Telegraph Avenue

In 1970, Telegraph Avenue were formed after lead guitarist Bo Ichikawa returned to Peru, after having stayed half a year in San Francisco, where he had been exposed to the vivid local hippie rock culture. On his return he assembled all kinds of American influences, in a very convincing powerful way, with songs in English, but with ideas for arrangements which were more typical for the best Peruvian bands from those days.
The full arrangements are incredibly contrasting.There were two percussionists in the band. The first percussionist is Walo Carrilo (drums, percussion, maracas, tambourine), who, before Telegraph Avenue, had been a bandleader from Los Holy’s.
The additional percussionist is called Chachi Lujan (acoustic guitar, bongos, piano). The final member is the bass player Alex Nathanson (who also plays acoustic guitar, clavichord, piano). The styles of the songs are very varied, have bluesrock, Californian feelings, influences of soulrock and sixties flavoured styles. The “psychedelic” element is rather unique and can only be heard in the top Peruvian bands.