Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical - Sonido Amazónico

Peruvian cult hero Ranil isn’t just another name in Amazonian cumbia — he’s the outlier, the eccentric, the one who bent the style until it blurred with psychedelia, salsa, rock, and mambo, all while keeping the unmistakable pulse of the jungle at its core. Sonido Amazónico pulls together highlights from his prolific late ’70s and early ’80s recordings, a period where Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical stood shoulder to shoulder with iconic bands like Los Mirlos, Los Wembler’s, and Juaneco y su Combo, yet always seemed to be walking their own crooked, colorful path.

The set showcases the sheer range of his approach: cumbia rhythms laced with fuzz-drenched guitar sliding into tropical grooves and folk melodies. It’s music that feels both rooted in Amazonian tradition and strangely futuristic, as if Ranil were hearing echoes of distant stations and feeding them back through the dance floor. Long overlooked outside of Peru, these tracks now stand as a vivid reminder of how wide and wild the tropical soundscape really was. Sonido Amazónico isn’t just a compilation, it’s a window into the singular vision of one of the most unconventional architects of the cumbia underground.