Daniel Valle-Riestra, better known as QOQEQA, is part of a new wave of producers emerging from South America—alongside the likes of Debit and Lila Tirando a Violeta, whom we’ve featured. After a handful of releases on Peru’s Terror Negro Records and Berlin’s Eck Echo, he’s recently shared his debut album, AxuxA, morphing his Peruvian roots into 11 vibrant, electronic textures. The release landed on Kebrada, the label of Dengue Dengue Dengue.

While growing up in Lima, Valle-Riestra found a curiosity in the local sounds, in particular the rhythms of salsa. He’d also travel around the country, educating himself on different moods and instruments, and all of this informed his own musical ideas, hung upon the natural melancholy of the Andes and experiences with psychedelics. Music became a way to recapture these experiences, and so when he taught himself to use DAWs, the results were spectacularly colorful.

He released his first work in partnership with Andrea Campos as Animal Chuki, but after their debut album, Valle-Riestra formed QOQEQA. While his music leans on South American music heritage, it also focuses on the notion of creating melodies through percussion, an idea which forms the heart of many expressions of African music. It’s something that he discovered through his approximations with African drums and the Yoruba on the shores of nearby Cuba and Puerto Rico.

If AxuxA was the most acute demonstration of Valle-Riestra’s musical vision, then his XLR8R podcast is an extension. He recorded it last month in the Peruvian jungle, where he’s been spending time during lockdown. It uses the album as a jump-off point, but it also features unreleased productions and various tracks that captures the style he’s purveying; consider it an immersion into the South American rhythms that continue to shape the QOQEQA project.

01. What have you been up to recently?

I am currently in the Peruvian jungle, surrounded by nature trying to stay far from the city during lockdown.

02. What music have you been listening to during lockdown?

Lots of dub and reggae.

03. How did you find your way into electronic music culture?

I started producing tracks and uploading them on Soundcloud, back when the platform was huge and growing. One day my partner, Andrea, woke me up with her computer in my face saying “Look, there are some online articles talking about the tracks and the project.” It was a memorable moment, and that’s how I remember my first steps into electronic music culture.

04. Talk to us about AxuxA, your new album. What’s the story behind it?

It’s an an album that compiles ideas, textures, and atmospheres I gathered in my mind-body-soul through my experiences as a Peruvian, growing up in the third-world, with the help of psychedelics and mother plants. The tracks contains that journey, and some simple primitive rhythms and melodies with emphasis on the sub-bass.

06. Tell us about the mix you’ve created.

I created it here in the jungle. I enjoyed doing this mix a lot. It starts out bursting and features some oriental sounds, plus some tribal percussions. There are various “tension and release” transitions, and some unreleased tracks from friends, plus some other tracks that I love. There are some tracks of the Axuxa album and some unreleased QOQEQA tracks, too!

XLR8R has now joined Mixcloud Select, meaning that to hear the podcast offline you will need to subscribe to our Select channel to listen offline, or subscribe to XLR8R+ to download the file. The move to Mixcloud Select will ensure that all the producers with music featured in our mixes get paid. You can read more about it here.

Full XLR8R+ Members can download the podcast below. If you’re not an XLR8R+ member, you can read more about it and subscribe here.

Tracklisting

01. El Irreal Veintiuno “TL-DM” (Kebrada)
02. Rattlesnakke “Insecta” (Majía)
03. QOQEQA “Qoqeqa” (Kebrada)
04. DJ Nombre Apellido “pemex.OBJ” (Unreleased)
05. QOQEQA “Kilo” (Kebrada)
06. Pawkarmayta “Punku” (Unreleased)
07. Dengue Dengue Dengue “Pacos” ft.Prisma (Enchufada)
08. QOQEQA “888” (Kebrada)
09. Raq “qechuatron” (Unreleased)
10. Sidirum “Intercontinental” (Lassi International)
11. Geju “Niv” (Unreleased)
12. QOQEQA “Tutume” (Kebrada)
13. Kurup “Maracajá” (Kamai Music)
14. Orieta Chrem “Anfibio” (In-Correcto)
15. QOQEQA “Claves” (Unreleased)
16. Alfonso Luna “Cunasse” (Unreleased)
17. QOQEQA “Puntea” (Kebrada)
18. QOQEQA “Momposina” (Kebrada)
19. Novalima & QOQEQA “Respira” (Unreleased)