Popular Music and the Global City: Huayno, Chicha, and Techno-cumbia in Lima

In the late 1990s there were two developments that captured the public's attention in Peru. One was the rise and fall of the corrupt Fujimori regime, a decade of concealed political dictatorship and systematic human-rights violations. The other was the rise of techno-cumbia, a musical style based on the cumbia from Colombia characterized by the extensive use of electronic instruments (electric guitars, electric drums, and synthesizer). Coming from the less affluent social sectors, techno-cumbia broke social and ethnic barriers for the first time to become the favorite dance music for all Peruvians, poor and rich, plain and sophisticated, villagers and cosmopolitans.