When dealing with psychedelic music – and namely psychedelic rock – we’re often focused on San Francisco, Woodstock, and the myriad of influential bands that helped define the genre. But the breeze of the Summer of Love spread way further than the United States. It spread throughout the world and across all continents. The influence of psychedelic music – and, well, of psychedelics on music – can be felt in other parts of the world, and lasted longer than it did in Europe and in the USA. Not only did Indian spirituality and trance-enhancing music have a strong influence on occidental psych-rock, but they responded to the appropriation of these aspects of their culture by creating new hallucinatory soundscapes.
This movement had many aspects across the globe, meaning rebellion and activism in Latin America during the 60s and 70s while reflecting the political optimism of this period in Africa. From Turkish Anatolian rock to Brazilian tropicália movement, from Francis Bebey’s psychedelic sanza to Peru’s cosmic chicha, we’re going on a kaleidoscopic tour. Sit back and enjoy the trip.
