SHAPIS - Los Auténticos SHAPIS

Los Shapis are a Peruvian band from Huancayo who played a key role in the development and popularisation of chicha music. In 1981, they released their debut album, Los Auténticos, on the Horóscopo label. The cover art is clearly inspired by rock imagery - more specifically, it pays tribute to Ramones’ Road to Ruin, released just three years earlier. Beyond its use of electric guitars, albeit in a completely different way, this album bears no musical resemblance to the Queens punk rockers.

Instead, it showcases all the defining characteristics of chicha: the lead role of the electric guitar in the style of Peruvian cumbia and, above all, the vocals. Chicha is fundamentally a vocal genre. The singing is often drenched in reverb and, more importantly, the lyrics focus on the everyday struggles of the rural migrants who moved to Peru’s cities in search of a better life. The vocal style also reflects a strong Andean influence, recalling the region’s most emblematic musical genre, huayno.

Betrayal, heartbreak, loss, and hardship run throughout the chicha repertoire, and this album is a perfect example, with songs such as Tu Boda, Borrachito Borrachón, and Mal Amigo. The album also includes Amazonian cumbia tracks such as En la Selva, and even a bolero, Perdidos. Essential listening for cumbia fans and collectors of Peruvian music, Los Auténticos is an iconic chicha album as well as an excellent gateway into the genre.