Love In The Endz & Matraca unveil the soundscape of a Peru in resistance
[untitled] Peru: Adentro is the second part of the diptych by labels Love In The Endz (UK) and Matraca (PE). Following [untitled] Peru: Afuera (last June), which focused on exile and the diaspora, this new opus turns its attention to the interior of the country and highlights those who continue to create within Peru despite the critical political and social context.
The compilation brings together several generations of artists — ARK, Carly Core, Cybernovia, Dr.100, Fer Lerant, Hatajo Som, Hanuna, Ira Zema, Khromatik, Pira Lemu, Shushupe, Vudufa, among others — offering a vivid portrait of Peru’s musical avant-garde, where electronic experimentation, cultural heritage and sonic futurism intersect.
Creating in Peru today is an act of resistance
At the end of 2025, Peru is experiencing the most serious crisis in its republican history: eight presidents in ten years, an explosion of violence and impunity, a Congress infiltrated by organised crime and armed repression against the population. Contract killings and extortion affect all social classes to the point that popular musicians perform in bulletproof vests after several fatal shootings on stage.
The police repress cultural and artistic expression and have already taken the lives of artists such as TRVKO. While some creators have been forced into exile — as highlighted in [untitled] Peru: Afuera — those who remain turn their work into a form of political and vital resistance.
With ‘Malika’, producer Ira Zema delivers a track that blends reinvented folklore with memories of resistance
Among the standout tracks of the compilation, “Malika” by Peruvian producer Ira Zema — premiered exclusively on Couvre x Chefs — embodies the core of the project: weaving community memory with electronic avant-garde.
Ira Zema is a sound artist, musicologist, sound engineer and producer. Her work explores the relationships between territory, communities, memory and aurality in the context of the environmental crisis and hegemonic narratives. Through field recordings, testimonies and traditions, she constructs sensitive sonic cartographies where listening becomes a call for climate justice.
Her track ‘Malika’ is based on a reinterpretation of the Caporal, or Saya, an Afro-Andean rhythm and dance typical of the Altiplano, a region of the Andes mountain range where, among other places, Puno is located, the Peruvian city where Ira Zema was born. In terms of samples, the producer mainly mixed two samples: the music comes from the song ‘Malika’ recorded in 1967 by the Conjunto Orquestal Puno (an orchestra conducted by… her grandfather!), and the vocals come from another version of ‘Malica’ performed by CAV Los Intimos Puno (1966). But who is Malica? Well, it’s a reference to the legend Malika o la Fundación de Puno, a story about the discovery of the silver mines of Puno, the result of an encounter between a Spaniard (José Salcedo) and an indigenous woman (Malika) who allegedly told him where to find them.
Her participation in the compilation goes beyond the musical format: “Malika” is a political, memorial and artistic gesture.
More than a compilation: a living archive
In a country in crisis, [untitled] Peru: Adentro upholds a scene that refuses silence. The artists featured in this project continue to create with pain, tenderness or rage — but always with dignity. With this second chapter, Matraca and Love In The Endz assert that culture remains a space of justice, memory and freedom.
Pre-order [untitled] Peru: Adentro on Bandcamp, released on 5 December via Love In The Endz and Matraca.
