Ranil Y Su Conjunto Tropical - Galaxia Tropical Vinyl LP

On April 18, 2019, fresh off a plane in Iquitos, I climbed into the taxi of an elderly driver and explained that I had come to the Peruvian Amazon to find Ranil. “I know where he lives,” he replied, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Before I knew it, my search was over—I was standing right in front of him. Ranil and I connected immediately and went on to spend a month working together on this project.

Born in 1935 as Jorge Raúl Llerena Vásquez, Ranil’s story begins in the Peruvian Amazon, where the sounds of the forest blend with stray radio waves from Colombia, Brazil, and Ecuador. After winning several local singing contests as a young man, he soon realized that breaking into Peru’s music industry—especially as an artist from what was considered “the end of the world”—would be no easy task. Years later, two albums recorded in the early 1970s with Los Silver’s became cult classics.

After the band dissolved, Ranil joined forces with lead guitarist Limber Zumba, and together they recorded a demo, which they took to Lima in search of a record deal. Returning disappointed after being offered unacceptable terms, Ranil made the bold decision to start his own label, Producciones Llerena—an unprecedented move in this part of the Peruvian Amazon.

Surrounded by a rotating cast of brilliant musicians, Ranil developed a sound locals affectionately called llullampeo—imaginative, unpredictable, and joyfully unrestrained. His percussionists created grooves that have rarely been matched in the region since, and the 14 songs presented here remain among the most vivid documents of this fearless, free-spirited, and often psychedelic ensemble.