Miki González

Biography

Miki Gonzalez, born in Spain but Peruvian at heart. He is passionate about Afro-Peruvian music and the autochthonous rhythms. At the end of the seventies he experimented with the blues and traditional music of the Peruvian coast of African roots, known as Afro-Peruvian music or simply "Afro". In the decade of the eighties, decides to begin a professional race in the popular music and forms a band; Many of its members would later become popular in the Peruvian rock scene later, such as "Pelo" Mad...

Miki Gonzalez, born in Spain but Peruvian at heart. He is passionate about Afro-Peruvian music and the autochthonous rhythms. At the end of the seventies he experimented with the blues and traditional music of the Peruvian coast of African roots, known as Afro-Peruvian music or simply "Afro". In the decade of the eighties, decides to begin a professional race in the popular music and forms a band; Many of its members would later become popular in the Peruvian rock scene later, such as "Pelo" Madueño, which would form La Liga del Sueño, as well as Wicho García (now vocalist of the Mar de Copas group). Miki Gonzales would take a course that oscillated between the new wave and the Peruvian music. His first Lp "Puedes ser tú" ("It Could Be You" or "It Could Happen to You Too") had been completed since 1984, but because of the existing censorship, and the album's explicit and confrontational lyrical style of addressing socio-political/security issues became a contention point for record companies, who initially passed on issuing and even, to run an initial press of it. It was nonetheless released in 1986 by CBS Discos in Peru, ranging in social topics, with its title track 'Puedes ser tu' (like "It Could be You" original name "For the Jungle") being the most quoted and acclaimed selection cut on it, with its vivid, retelling the cruel but real clash between the classes, and a grim portrayal of life and death situations created by the power structures and ties to a blind collusion and the struggle between crime and legality, how Peruvians experience it, suffer the consequences of State Chaos, but also how they participate (unknowingly perhaps, but partaking) in it, and how it often affects those who work the hardest but usually have the less on these power structures of social imbalance. The title track while underrated by the mainstream at the time, is now considered to be one of the most important Latin Rock compositions of all time, and a milestone for Rock En Tu Idioma and later for Latin Alternative of any era, that's often compared to the best works and as influential for Latin American Rock as much as the likes of Charly Garcia, and Los Prisioneros had been. Influence that has grown especially during the 2000's when the album was out of print and had been for more than a decade, establishing the album as Cult Landmark for Peruvian music in general, many pinpointing the title track and on its multi-subtext-dynamic set of lyrics which had strong stanzas like "La Marina està en Ayacucho" and other songs boasted stanzas like "I do not want bullets, I want to study", "clandestine airport, sudden millionaire", as the perfect decant mix of art and cultural significance only shown in retrospective. "Dimelo, Dimelo" was released in 1985 as the First Single, a year in advance before the album would be released. By word of mouth, and radio DJ's getting on the wagon "Dimelo, Dimelo" turned to sleeper hit, not long before becoming a huge radio smash hit in Peru in 1985, and became a cultural phenomenon for months, but a phenom that didn't lead to much in the end, since CBS failed to build on the huge momentum created by the single, by failing to release or promote subsequent singles, and finally, by releasing the proper LP almost a year after 'Dimelo, Dimelo' had been released, and several months after it had dropped off the charts with no follow-up single cut to promote, buy, or play on radio. The buzz around Miki Gonzales and its proper major label debut fizzled and died, when time came some copies started to appear in shops, but staying off the radar of any major mainstream campaigning. Which affected sales, and also the general perception of its release and reception in both popular and critical circles, and the no-existent curiosity about it at the time, and the lack of merit given by any publications of that time, which failed to foresee, and failed to even recognize then, the impact and influence this album would spawn for almost 35 years. A Year Later, in 1987, he releases "Tantas Veces" the songs became thematic fodder very different in tone when compared to the debut. Several releases came after with Its peak (popularity-wise) would come with songs such as "Akundún" (Afro-Peruvian fusion ethno-rock) and "Green leaf of coca" (Andean fusion etno-rock, referring to traditional coca leaf consumption) that became international hits, and often under the umbrella of "World Music". Regarding the theme "Green leaf of the coca", it was vetoed unjustly by the chain MTV (in Spanish) for considering that it apology of the consumption of cocaine. Diffuser of the black rhythms of Peru with the family Ballumbrosio (Afro-Peruvian musicians from Chincha, southern Peru), Miki has rescued the use of the Peruvian 'Cajon' to produce international music. He has studied Afro-Peruvian and Andean music since the 1970's. He's now been dedicated to electronic music for almost 2 decades, merging it with Andean rhythms created the Product of this phase formalized in the form his last 3 LP albums: "Café Inkaterra" (2004), "Etnotronics: Apu Sesions" (2005) and "Iskay: Inka Beats" (2006). Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.