Band director Oscar Rios Pohirieth is from Veracruz, southern Mexico where he grew up learning to play Andean music after hearing it from exiled Chilean groups, such as Illapu, and Mexican folk music ensembles. In 1993 he founded the first Nebraska-based Andean folk music group after the Ecuadorian group, Runa Pacha, played at the state fair, and he realized his desire to share his love of Andean traditional music with others. Fellow musicians David Jacobo, Mark Vanek, John Baylor, Sussiré Hernández, Pablo Cervantes and Daniel Martinez unite with him to create a geographically diverse group, hailing from Arizona, Nebraska, South Dakota, Chicago, Venezuela, Mexico and Peru. They join him in honoring the music and keeping its traditions alive in the Midwest.