Cafe Quijano

The year 1996 saw Spanish alternative outfit Café Quijano enter the local rock circuit, as brothers Manuel, Oscar, and Raúl Quijano—motivated by their father’s work as a professional singer—chose to cut a demo and mount a concert at León’s Emperador Theatre. A Warner deal followed shortly, yielding the self-titled album in 1998 and a subsequent trek across Spain. The group’s true breakthrough arrived with La Extraordinaria Paradoja del Sonido Quijano, an adventurous set fusing rock with established Latin styles such as rumba, guaracha, son, and mambo. That release earned the band its first platinum certification. Taberna del Buda surfaced in spring 2001.