SONIDO began its life as Sonido de los Andes in 1977, when a group of young émigrés began performing traditional music of the Andes using instruments such as the charango, quena, zampona, bombo and guitar.  Their virtuosity and dedication found a wider audience than they expected, extending beyond their fellow South American immigrants to Australians of all cultural backgrounds, and the group became a standard bearer for dissemination of cultural traditions from “home” in a new home.  They also inspired a new generation of cultural torchbearers, with their children (literal and figurative) forming many music and dance groups over the 80s, 90s and beyond, ensembles with roots in Latin America and branches in Australia.

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 This renewal culminated in the 90s when Sonido de los Andes became SONIDO and a new generation of musicians took the mantle of preserving traditions from their parents’ birthplaces, whilst injecting new influences that came from an upbringing in a very different culture.  Though still firmly rooted in the folklore of South America, the group began to incorporate rhythms and instruments from further afield in Latin America, as well as from the Western pop, rock, soul and jazz that they grew up listening to.