There was quite an event last night, as our beloved Gepe live premiered on Chile’s Movistar TV the video for his third single, “Bomba Chaya,” one of the most powerful and evocative songs on his last record, GP. The track-–about the search for connections, self discovery and struggle—features Gepe’s signature mixture of Andean folkloric instruments and contemporary pop music. Unlike the rest of the record, which is quite balanced in that respect, “Bomba Chaya” leans heavily (and beautifully) on the folklore, something that is highlighted in the amazing video produced by Peruvian production company Pasaje 18 and directed by Gustavo de la Torre Casal.
It’s hard not to feel elated when watching “Bomba Chaya,” a video that starts humbly with a chicken walking through a dirt road, only to reveal its part of a bigger affair: a parade through the town featuring Peruvian saya dancers in traditional garb performing alongside clowns, musicians, children, and other groups. According to de la Torre Casal, the parade is a recreation of the ones that occur in the Festival de Teatro en la Calle (FITECA), which happens every year in La Balanza, Comas, near Lima. The video was filmed in that city, with performances by La Gran Marcha de los Muñecones, Agrupación Cultural Ave de Cristal, Taller de Niños AAH San Francisco, A.C. Haciendo Pueblo Grupo de Teatro, and Grupo NI UNO MENOS, from the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional de Bogotá, among others. In the true spirit of the track, the video is so emotional, so full of life and so urgent, that you can’t really afford to look away for one second of it.
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(Photo Credit: Noelia Cabrera)