“This CD delivers music and song collected in the mid-seventies by François Jouffa in the hamlets around Huaraz, the ‘Andist’ capital of Peru. The Callejon de Huaylas, a narrow valley bordered by gigantic mountain walls and in which the Santa River snakes its path, is situated between the Cordillera Blanca and its eternal snows, and the Cordillera Negra which is still green up to 6,000 meters of altitude. It is a centre of distant and diverse cultures rich in mysterious ruins, in frightening statues, in folkloric traditions and in superstitions of the Pre-Inca period. François Jouffa’s recordings witness the richness and diversity of this artistic tradition and contribute to preserve this ancestral collective memory.” Patrick Frémeaux