LOS JAIVAS

Alturas de Machu Picchu (Heights of Machu Picchu) is a cosmic experience that has a certain magic to it. The whole album is based on Pablo Neruda's poem of the same name, which tackles on themes of mortality, loss, the human condition, all the while being a stunning tribute to the ancient Indigenous people. This poem is legendary in Chile, and its typically considered a national masterpiece. So much that Los Jaivas didn't even dare to make a musical adaptation at first until they were convinced otherwise, and boy was the band able to do such an equally stunning work.

The music is a perfect translation of the lines that Pablo has written down, perfectly combined with Gato Alquinta's powerful singing. Some of the highlights include the epic song La Poderosa Muerte (The Mighty Death), the vastly underrated Antigua América (Ancient America), and the powerful finale Sube a Nacer Conmigo Hermano (Climb Up to be Born With Me Brother). All of the songs together flow together like smooth butter, and I mean very smooth butter. Alturas de Machu Picchu is a must listen for any prog rock fan. And if you haven't listened to this album yet, do me a favor and give it a spin! You won't regret it. Deserved 5/5.

A part of the Latino prog family, Los Jaivas is a Chilean progressive folk group that started in 1963, but never got their foot into the door until their 1971 release of El volantín, and since then has been exploring the progressive folk camp in their own unique, and very stylish ways. They combine psychedelia, indigenous Andean music, and symphonic prog outlets to really shape their sounds. Up until recently though, I have never really listened to any of their works, though that isn't to say I haven't been at least somewhat interested in what they may have to put out, mostly stemming from RYM ranking their 1975 record of El Indio quite highly. However it wouldn't be until a friend on Discord recommending that I should check out this record first, and I got to say, I am glad I got this recommendation.

Alturas de Machu Pichu is the 6th record from Los Jaivas, and their most well known work aside from El Indio and Canción del sur, and with good reason. Alturas de Machu Pichu is without a doubt a fantastic album front to back, at least to my ears. Being a concept album about Pablo Neruda's The Heights Of Machu Picchu, the band is really pushing the prog envelope, utilizing poetic semblance and sound that really makes you feel like you are ascending a mountain.

To me, this is the Latino answer to Harmonium's Les Cinq Saisons, being this majestic, pastoral, and almost otherworldly record. I think what I truly like about this album is this very passionate energy that is being put forth, with each song having their own different flavors of magic that really give me a sense that the band truly loved creating music, music they could call their own. This is exemplified through Claudio Parra's piano. It just has this very bouncy and freeform feel, which merged with Gabriel's, Gato's, and Mario's vocals create a vibrant palette of Latino rock, folk, and progressive rock music.

Another thing I like is something I said before, that being this album feeling like taking a hike through the mountains. The softer moments carry out a beautiful aura of nature, such as flowers and plantlife, with the more heavier/intense moments showcasing a steep, treacherous path that the listener has to go through to reach the top. From Del Aire Al Aire to Final, the album scales further and further across the mountain, and each turn, each song, I feel rewarded. It really is a powerful experience, I cannot really put a dollar on that.

I really only have one very VERY minor inconvenience towards this record, and that is that I feel like the B side of the record isn't as strong as the A side. It isn't to say the music on the B side is not good, in fact songs on the B side are really great, but compared to the A side having a beautiful opener like Aire Al Aire, the 11 minute extravaganza La Poderosa Muerte, and the very lovely Amor Americano, it is no surprise that I feel like the B side feels a little weaker comparatively. Though, this is a minor setback in the way of a really excellent album, so don't let this discourage you from giving this record a shot.

Definitely a must listen for any prog fan. If you enjoy prog folk music like Sui Generis, Harmonium, or Gryphon then you'd love this record. It is truly a one of a kind album, and one of the best in the 80s run of progressive rock and folk history.

If you read my review of Bubu´s "Anabelas", you will see that I consider this one slightly better. But "Alturas de Machu Picchu" is second only to this one, I consider it even better than my beloved "Influências" from Marco Antonio Araujo. Let´s discuss reasons for it.

First, the listener must consider historical context around "Los Jaivas"; very important the reading of its biography here in progarchives or in any other source. It has a directly relation with Parra´s family, which has in Violeta Parra some of the most important artist in Chilean history. Until today the band has Parra as surname of their members. The other issue about them is the political problems they faced with authoritarian governments in Chile and in Argentina; only finding peace in France. Being under political pressure makes artist to decrease or to increase A LOT their muse, and in my perception "Los Jaivas" was able to align their musical skills with desire of freedom; yielding us with an excellent artistic achievement.

