The forgotten psychedelic rock scene of 1960s Panama

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(Credits: Far Out / The Scepters)

Sat 10 August 2024 22:00, UK

Characterised by revolutionary songwriting, political activism, and copious amounts of drugs, the advent of the hippie age during the mid-1960s changed the world of rock and roll forever. Music was suddenly brought into the hands of an angry adolescent generation, and they were determined to use music both as a means of artistic expression and social protest. Although accounts of the hippie scene are often limited to the United States, it did not take long for the psychedelic revolution to reach further afield.

The hippie movement in Central and South America is far too often overlooked, despite places like Peru producing a wealth of groups whose quality and inventiveness far outweigh any band hailing from San Francisco’s Bay Area. Panama, for instance, is rarely – if ever – given a mention when discussing the era of flower power, but the Latin American nation witnessed the emergence of an incredibly inventive, unique psychedelic scene that trounced over many other nations.

Much of the US hippie movement arose from political unrest, largely pertaining to the US Army and its involvement in the Vietnam War, which many hippies saw as an unnecessary and unjust use of life and resources. Conversely, Panama was experiencing a particularly troubling time. For much of the 1960s, Panama was ruled over by a commercially focused oligarchy, which eventually led to widespread rioting and multiple deaths. After the results of a democratic election in 1968 were overturned, a military junta took charge of the nation.

As you can imagine, therefore, there was a significant level of disenfranchisement and political upheaval among the youth of Panama. So, just like their neighbours to the north, many young artists in the Central American nation used music both as a form of protest and escapism.

Unfortunately, many of the artists and records that illustrated these flower power years have since been lost, largely due to continued political unrest and the 1989 invasion of Panama by the United States. Nevertheless, a few groundbreaking records have survived.

Although psychedelic rock flourishes within the album format, the vast majority of psych records from Panama were released as seven-inch singles. The result of this was that many of the tracks adhered to a quicker tempo and a style of music closer to garage rock than American psychedelia.

However, many prominent psychedelic artists in the Central American nation used the blossoming hippie movement as a means to experiment with music, incorporating influences of Latin jazz, Afrobeat, and traditional styles of Panamanian folk.

As a result of the fact that so many prominent Panamanian psych outfits earned their keep by performing cover versions of big hits during the 1960s, the influences of artists like Jimi Hendrix, Santana, and Cream were inherent in their performances. Take The Scepters, for instance, who formed in Paraíso in 1967; their surviving music tells the tale of a group playing US hippie tracks in a uniquely Panamanian fashion.

Perhaps one of the greatest surviving releases of the Panamanian psych era is ‘African Dream’ by the obscure group Conjunto Raza, which formed in Panama City during the early 1970s. The track, as the name implies, mixes Afro-Cuban jazz with Latin rock and psychedelia to create something as danceable as it is mind-bending. Records like these feature an innate kind of funk that virtually every US psych band failed to capture.

Like many groups of the era, Conjunto Raza only had one known release during their time together – a seven-inch single released via Onda Nueva Records sometime between 1973 and 1975. However, the fact that these groups did not last very long or put out much material only adds to the mystique and appeal of Panama’s flower power years. The tracks aren’t the easiest to find, but once you do, you’ll be yearning for more.

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The forgotten psychedelic rock scene of 1960s Panama

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