In review--Pan Piper
Joël Francisco Perri
Arc Music
Bombo, charango, and Andean pan flutes--these instruments
hail from the indigenous people of the Andean regions of South America. In the 1970s many musicians, writers, and
musicians fled Chile and Argentina to avoid persecution by ruthless
dictatorships. Many fled to Paris and
formed a community where they brought the Andean instruments and songs from the
nuevo canción (poetic and political songs) movement. In 1971, Joël Francisco Perri, a
percussionist of Sicilian and French descent encountered the South American
musicians in Paris and eventually, this led the musician to dedicate himself to
Andean flutes. His son, Cedric Perri followed in his father's footsteps and appears on this CD.
On his 2012 recording The
Andean Flutes, we hear the jaunty side of several types of pan flutes including
Bastos, Siku, Zampoña, Rondador and the bamboo recorder Kena played with the
Andean drum, bombo, the Andean lute charango and acoustic guitar. And don’t worry about not knowing the shapes
and sizes of each type of flute. Most
likely you have seen all of these instruments played by Andean indigenous
musicians on street corners around the world.
And if you have heard songs from the new song movement sung by Mercedes
Sosa or Mariana Montalvo, you already know these instruments well. In fact, this Andean music has become
ubiquitous with South America along with Brazilian samba, Argentine tango, and
Colombian cumbia.
I wonder if Perri’s CDs ever aired on an Andean music
community radio show that I listened to when I lived in Seattle--listening to
Andean flutes at 4 a.m. on night’s when insomnia visited me. While you won’t
find Flight of the Condor on The Andean Flutes, you will be treated
to uplifting music that sounds more danceable than relaxing. The exception is the slower pace, Song of the Ocarina for Andean Pan Flute. The other songs gallop along keeping a steady
bombo beat and flowing into each other.
I can’t imagine anyone on this planet not enjoying these flute songs.
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