Los Sabandeños

Since their formation, Los Sabandeños have served as the primary guardians of traditional Canary Islands music. The vocal and instrumental group traces its roots to 1966, when companions at La Laguna University of Tenerife pledged to preserve and promote the archipelago’s folk heritage. Across nearly seventy releases they have mixed standard repertoire and adaptations with original songs, while expanding their scope to embrace Latin American traditions, above all through multiple bolero collections issued in the 1990s. Founder Elfidio Alonso has maintained strict leadership of the thirty-plus-member collective, which has weathered repeated personnel shifts and three notable crises—in 1971, 1975, and especially 2007, when longtime musical director Héctor Gonzáles left together with sixteen other members. The ensemble has performed on repeated worldwide tours and accumulated numerous cultural and institutional honors.