Traffic Sound
Yellow Sea Years 68-71

On a summer night in 1970, the first notes of Simple were heard alongside the nervous spell of an electric guitar. The anxious eyes of adolescents congregated at Tiffany‚s Club -suddenly lit up- search one another, and in a matter of seconds find a partner, they press their bodies together and hold in a sort of deep breath as they dance, embraced, in an imaginary rock n‚ roll cloud. Simple was a ballad that Traffic Sound didn‚t dare play at their concerts (it had been released as a B-Side to the single Meshkalina). The mating rituals of the youth of the late seventies in Lima made their way into this group‚s music (at that time they were called an ensemble), who in addition to their own songs played others by Jimi Hendrix (Fire, You Got Me Floatin‚ or an intense version of Hey Joe that was just as disruptive as Simple), Eric Burdon (Sky Pilot), or Skip James of Cream (I‚m so Glad). At that time and place there were no rock concerts, or they weren‚t considered as such. No one imagined going to see Traffic Sound or other groups to watch or listen to them more or less passively. Rock was something you danced to and therefore, the concerts were parties. Psychedelia had arrived, and even in the most modest of birthday celebrations, colored lights and the affects of the strobe were not lacking. A visual tachycardia fragmented movements and transformed the seconds into photographic stills.

The group’s story had barely begun a couple of years before, in January of 1968,...

On a summer night in 1970, the first notes of Simple were heard alongside the nervous spell of an electric guitar. The anxious eyes of adolescents congregated at Tiffany‚s Club -suddenly lit up- search one another, and in a matter of seconds find a partner, they press their bodies together and hold in a sort of deep breath as they dance, embraced, in an imaginary rock n‚ roll cloud. Simple was a ballad that Traffic Sound didn‚t dare play at their concerts (it had been released as a B-Side to the single Meshkalina). The mating rituals of the youth of the late seventies in Lima made their way into this group‚s music (at that time they were called an ensemble), who in addition to their own songs played others by Jimi Hendrix (Fire, You Got Me Floatin‚ or an intense version of Hey Joe that was just as disruptive as Simple), Eric Burdon (Sky Pilot), or Skip James of Cream (I‚m so Glad). At that time and place there were no rock concerts, or they weren‚t considered as such. No one imagined going to see Traffic Sound or other groups to watch or listen to them more or less passively. Rock was something you danced to and therefore, the concerts were parties. Psychedelia had arrived, and even in the most modest of birthday celebrations, colored lights and the affects of the strobe were not lacking. A visual tachycardia fragmented movements and transformed the seconds into photographic stills.

The group’s story had barely begun a couple of years before, in January of 1968, when two young musicians who had been part of a successful amateur band in the well-off districts of Lima, The Hang Ten‚s (the name of a difficult surfing position, a sport which was a big hit with the youth on the beaches of Peru), who had releases a single with the Kink‚s Till the End of the Day and Lee Hazelwood‚s These Boots are Made for Walkin‚ decided to begin a new adventure; this time a more professional one. The brothers José and Freddy Rizo-Patrón (guitars) joined up with Manuel Sanguinetti (singer) and some of the ex-members of the Mads -another group also influenced by The Kinks and The Rolling Stones-: Jean Pierre Magnet (sax and wind instruments) and Willy Thorne (keyboard).

They did covers of The Doors, Clapton and Hendrix; were attentive to British Rock and groups like Alexis Korner, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Vanilla Fudge, Pink Floyd, Blodwyn Pig, Iron Butterfly, Jethro Tull and Soft Machine. They also tried out some bossa nova. But the influence of the Anglo-Saxon Rock of the moment was all encompassing. There was trafficking of freshly pressed imported records. Latin Music? That was for old folks or snobs. Traffic Sound was the Peruvian response to a convulsive era. The powerful outcome of 1968 was the driving force for change and rebellion in the world. The hippie aura and pyschedelia were a distinct brand, their songs spoke of colorful visions and lysergic experiences. They sang in English, but their music couldn‚t avoid an incipient local flavor, which perhaps was accepted with a bit more ease after the success of Santana. The popularity of Traffic Sound grew quickly in the rest of the neighborhoods of Lima and they soon got the opportunity to record their first single -which was a successful seller- on the label MAG with the songs Sky Pilot and Fire. Later on there were two other simple ones, and finally all of these songs gave shape to their first full length recording with the improbable title of A bailar Go Go (MAG LPN-2354), which was all covers. Meanwhile, in October of that year, a military coup ended the democratic system in Peru and a leftwing, anti-oligarchic and anti-American dictatorship was established: the self proclaimed Revolutionary Government which lasted eleven years.