Talking about the music itself, one point I would like to comment is the strong amount of folk contend in this album. We can hear clearly music with roots in the Andean mountains, as long as we see that insertion of it throughout this album in a very proper way. Several typical instruments were used, including that famous kind of flute that was presented to common knowledge by Simon&Garfunkel in in the song "El Condor Pasa".

This is a must have album. Not only because of artistic quality presented here, but also because of the importance this band has to Chilean culture. If you have to have an album from Chile, it must be "Alturas de Machu Picchu". And you should also have "Anabelas" and "Influências". I strongly recommend you this three five stars albums.

And what I must mention about this work? Well is pretty good, the songs are in majority large and epic compositions with long instrumental sections. I believe that the general sounding of the album can be split into 2 focal points, at one side you have the "folk" aspect of the band, which I must say is a VERY strong trait and can be a downside to some people, but once you get yourself comfortable with it will perceive this is very nicely done.

On the other side is the prog-rock, which is more oriented to classic prog, with piano and guitar solos and all that stuff (think in early progressive common records).

I know that normally these two aspects will be in every "prog-folk" band, but here I feel we are in front of a more Folk then Prog album, in opposition of other bands of the sub-genre like Jethro Tull, which is mostly a Hard Rock band with some elements of Folk.

Anyway, both the two aspects of the band are used in a very solid way, some pieces are more oriented to one or other side but most of the time is a nice mixture of the two. For example the album opener "Arauco Tiene una Pena" starts full progressive until the middle where the claps starts and the song become folk-oriented. "El Guillatún", the follow-up is almost entirely folk. In the middle of the album, we have "Un rio de sangre", most oriented to progressive and experimentation.

The musicians here show that are good songwriters most of the time and can compose tracks with variations but maintaining the overall idea, most of the time...

One of the problems that I have had with this record is duration, it has 77 minutes and I feel very tired after the middle of it, even if they had plenty of material I think is very hard to maintain a work of this extension consistent, something that the band fails in my opinion.

This could be easily fixed by removing songs or at least reducing the duration of some. "Rio de sangre" have 13 minutes with only instruments, and become very tiring near the end, some tracks after some time start to sound repetitive and made me feel the desire to skip it.

In summary, I considerer this to be a great record that could have been a legendary one with some simplification, it is still, something that you should listen to if want to dig more into prog-folk and hear something that truly makes use of the traditional music of his origin country. 4 Stars

1. "Arauco Tiene una Pena" (11:07) opens with the call of some Chilean brass horn--like a valveless trumpet. Ominous synth combo chords respond to the horn for a bit before piano joins in playing some very complex classical-like solo stuff--eventually supplanting all other instruments until 3:33 when bass drum signals full band's arrival. Descending whole band three-chord romp is repeated while electric guitar boldly claims the lead. Slight shift in weave allows music to feel more integrated--guitar to feel welcomed within the mix, instead of above it. At the six minute mark, everything stops to allow contemplative reevaluation, but then we switch channels to a totally country Spanish motif to take over. Gato starts singing in this part--very Spanish feeling melodies and stylings. A bit too folkorico for me; though I love the infusion of native and traditional melodies and instruments, to go straight to a folk song in its pure form is not the same thing. And this is the entire final five minutes. (17.25/20)

2. "El Guillatún" (8:47) chaotic pounding of piano and multiple percussives precede the formation of a rhythmic base in the second half of the second minute. What forms is a kind of folk takeover of a semi-rock, semi-militaristic motif over which traditional Latin-American folk choral vocals are presented. Occasional forays of impressive classical piano push their way into the music but never enough to take over or turn down a different road. At 4:40 there is a little "taps"-like horn before rejoining the chorus for the next verse. Traditional folk instruments join in the next more-proggy variation on the theme which leads into a bare, almost Leonard Bernstein-like, classical section to close. (17.5/20)

3. "Mañana me Voy Pa'l Norte" (4:40) Andean flutes with synth flutes and militaristic drumming turns into what feels and sounds like a traditional Andean drinking folk song. Banjo- and accordion-like sounds in the mix as well with polka-like bass and drum beat. Pleasant and happy for a folk song. Not so much for a prog song. Electric guitar solo at the end of the third minute--then joined by a second electric guitar. (8.25/10)

