It's all in the hips - and guitars

Juaneco y su Combo

Masters of Chicha, Vol. 1 (Barbes)

ESSENTIAL "El Hijo de la Runamula"

Guitars occasionally do the work of voices: pleading, cajoling, charming, screaming, crying, talking. For the chicha group Juaneco y su Combo, lead vocals took a noticeable backseat to a cacophony of guitars, each speaking in their own voice, and yearning to be heard. Chicha - a 1960s Peruvian style owing equal debts to tropicalia, surf rock, and indigenous folk music - made a splash last year among world-music devotees with the fine compilation "The Roots of Chicha." "Roots" featured four Juaneco tracks, and that album's overseer, Olivier Conan, has assembled this greatest-hits disc for the pride of Pucallpa, Peru, as a successor. Guitars and organs dance around one another, each momentarily taking center stage before ceding the limelight. Vocals are occasionally present, but muted, not offering nearly as much variety or richness of expression as the instruments that encircle. Sixteen tracks of Juaneco might be a few too many, as the songs begin to sound interchangeable, and the uniqueness of the sound to American ears, at least dims. This album will likely bring more pleasure dropped into the shuffle on your iPod, where each track can be discovered separately, rather than playing in chronological order on your stereo. [Saul Austerlitz]