de Sonidos)'. It pretty much summarizes the most vintage prog moments comprised in the previous tracks, introducing the novelty of some Emersonian details in the organ chord progressions - still, Yes, PFM, Gentle Giant and the standard of heavy prog remain essential and stable. The pastoral interlude (featuring recorder) and the coda's soft bombast provide an effective conclusion to both the track and the album. Kharmina Buranna's debut album is yet another excellent item of great contemporary prog rock made in South America.

Kharmina Buranna from Peru were formed in summer 96' in Lima, originally playing Blues/Hard Rock in the vein of British and American bands, while the group participated in several music competitions.After a short break in 2000 they returned with a whole different style, now influenced by 70's Progressive Rock giants such as Genesis, King Crimson, Jethro Tull and Focus.With bassist/flutist Mauricio Hooker, keyboardist Daniel Lopez, guitarist Eduardo Valcarcel, drummer Victor Otarola and singer Angelo Perez-Palma they released their debut ''El Arte de Seguir Vivos'' in 2008 on Mylodon Records, featuring also Frágil's Octavio Castillo on flute and Japanese violin player Pauchi Sasaki.

Indeed Kharmina Buranna sound nothing like the contemporary Peruvian Prog Rock bands, which are either more experimental or more folky.Their sound has a strong vintage flavor akin to 70's British, Italian and Latin-American bands with complex orchestrations, multiple breaks and decent songwriting.Comparisons with Italian Prog are maybe the closest ones.The five long pieces are filled with heavy Hammond organs, floating synths and clavinets with a very complicated style, that sounds quite conveincing.Add a diverse and technical guitar playing in the mix with plenty of heavier and jazzy exercisesto complete the picture.But there are also lots of calmer moments thrown in with acoustic guitars, flutes, strings and piano, close to the likes of SERU GIRAN or SUI GENERIS, especially in these psych-influenced harmonica solos.What really prevents the album from being a top-notch release is the lack of strong melodies with the band showing a constant tendency towards sheer complexity and numerous shifting moods.

If 70's-influenced Progressive Rock is among your major preferences, then this is a great album for your collection.Challenging, intricate but not very original.Recommended.

Kharmina Buranna is an interesting band from Peru who is becoming better known here in Mexico due to their relationship with Azafran Media, and though their debut album was not released under that label, I could manage to own a copy of "El arte de seguir vivos" which was released in 2008 with Mylodon Records. The album features five compositions and a total time of 52 minutes of good progressive rock with rock and blues hints, very interesting.

It kicks off with "Bosque de piedras" which is the longest composition here, it is challenging to begin with an epic, so kudos for them. The song starts with keyboards, making a symphonic sound, after a minute drums and strings join and begin to build a nice structure, the instrumental part is brief because later vocals appear and make a change in the rhythm and style, with a rockish feeling. After 4 minutes the song shows a new face, acoustic guitar and flute creating a beautiful folkish passage that sounds so Latin, reminiscent of some Argentinean or Chilean 70s bands. Then it changes again, with more power and more musical elements, as well as cool lyrics "entu desolación encontrarás la calma" is one of my favorite phrases of the whole album. What I like of this song is that they were capable of collecting different styles with apparently distant forms and put it in one long piece; it is a very good composition that let us know about the band's skills.

"Del parque" begins again with some soft keyboards but after 40 seconds it becomes bluesy and rockier, it greatly flows and with keys and guitars make also a kind of spacey sound, so it is again a salad of sounds and styles, which is a description of Kharmina Buranna's music. Here we can also listen to cool guitar riffs and some nice time signature changes. "El arte de seguir vivos" is the shortest track, and continues with the bluesy style, something like Led Zep meets Invisible meets Gov't Mule, so go figure. This is another nice track.

"Sueños de opio" has a truly promising beginning with a delicious sound that once again combines the prog with the blues rock, here they also play the flute so the mixture is wonderful again. After a minute it slows down, the spacey synth enters and the bass play some notes, this is like a moment of uncertainty because nobody knows what will happen next, but then the first rhythm returns now with keyboards as a crucial player. Just before the fifth minute vocals enter, this passage is slow, the music calmed down and now it is not a ballad, but it is not far from it; the music flows and new elements are being added little by little, keyboard solos can also be heard. The last part is very pastoral, with violin and flute creating a warm and beautiful atmosphere, an unexpected ending of this great song.

The last track is "Labra un lugar (para sonidos)" which offers a feast of sounds and music, we are music, we are everything and it is reflected in this song, because we can find everything here: from prog to folk, from blues to space rock, all well built and structured, a clever composition that does not ask anything from the big old bands, in other words, Kharmina Buranna should be more in the spot, more people should notice their music because it is great, and they are truly talented.

A solid debut album by this Peruvian band, which deserves 4 stars at least.

Enjoy it!