This post is a warm-up for our soon-to-be activated Rebel Up bloggie. Keep your fingers clicking and eyes staring here for time to come.

The modern Peruvian cumbia is of a amazingly sweet sounding and peculiar kind, mixing the indigina Andean folk styles with digitalised pop sounds, harps, electric guitars and keyboards. Cumbia has always enjoyed popularity in the worker & lower classes of Peru and is regarded as tacky or unsophisticated by middle class snobs and rich folks. Here a selection of artists that enjoy a fair amount of cult popularity in today’s Peru.

La Tigresa del Oriente, the Tina Turner of the Peruvian cumbia. She’s said to be from the Amazonian part of Peru and her video clips are all set there. Old indigina traditions get enfused with a modern day sound; digitalised panflute melodies screech and the melody she sings is of classic indigina nature. All while leopardly clad women dance with anaconda’s, booty shaking inbetween locals who are holding up posters of Señorita La Tigresa. You got to love this song though with the tiger/panther screams. file under: folkpop galore kitsch. Thanks to Julio Pinchado for showing us this hidden gem!

Wendy Sulca is a child prodigy from Lima who is regarded as a young diva over there. Don’t expect her to sing about lighthearted fluffy nonsense like kid stars do in the West, as life is rough enough in poor Peru. She sings about social hardships in life that are common in Peru. This happy rhythmical song titled ‘Cerveza, Cerveza’ is actually a song against alcohol abuse among the indigine population. Nope, she ain’t asking for beer if that was your first thought.

Anita Santivañes, she’s the #1 harp-cumbia diva right now. We got to know this sweetly seducing tune trough Jace/Rupture’s excellent blog. *Bebi la miel de tus labios*; I drink the honey from your lips.
Classic song.