Live Report:

Novalima’s Afro-Peruvian music has a special dimension. Their travel experience has led to a modern musical style anchored in their roots and coloured with reggae, Afrobeat, son, hip-hop and salsa.

The group Novalima emerged in 2001 from an alliance of four Peruvian friends: Ramón Pérez-Prieto, Grimaldo Del Solar, Rafael Morales and Carlos Li Carrillo. What did they have in common? A shared passion for traditional Afro-Peruvian and electronic music. When they set up the group, the four buddies were not looking for what was easiest: they lived thousands of kilometres apart, in London, Barcelona, Hong Kong and Lima. They sent ideas and melodies by e-mail – a sort of musical cum technological brainstorming. These exchanges finally bore fruit: 2002 marked the release of their first album, Novalima, an opus with a resolutely modern sound inflected with Peru’s African traditions.

Novalima’s strength lies in this blend of genres, rare in a country where the population of African origin is struggling to find its place and is often the victim of discrimination. Their culture, always under threat from the dominant currents, is unknown to most Peruvians. Since the group was created, it has been trying to handle the challenge of reconciling genres, communities and generations – quite a natural approach, in their eyes.
To concoct their next album, the four members finally got together in Lima and invited other musicians to record with them. In 2006 Afro came out and achieved worldwide success, with favourable press reviews.

Several Afro-Peruvian musicians are now part of the group, including Juan Medrano Cotito, Mangüe Vásquez, Milagros Guerrero, Marcos Mosquera and Constantino Álvarez. The alliance of white and black artists continues to draw attention in a country where this type of collaboration is, unfortunately, very rare.

Their third album, Coba Coba, was completed in 2008. The disc’s name is drawn from Afro-Peruvian slang. It aims to encourage musicians in the act of improvisation, in a “go for it” spirit. On the album, the group digs more deeply into the African roots of its music, adding reggae, dub, salsa, hip-hop, Afrobeat and son influences. It provides a somewhat cruder, more modern and more accessible recording. A fine achievement, where Peru’s entire history is sung.

Learn more about Novalima at
novalima.net

Learn more about Nuits D'Afrique at
festivalnuitsdafrique.com

Photos by
HeatherLWeimer.Com