I've got a special Global A Go-Go event coming up this weekend. It starts on the radio on the afternoon of Sunday September 7, and continues that evening at Révéler Experiences. Olivier Conan, the founder and leader of the band Chicha Libre, will take over Global A Go-Go this week (Sunday September 7, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards at
wrir.org/listen, check your local listings for airing on other radio stations, and any old time at
my podcast site).
Olivier has selected a whole show's worth of music to spin, and he and I will talk about the band, their influences, how they've gotten to where they are and where they're going from here, and a whole lot more. Other Chicha Libre members might join us in the studio for this live on-air event. Now, the band is on the road right now, so arrival times are always subject to change. If Olivier isn't in Richmond by 1:00, you'll hear his musical selections and my own commentary instead.
Then Chicha Libre will perform at Révéler (3108 W. Cary Street in Carytown), where the doors will open at 6:00 PM and their first set starts at 7:00. It's a unique opportunity to see this band not in a rock club but in an intimate (100 seats) cabaret setting that still has plenty of room for dancing. Not surprisingly, this show is a production of Secret Planet Richmond.
Chicha Libre is the band that introduced the rest of the world to the marvels of Peru's psychedelic cumbia called chicha. Founder Olivier Conan, a native of Paris, was turned on to this music by his travels in Peru, and came home to Brooklyn with the ideas of issuing the first ever international compilation album of the genre, and of creating a band to play the music.
Olivier was a veteran of several bands and already ran a wildly eclectic music venue in Park Slope called Barbès. He started Barbès Records to release The Roots of Chicha in 2007, which is one of those albums that's so influential that it's now hard to imagine a time before it existed. Chicha Libre's debut ¡Sonido Amazonico! followed the next year, then The Roots of Chicha 2 in 2010 and Chicha Libre's Canibalismo in 2012, which for my money is one the best albums of the 21st century so far.
Fast forward to today, where DJs all over the world are spinning vintage chicha in their tropical music sets, dozens of chicha revival bands are gigging and recording in the USA and Europe, and chicha original gangsters like Los Mirlos and Los Wembler's de Iquitos have reunited and played for adoring crowds at home and across the globe. None of this would have happened without Olivier and Chicha Libre.
Chicha Libre went on hiatus in 2016, but last year they decided to get back together for some recording and touring. They've been on the road quite a bit in 2025, including a stop at Richmond's Get Tight Lounge in July. And now they're coming back to Richmond, the hometown of their keyboard player Joshua Camp, on their way home to Brooklyn after playing at the Hopscotch Music Festival in Raleigh.
Please join Olivier and me on the radio this Sunday between 1 and 3 PM, and catch Chicha Libre live at Révéler that evening, if you are so inclined.