4. "Y Arriba Quemando el Sol" (11:03) ominous piano chord, alternated spaciously by acoustic Spanish guitar strum and slow picking. One chord! And then, finally, another--both played and held for long periods. The vocal that ensues is very cool: as if the singer is telling a story of local history importance. Great Native American feel and pacing with many subtle yet beautiful contributions by incidental instruments. When background harmony vocals join in at the three-minute mark it's even more magical. The first electric instrument arrive soon thereafter--then electric bass and more piano inputs as the song morphs into a kind of variation on Ravel's "Bolero". Very cool! Synth horns arrive in the seventh minute. Pure prog perfection. Easily the best song on the album and my favorite. Chorused electric guitars and multiple synths get bigger roles in the ninth minute. (20/20)

5. "El Gavilán" (11:43) part jazz, part classical-influenced prog rock, this has a Spanish KEITH EMERSON feel to it. At 2:45 it launches into a complex classical passage that has a very strong GENESIS, John TOUT, and even GRYPHON feel to it. This one is definitely a study in classical compositional performance--even down to the orchestra-like percussion work. The solo piano turn that starts at the 7:00 mark is, in my opinion, the song's weakest part--except for the way the piano is mirrored by the sparse guitar, bass, and cymbal play. Then it all breaks loose into a very MANNHEIM STEAMROLLER-like full ensemble expression. Then the tenth minute is occupied by yet another variation, this one more centered on the syncopated percussive rhythmic pattern. Reminds me of some DISCIPLINE/Matthew PARMENTER passages. The final section is yet another recapitulation which, in my opinion, is another weaker version. (18/20)

6. "Un Rio de Sangre" (8:28) female singer (Isabel Parra) over bar-hall music. Reminds me of something that you might see and hear in the background in the background of a saloon scene from a Hollywood Western. A GENESIS-like proggy section begins at the 3:00 mark. Piano sweeps in and takes over before gorgeous flute steals it back. The melodic, jazz-rock fusion that ensues is actually quite gorgeous--raising the song quite a bit from the 8/10 of the first three minutes. (17.75/20)

7. "Run-Run se Fue Pa'l Norte" (5:14) piano and orchestra of a Spanish folk combo combine to render this song more palatable to the prog-minded music lover. Nice melodies--almost lullaby-ish.(8.25/10)

8. "En los Jardines Humanos" (9:35) this classically-molded song feels more like the GRYPHON-like anachronistic fare than any of the previous songs--even down to the chamber choir-like vocals. The stop-and-go plodding along gets a little old over the first seven minutes. A pan flute-led military drummed section starts in the eighth minute before celebratory piano play begins with electric guitar and the rest of the band soon joining in to both melody and rhythm. A challenging composition to play, I'm sure, but not as fun to listen to. (17.25/20)

9. "Violeta Ausente" (5:06) for the first 90 seconds, this feels like a saloon-playing pianist's demonstration of his dexterity. Then the full band kicks into the barrel-house rhythm as the solo lead singer launches his limerick-like punchlines. The chorus is multi-voiced with some interesting harmonic structures--all the while the pianist continues his showy showing off. Interesting. (He is a very good piano player!) (8.75/10)

Total Time: 77:04

While there are some amazing progressive rock high points of this album, there are also some more-folk/traditional songs and motifs here that, in my mind, detract from this being a true prog album. While I love the clever synthesis and blending of folk elements into prog music, I''m never sure that purely folk (or purely classical) songs or motifs should be included. I get it that many artists never launch into an album's recording sessions with the expressed purpose or intention of creating a "prog" album, so I can cut these Chilean virtuosi some slack. Plus, I am really, really happy for having been exposed to this album--this music. What a band! And with this album I do think they've progressed and matured well beyond the achievements of Los Alturas de Macchu Picchu.

B+/4.5 stars; an excellent addition to any prog lover's music collection and a near-masterpiece of folk-infused prog.

"Del aire al aire", (from air to air) pretend to introduce us in an ancestral time and place, creating an ethereal atmosphere trought the use of instruments like the digeridoo, panpipes and trutrukas.

"La poderosa muerte" (the powerful death): a 12 minutes litany that has it all, is a compilation of several episodes of the poem heights of Machu Pichu, all related to the theme of death, the death of man every day in their suffering that was necessary to raise the mathematical perfection of Machu Picchu; the musicalization combines elements of southamerican folk, rock and classical music, achieving to keep a perfect fussion and conceptuality.

"Amor americano" (american love): its an "electric Huayno", that tell us about the life, the love, the beauty and majestic of the andean landscapes with a cheerful rhythm and melodies, that are at the time incredibly experimental and progressive, the entire theme is charged of originality, just like all the other themes of the álbum, and it is one of my favorite themes of Los Jaivas.

