Money Chicha is an Austin, Texas based group featuring members of the Grammy-award winning Latin orchestra Grupo Fantasma and its offshoot funk outfit Brownout which performs a fuzzed-out, reverb-drenched and percussion-heavy style of music inspired by the sounds of Peru and Colombia in the 60’s and 70’s. This style of music, sometimes called “Chicha” music, is known for its infectious Latin beat, its psychedelic, surf guitar pyrotechnics and its melodies influenced by the indigenous culture of the Andes mountains.

Dos Santos is a Chicago-based band grounded in the sounds of popular Latin American dance genres with psychedelic flare, from Colombian Cumbia to Afro-Caribbean Salsa. A sound inflected by reverb-slathered guitars, Hammond organ, and syncopated percussion, their progressive imaginary expresses the present-tense realities of Latina/o musical expression that simultaneously harken back to the “golden age” of streamlined ensembles of the 1970s and 80s that shook sweatbox dance floors with fierce energy all over Latin America.

After making their debut in May of 2013, Dos Santos has been steadily making the rounds at Chicago’s premiere live music venues and festivals—from the prestigious Millennium Park Summer Music Series to the exclusive Chicago World Music Festival. In March of 2015, they released their critically-acclaimed self-titled debut cd Dos Santos and subsequently toured the United States, making appearances at SXSW, the Pachanga Latino Music Festival, and the Ruido Fest Latin Alternative Music Festival along the way. In 2016, the band released their follow-up EP entitled “Fonografic” on Electric Cowbell Records produced by Beto Martínez of Grammy Award-winning Grupo Fantasma. Recently, they teamed up with Money Chicha to release a 7″ vinyl split entitled “Summit Sessions” on Sonorama Discos. They are currently recording their debut LP with International Anthem Recording Co.
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The group’s five members (Peter Vale, Alex Chavez, Daniel Villarreal-Carrillo, Jaime Garza, Nathan Karagianis) have their own storied careers in a range of styles—including jazz, R&B/soul, traditional Mexican folk, punk, cumbia, salsa, and electronica—in addition to a history of critical involvement in arts education and social justice organizing. Their visceral sound draws from this sonic, cultural, and political well of influence, and is guaranteed to make you move.

The seven-piece band, representing four different countries (Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, USA), prides itself on arranging traditional South American rhythms in new and interesting ways, such as huayño and cumbia with Middle-Eastern darbuka or mixing Afro-Cuban bata and Afro-Peruvian festejo with Andean zampoñas, among several other rhythmic combinations. This kind of experimentation, coupled with blending ancestral traditions with a modern sensibility, has resulted in an exciting and distinct Latin flavor all its own that leaves dancing crowds always wanting more.

Lyrically and musically, Baracutanga proposes to build bridges between the south and the north, overcoming the barriers of discrimination. Aside from their affinity and respect for native rhythms from the lands of their ancestors, the group finds common ground in creating songs that cross linguistic and cultural barriers, promoting intercultural experiences that empower Latinos with a positive message of self-affirmation. They fervently oppose all types of violence and conceive their music as a vessel to increase and acknowledge cultural pluralism.

Baragutanga‘s live shows are joyous, intense and explosive with fronting duties split between powerful Peruvian songstress Jackie Zamora and the band’s exuberant beating heart, Bolivian multi-instrumentalist Kilko Paz (son of famed Bolivian activist Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui). Added magic comes from extraordinary Ecuadorian multi-instrumentalist Carlos Noboa. The group is rounded out by an extremely talented and inventive cast performing on guitars, horns, flutes, accordions, vibes, an array of percussion and all manner of string instruments and is often joined on stage by Afro-Peruvian and Latin dancers.

With their first full-length studio album, Importados, (recorded in Albuquerque, NM, Santa Fe, NM and Cadiz, Spain) released on September 2015, multiple regional awards and recognition, a performance at the Calgary Folk Music Festival, performances across the Southwest, Rocky Mountains, and California, with stops in NOLA, Austin and México, and an ever-growing fan base, New Mexico-based Baracutanga is ready to spread their fresh take and mix of South American flavors to national and international audiences.

Baracutanga is: Nicholas Baker (USA) – Drum kit, vibraphone, accordion, auxiliary percussion, vocals; Paul Gonzales (USA) –Trumpet and Brazilian percussion; Micah Hood (USA) – Trombone and auxiliary percussion; Carlos Noboa (Ecuador) – Bass, quena, and vocals; Kilko Paz (Bolivia) – Drum kit, surdos, charango, Peruvian cajón and vocals; Randy Sanchez (USA) – Guitar, bass and Cuban tres ; Jackie Zamora (Perú) – Lead vocal.