Adoring Their Sweethearts And Abusing The Spanish Conqueror

Attention! Los Incas!

(cover image to come)

Where exactly is the line between world music and international music? By international music I mean basically field recordings of ethnomusicological interest—that is, true folk music played by local folk musicians. Of course, the idea of calling it international music instead of folk music is Western-Europe- / North-North-American-centric. Field recording is the term I prefer to use, since this seems to be applied to all regions and cultures, from East Asia to West Virginia, African tribes to Bahamanian Catholic churches. But is international music a broader category than just field recordings? (A lot of record stores have international sections where they also put famous musicians from non-western countries or even just non-english language singers. It's where you find, say, Ravi Shankar, or the lesser-known Frenchies. I'll leave this category aside, though.)

By world music I mean, well, that shit that hippies buy in Barnes and Noble or the Earth Store or the Body Shop. It's usually staged in a clean studio and often doesn't use local musicians. Some of the interesting international LPs I've bought, however, are also recorded in studios and I think some may use western musicians.

Attention! Los Incas! is definitely recorded in a studio, but there's no mention of who is playing on the record at all, aside from an implication that the group itself is called Los Incas. (Very little info is given, though it's mentioned that the recordings were made by German Phonogram in 1970/72.) I guess because much of the record is boring (though often at least enjoyable), I feel like I could easily categorize it as world music. World music also seems to have an element of exploitation, whereas international music should be about celebrating and preserving a great tradition (which is what field recordings are usually about, hopefully). Los Incas has the feel of exploitation, or western-voyeurism.

But I bought it, and transfered it and now post it here, because it has two standout tracks. "A la orillas del Titicaca" is a perfect pop song. I have listened to it over and over since buying the record. It's so simple. The percussion is barely there, sounding like just a faint banging on a tight drum head, but it still manages to give the song such propulsion. On top of that is just two stringed instruments: one high pitched, accenting the beat with an alternating pluck strum pluck strum; one higher pitched, arpeggiating a melody from the chords. The strings sounds so tight and tinkly that they could be from a harpsichord. Maybe it is a harpsichord (though it sounds plucked). And that's the instrumentation: two plucked string-instruments (guitars? mandolins?) and a tom drum; and then a soothing voice.

"Jilicatas" has the same basic percussion sound, but much more of it. So much more that it has a martial feel. It's also so very simple: pounding drums, two breathy woodwinds (flutes? panpipes?) skidding along on the same melody not exactly in sync with each other, and some yelps. It's downright experimental sounding. I could pass this off as a Herds and Words recording. It's unfortunate that the track is only 1 minute 30, especially since the sleeve says it's an excerpt. The label (Fontana?!) could have cut out all the other tracks and given me 20 more minutes of "Jilicatas," I would have enjoyed that much more.