"Águila sideral"(sidereal Eagle): a theme that planes, it has an ethéreal nature, allusive to the flight of the Andean condor, this song is full of subtleties, the same jaivas almost do not interpret this song today, because it is a theme of great technical complexity in terms of atmospheric effects on the voice, guitar and snare drum. In the words of Mario Mutis a single wrong note can make the theme "fall" cause the volatile nature of it.

Antigua América (ancient america): is an instrumental track, that delights us with beautiful harmononies, it contains andean winds like panpipes and quena, the complex lines of piano by Claudio parra, the perfect harmonies between piano, drums, bass, guitar makes an beautifull and magic sensation. all this, crownd by a great electric guitar solo by "gato" alquinta, this theme, in just five minutes shows the entire potential of the sinfonic fussion of the rock and folklore.

"Sube a nacer conmigo hermano" (Rise up in birth with me, my brother): composed in a venezolan rithm called "joropo" is a song that the poet dedicated to humanity that suffered and died to build an empire, it is also a painful and empathic song in which the poet himself feels part of that suffering. This is one of the more intense and known songs of Los Jaivas.

"Final" its a cry that asks to the man that died in machu pichu to inherit to the poet, to the hearer and reader, their strength, their silence, their struggle and hope.

Truly, each theme of contained in this álbum, full of magic, virtuosism, and originality, is unique and incomparable, it doesnt exist nothing similar in any dischography of any band that i had listened, and everyone of it achieves to muzicalize perfectly the words that it contains. "Alturas de machu pichu is the higher point in Los Jaivas career and a hit in latin-american music, also is considered the best rock álbum of Chile and one of most influential. Whith no doubt, a masterpiece that might be enjoyed by all.

The Album follows the same structure of the original version of "Todos Juntos" (La ventana) album, his A side contains formal compositions, and his B side has improvisations. The first song "Don juan de la suerte", althought not prog, is a good Brazilian folk song, full of warm; just guitar and poetry by Manduka, just with light accompaining of piano and güira (metalic scratch percussion).

"la centinela" is another good composition in this album, not really prog but still a very beautiful and valuable folk piece.

The song: "date una vuelta en el aire", its a cueca by los jaivas, played on piano, charango and trutrucas, honestly it is not one of their best cuecas, besides lacking participation of manduka.

"Ta bom ta que ta" is the first theme in the Album when we really see the style of both artists fuzzed effectively, the singing and guitar folk of Manduka with the rich instrumentation of Los Jaivas in a melodic piece with bossa nova flavor, combining great jazzy drumming lines with piano and sweet flute, disemboguing in an good experimental rock demostration.

The second part of the Album seems like an extension of the more experimental period of Los Jaivas.

Traguito de ron, is very psicodelic becoming weird, "el Volantín" album comes to my mind listening this, but this time is not so funny, three years and two albums since that.

"Los sue'os de america" its the longest recording; about 12 minutes, tipically of los jaivas it contains a great variety of instruments, folk and rock ones, trutrucas, sweet flute, charango, tumbadoras, bongoes, rasca de metal, electric guitar, and finally piano and drums, quite boring at first, becoming more interesting later. I think that 12 minutes lenght theme might had more to offer.

The last theme, "encuentro latinoamericano de la soledad"... I really prefer to talk about another songs of Los Jaivas.

I regret to say, I feel that this album could be a masterpiece of bossa nova/experimental folk rock, however, I think that was not carried out in the best way, the first composition is very little Los Jaivas and much Manduka and "date una vuelta en el aire" is much Los Jaivas and nothing Manduka, also "date una vuelta en el aire" is in my opinion one of the least remarkable compositions in the band's career. Just with La centinela and especially in "Ta Bom Ta Que Tà" we see the real potential of the partnership Manduka-Los jaivas, I would wish that this quality would be maintained in the rest of the album, nevertheless the B side of the album contains only improvisations with some good moments, wich are not so significant as the improvisations in the side B of "La ventana" (todos juntos) album.

This Album contain some important songs for Los Jaivas career, "La centinela" would be reedited in in the album "Trilogía: el reencuentro" with the Chilean Andean folk band "Illapu". But as an album, "Los sueños de America" doesn't hold a very good quality. This album is in my opinion just for loyal fans of Los Jaivas.

Many different versions was made, for Chile, Argentina, and for the rest of the countries, which were edited in different years, adding themes from singles, the PA version is the most complete of all.

Clariefied this, lets start. (considering the order of the PA version)

"Todos juntos" (La Ventana) it`s a very important work in Los Jaivas career, of course they musically improved very much from their experimental first work "El volantín", but not just that, in this album we can found very emblematic songs to Chilean music, this album is the one that made this band known in Chile.