The dictatorship prohibited Santa Clause during Christmas for being alien to their traditions and imposed a more indigenous symbol for the season: a Christ child with a chullo (Andean hat), which is just an example of the spirit of the times in Peru during that era. It‚s interesting how this band, which clung to English rock culture and was resistant to the government‚s impositions, made their own kind of fusion in a song like Meshkalina, which was practically an anthem for a generation, heard in every corner of the country. It‚s an energetic song about the Inca, Yawar Huaca getting stoned, of the discovery of a hallucinogenic substance from a laboratory, and an escape and suicide; in English, of course. Traffic Sound sharpened up their creativity and in 1969 composed what could be considered the band‚s first album, Virgin (MAG LPN-2382).The album was a collection of all their own songs such as the ballad that gives the album its name, Simple, the provocative Meshkalina, and songs like Tell the World I‚m Alive, Jews Caboose and Yellow Sea Days. Traffic achieves giving their style an identity by combining hard rock, psychedelia, a hint of progressive rock and a Latin touch.

Third year, third album. This one with the name of the group and a spectacular cover. Traffic Sound has performances every weekend, at big private parties, exclusive clubs, but also at popular venues. Their success is consolidated at last across the entire country and they get calls from various cities. On this album there are songs like Chicama way, which alludes to one of the Meccas of Peruvian surfing, and Tibet‚s Suzette (you can‚t appreciate a gift from God), another hallucinogenic dish with a mystic feel prepared by songwriter, Manuel Sangunetti. This elastic perception of time invites musicians to improvise long solos which are more and more prolonged, as is seen in this record. Their audience was even capable of dancing to the rhythm of Nevares‚ drums for fifteen minutes.
1971 is the year of Traffic Sound‚s internationalization, the first Peruvian rock band to tour beyond its borders. They travel sponsored by an airline to Argentina, Chile and Brazil. Upon their return, they change labels and sign to Sono Radio. New songs are heard at their performances such as La Camita („nos vamos a la camita/nos vamo‚ a gozá‰, the first chorus in Spanish of the song The Bed, translated roughly as „we‚re going to bed/we‚re gonna enjoy‰) and Suavecito, (Soft) by the Chicano group Malo, which is released as a single. At the end of the year their fourth and last LP, Lux (SONO RADIO SE-9362) is released. Latin America was not a destination for any of the big international bands then, so when Santana‚s concert in Lima is announced the tickets sell out in a matter of just a few days. Carlos Santana‚s sound had already begun to permeate the style of Traffic Sound more profoundly, something which comes out in their new songs, adding a bit of Afro-Peruvian percussion and a distant Andean touch. That‚s Lux. Songs like Inca Snow (more obvious∑), White Deal (same thing) speak for the interest in accentuating the „Peruvian-ness‰ of the band. The consistent exquisiteness of Willy Barclay and Freddy Rizo-Patrón‚s guitars emerges. At their peak, they perform at the Teatro Segura with Jaime Delgado Aparicio‚s Orchestra in a memorable concert where solos and improvisation swell before the delirium of the audience. By that time, Willy Thorne had left the group and was replaced by Zulu (Miguel Angel Ruiz) on bass and keyboards. But the atmosphere alive in Peru becomes more and more turbulent, the military government expels Santana from the country after their performance for being degenerates or something, and creates a decades long feeling of frustration among the country‚s rock enthusiasts. Traffic, which was to be the opening band for a concert that was going have massive attendance, gave shape to this protest with a song that was written after the incident (To Hell With)The Revolution. Just a few months later, and in spite of their success, Traffic Sound breaks up peacefully and each member embarks on their own different path. The only one who continues a professional music career is the saxophonist, Jean Pierre Magnet, although Manuel Sanguinett‚s relationship with music has continued since when in1978 he founded Radio Doble Nueve 99 FM, which is dedicated entirely to rock.

Over twenty years later they decide to get together just one more time. They spent almost a year and a half loosening up, practicing whenever their respective jobs would allow them to. They did a studio recording with two new songs, Sácala a bailar (Take her out dancing) and a new version, Meshkalina II. In December of 1993 they performed at a concert hall facing Barranquito Beach, on the coast of Lima. It was a complete success. Their old admirers came with their children in search of a living legend of Peruvian Rock.

- Fietta Jarque