Los Mirlos

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Los Mirlos, Spanish for the blackbirds, is a Peruvian cumbia band from Moyobamba in the Peruvian Amazon region. The group formed when several founders moved from Moyobamba to Lima in 1972. A year later it signed to the label Infopesa, for which it released nine albums and two compilations.

Music and breakthrough

The music of Los Mirlos is influenced by psychedelic rock and surf rock, alongside cumbia. The members name groups such as Los Destellos and Los Chamas as important examples. Some simply see the music as psychedelic cumbia. The group emphasised its origins in the Amazon region, including in the titles of albums such as El Milagro Verde from 1975. The founders included the singer Jorge Rodríguez Grández, the guitarists Danny Fardy Johnston and Gilberto Reátegui, and the bassist Manuel Linares.

Influence

In 2022 a documentary about the band, Mirlo's Dance, premiered at the Lima film festival. It reached Peruvian cinemas in 2024 and won a prize at the Trujillo film festival. The work of Los Mirlos shows how cumbia could be blended with rock into a style of its own.

Listening

• 
  La danza de los mirlos · Los Mirlos, 1973
  Apple Music ↗

Discography

Studio albums

• 1973El sonido selvático
• 1975El Milagro Verde
• 1975Los charapas de oro
• 1976Tirense con la escoba
• 1980Cumbia Amazónica Vol. 2
• 1992Juancito obrero
• 1996El Amor Hecho Canción
• 2003Pideme La Luna
• 2014La cumbia de los negros
• 2026The World Meets Los Mirlos