Despite having a real advance in musicality about their previous job, I think that the real merit of this album is that it came to trying to appease a political, and social division among many Chileans, THIS MEANS THAT, IF WE LOOK THIS ALBUM ONLY WITH PROGFANS EYES WE WILL NEVER DISCOVER ITS TRUE VALUE.

For example, the first theme: "Marcha al interior del espíritu" repeated constantly and insistently the phrase "seamos amigos, seamos hermanos" (lets be friends, lets be brothers) is a very simple song, but it is full of the joy of Los Jaivas. An almost childlike joy, this song gives way to a more serious composition, "Todos juntos" (All together) musically is a huayno (Andean folk rhythm), and, a curious thing, this huayno is the first one played with a battery of drums ever registered). It has a short flute introduction and begins the song, that includes many short electric guitar solos, flute solos, and many percussion at the end. The lyrics constitutes the statement of principles of Los Jaivas: unity, brotherhood, tolerance, this statement of principles is what they have supported from the beginning to the present day, also this song is more than just a song, it has become an anthem, known by all Chileans ("Todos juntos" is taught in schools from an early age).

"Mira niñita" is a very well known Los Jaivas song in Chile, it's very emotional, starts with acoustic guitar and xylophone, the voice of Gato Alquinta is tender, then comes an instrumental development that increases the intensity of the song including electric guitar, charango (Andean string instrument) excellent piano lines and a very good flute solo. Then, after 2-3 minutes restarts the vocals being accompannied for all the last elements but this time also with epic kettledrums to reach the final.

"Los caminos que se abren" is the first incursion of the band in the symphonic sound, the result was not brilliant but it is at least decent. This theme is fully instrumental, the flutes that sounds accompaining the piano are "tarkas"(Andean flutes present on several festivals in Peru, Bolivia and northern Chile) fuzed with electric guitars, al this things provides a psychedelic atmosphere to the theme, but it is and somewhat monotonous and repetitive, especially during the first half. the theme becomes more interesting with the entry of the symphonic instruments: cellos and a bassoon, also a violin solo. this piece tries to be dramatic and spooky, I'm not very sensitive to such sensations, so I couldn't tell if the objective of the theme was met.

"Indio hermano" (Brother Indian), is a song that doesn`t belong to the original "La ventana" album, it is taken from 1973 single "Indio hermano / Corre que te pillo". Despite not being a progressive song, it is an excellent fusion between rock and folk sounds, in this theme, we note again the indigenious sense of the band.

"Ayer caché" were taken from the side A of the single "Ayer Caché"/"Todos Juntos", it's a bolero (not the classical music bolero, but a Cuban romantic rithm) it's a`nice song but I don't think does not seem to be musically very interesting, specially for progfans.

"Ciclo vital" is very experimental, the percussion its constituted mainly by kettledrums, also has several flutes (ocarines, sweet flutes, quenas) dramatic piano lines, I think this theme but its very monotonous, and the the constant sound of the kettledrums can be annoying.

"La Quebrá del ají" is one of my favorite tracks on this album, is a cueca (cueca: a type of Chilean music characterized by a particular rhythm and melodic structure), but in this case Los Jaivas were innovative, it is the first cueca-rock of the band (I don´t know if it is the first cueca-rock ever, but I think probably it is), I found this song very original the first time I heard it, its lyrics, its rhythm and fusion, and currently it is a song that I have much affection, although it may be out of progressive rock fans' interest.

"Corre que te pillo" taken from the single "Indio hermano / Corre que te pillo" is the second symphonic theme of the band, an instrumental malambo (malambo: Argentine folk dance with a particular rhythm), this theme was republished in 1983 on the album "Aconcagua". Non-symphonic version of 1982 is considered by the fans of Los Jaivas as the usual version. The original version is very good, very good melody, good percussion, the accompaniment of violins, piano lines and an excellent electric guitar solo in the end, however, it has a very aged sound and eventually we discovered it was far outweighed by its reedition, which includes an amazing drum solo by Gabriel Parra.

"Cuero y piel" is another track that does not belong to the original "La ventana" LP, originally Side B of "Mira niñita" single of 1972, it´s just pure percussion, I think this theme will not have any interest to prog fans, including me. Finally "Pasillo del condor" it's a 25 seconds farewell, it is just a pure folk nice short piece.

This album, musically has good and bad moments, but it is one of the most significant albums in Los Jaivas career because of its history and its meaning, A curious fact: Chilean government approved a project that would provide technical and monetary support for the transcipcion of this album and "Alturas de Machu Pichu" album to official sheet music, each drum, each plate, each music note with the aim of preserving the national musical heritage. regards.