The Argentine band Los Pericos celebrates its 35 years of history presenting its new work in Madrid, in the Riviera room. A repertoire of Spanish-speaking classics adapted to his usual style, interspersed with his greatest hits and versions of the best ska and classic reggae. After Europe, they will fly to the United States, Mexico and the rest of Latin America.
“I’m going to smoke while I wait”… They sang in 1994 The parrots in the subject run away from the album Pampas Reggae that swept the speakers of all America… And so it has been since then for the author of these lines, he never imagined that he would wait 28 years to finally see this Argentine group live.
And it is true that Pericos they came to Spain once 12 years ago, and also true, like warm birds that they are, that they visited our country in summer coinciding with the summer vacations, those of some, far from Madrid. However, in one of those surprises that life gives very occasionally, we know that we will finally have the opportunity to see them, this Wednesday in the La Riviera room in Madrid.
Having said this, it is the moment in which the “wholesome” on duty looks at you askance and tells you “pure nostalgia, you will see a group that is no longer the same as you remember, and you will end up disappointed…” He is wrong, and much. During these 35 years, The Pericos have been evolving marked by the vital experiences of the tripuntil offering the best version of themselves.
The beginnings and evolution of the legendary Argentine group
Their beginnings as a group date back to 1986 as a New Wave band Argentina, at the time when the American wave or the British Ska revival arrived in Argentina or Spain ten years late, as was always the case with the musical currents of the time. They soon found their true vocation within the New Wave, that of Reggae, which ended up hooking them, too. So, starting from Bob Marleywalked the same path as everyone else, and discovered peter toshthe Ska and Reggae classics of the 60`s like Toots and The Maytals, UB40, Madness, and all those influences that are chewed when listening to their songs.
That’s when I met them, at the end of the century they were the Reggae group most influential in Latin America and “from abroad”, as we would say here. His reggae, impeccable and fun at the same time, moved away from the cliché of musical insignificance, with songs brimming with rhythm and lyrics full of meaning. Los Pericos have flown for more than three decades, free from prejudice, capable of fitting you a sensual reggaeton and then a mid-tempo reggae full of nostalgia and intense lyrics.
‘Los Pericos’, in a studio photo.
The decades were falling, but Los Pericos they kept flying and maturing at the same time, they never stopped and thus they have become a group full of experience that has poured into their latest work. The journey has taken them back to their other roots, not reggae but Spanish-language classics. In “Viva Pericos” the group reviews the classic repertoire with versions in syncopated rhythm of songs by Robert Carlos, Miguel Matamoros, The Rodriguezes, Julio Iglesias… They took their time to choose eleven topics from a list of 500 candidates. His listening is pure delight, sensitivity, maturity, and ability to adapt to Los Pericos’ own style. It will be a pleasure to listen to their new songs mixed with their greatest hits or versions of Jamaican classics that they are also fans of.
In short, this Wednesday at La Riviera in Madrid, we finally have an appointment with the ‘best’ reggae group in Spanish that has existed to date, for trajectory, quantity and quality. They are not a Spanish-language copy of any international reggae group, they are themselves. They have their own signature and style, desire to fly, and for you to have a good time with them. Do not miss the opportunity.
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‘Los Pericos’, the eighties Argentine band makes a stopover in Madrid: The best reggae in Spanish