Head an hour east of Los Angeles and you’ll find yourself in the Inland Empire of San Bernardino / Riverside, where a thriving Latinx DIY music and art scene is on display to a melting pot community and audience. It is out of this grassroots local scene that QUITAPENAS developed their unique rhythm and following. At the heart of the group is a tropical Afro-Latin combo, brewed under the warm California sun with a certain liberation in their sound as summed up in the meaning of their name: QUITA (remove) PENAS (worries). With this carefree openness the crew has honed a distinct and hypnotic take on the influential guitarra / tambora roots of golden-age soukous, chicha, compa and champeta.
Following up their well received, self-released debut, QUITAPENAS has teamed up with Brooklyn-based label Names You Can Trust to release a pair of original songs. These tracks not only explore and capture the musical roots of their expansive Afro-Latin history, but offer a lyrical view of a decidedly present-day landscape from the perspective of America’s vast multi-cultural immigrant experience. YA VERAN (You’ll See) is an inclusive call to see the inherent beauty of our various shapes, sizes and colors, while LA BESTIA (The Beast), warns of the perilous form of travel in which people board on top of a series of trains through Central America and Mexico in order to reach the United States.
credits
released March 31, 2017
Guitar, Vocals : Daniel Gomez
Bass, Coro : Hector Chavez
Maracas, Tambourine : Mark Villela
Garifuna Primero, Coro : Ivan McCormick
Cowbell, Organ : David Quintero
Congas : Eduardo Valencia
Written by D. Gomez & QUITAPENAS
Recorded by Joel Soyffer at Coney Island Studios
Mixed by Eric Banta
Mastered by Frank at The Carvery
Album Art by DELADESO
I have to say that this one is one of the finest compilation I've ever seen. The story, the cover, the pictures, the booklet and of course the music! Just magic, like a time machine. fabmeyer
Utterly joyous music from Cape Verde in 1984, “Já Bô Corre D’Mim” combines highlife guitars with giddy tropical rhythms. Bandcamp New & Notable Nov 8, 2021
The Busy Twist are at it again! surely one of the best Afro vintage sound remixers around at the moment, sweet Angolan guitar bangers of semba, merengue and rebita. Rebel Up SebCat