Novalima

Though founded by a quartet of Peruvian musicians dispersed across Barcelona, Hong Kong, London, and Lima, Novalima quickly grew into a far larger collective whose expansive vision resists conventional role assignments. While global listeners readily recognize Afro-Latino traditions forged from African, Spanish, and indigenous roots—such as the Afro-Cuban forms of salsa and son or the Afro-Brazilian expressions of samba and bossa nova—Afro-Peruvian music has remained largely ignored by international audiences. Determined to recover and renew this heritage before it vanished into obscurity, the four producers reached out to Peru’s most celebrated folkloric artists. Their debut album, Novalima, appeared independently in 2003 and layered an array of Latin rhythms over electronic pulses, paving the way for the widely praised follow-up Afro on London’s Mr. Bongo imprint. That sophomore release drew contributions from Afro-Peruvian luminaries including Nocomedes Santa Cruz, Lucia Campos, and Zambo Cavero, alongside esteemed players Juan Medrano Colito, Mangue Vasquez, Milagros Guerrero, Oscar Aviles, Jr., and Pedro Arrutia.