ANDES MANTA and the four Lopez Brothers

In 1960, Teresa and Luis Lopez moved from the village of San Gabriel in the remote Ecuadorian Andes to the capital city of Quito to find a better life.  In the city in the clouds, they had four sons and three daughters all raised in the traditional way, celebrating the cycles of life with the music and dance of their ancestors.  

Like most Ecuadorian children the boys made flutes and panpipes of native bamboo, and learned to play from older musicians.  Then, when he was eight years old, Fernando found an abandoned guitar in a field.  Although it had only three strings, he worked out melodies, played and learned.  A relative had the guitar repaired.  A music teacher noticed an extraordinary talent and sent Fernando to the Quito Conservatory to study classical guitar.  But it was the music of the Pueblo, the folk tradition of the Andes that drew Fernando and his brothers.  At a remarkably early age, the Lopez brothers gained a reputation throughout the music circles of Quito as a formidable talent in the folk music world.  

In 1986 while still in their early 20's, Fernando and his brother Luis were invited to present a series of concerts at Simon's Rock of Bard College in western Massachusetts.  Since that time they have performed on major stages throughout North America, appearing in 48 states in the U.S.  They are now based in the Hudson Valley of New York.  ANDES MANTA tours year round, appearing on major concert stages, in festivals and at countless universities and schools.  They return to South America as often as possible to renew their cultural roots.