Chancha Via Circuito & El Búho – Tenalach Review

What does  Chancha Via Circuito & El Búho sound like?

A mixture of Latin American music traditions and modern-day folktronica from around the globe.

The review of ‘Tenalach’ by Chancha Via Circuito & El Búho

Cumbian (Latin American) music is full of artists that are merging past, present and future. It is a vibrant music scene that has a thriving collaborative approach to remixes and shared musical projects. ‘Tenalach’ is the second collaborative EP for Chancha Via Circuito & El Búho. It follows their 2020 EP ‘Pleamar’ and has a deeper groove and a more mysterious sound. This time we are exploring the jungle and the relationship humans have with the sky, the earth and the water.

The beats and basslines come thick and fast with stompy grooves. The opening duo of tracks ‘El Samurai’ and in particular ‘Sapo Cururu’ focus on kick drums that cut through the mix and a sub-bass that hits your bones and waters. Whilst the former track slinks and slides with curious snake charmer reedy synths that unfurl in slow motion over a pensive bowed violin, the latter keeps its melodic side hidden behind the beats and bass. ‘El Samurai’ draws inspiration globally whereas the ‘Sapo Cururu’ brings the jungle to the dancefloor and keeps the dance synths turned low. Both are fantastic tracks that set the mysterious, lost village tone of the EP.

The quicker pace of the music this time around moves us away from downtempo folktronica into something you could fast walk or jog to. ‘Oropendola’ is a great example of a meaty drum track, psychedelic synths, Andean woodwind, bird song and electronic elements all colliding in a downtempo way, but faster. It shifts the mood from relaxed to one with agency, purpose and a tense undercurrent. Chancha Via Circuito & El Búho lean into this with some excellent synth string arrangements that take the music into a cinematic world. This is something the duo explore fully in the dizzying circles of keyboards in ‘Sumay’. Here, the music ventures towards something you’d expect from Bonobo’s more worldly albums. The traditional percussion blends seamlessly into the electronic world. The melodies whip up a feeling of surveying the natural world in motion from an epic drone camera sweep. These two tracks are the epic moments of the EP.

The closing track is ‘Tail ends’ and this is best described as digital folklore. There are vocal samples and traditional melodic motifs that evoke a celebratory dance. That dance melody is placed into a framework of electric guitars, jaunty and tinny beats and some psychedelic effects. It – and the whole EP – remind me of open-ended RPG soundtrack themes from the early 2000s from games like Sudeki. The music evolves through phrases of melodic crossovers rather than being verse-chorus-verse. The songs lead you towards a feeling, but more crucially they all feel like they are in motion – and so are you as the listener.

‘Tenalach’ is a fantastic walkabout EP. Get outside, forget the map, turn on this EP and follow the trail ahead of you. Its pace gives you purpose and intent. The melodies evolve to give satisfying conclusions to each track. There’s a hypnotic nature to it that lets you focus on a task whilst feeling in tune with yourself too. You can also hear how both Chancha Via Circuito & El Búho have truly collaborated too. Each artist has their musical trademarks and they are scattered across the EP in true union with each other. This is an excellent EP and my personal favourite of their collaborations to date.

Recommended track: Sumay

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