Leonardo Vela R.

Peruvian guitarist and band leader born in Tabalozos, Lamas. When he was still a child he moved to Moyobamba where he then began to accompany with the tumbas or maracas a group called Los Electros, whose owner was César Jiménez and the members Pablo Vásquez (lead guitar) Manuel Linares (bass), Francisco Ruíz (tumbas), Resurrection Ruíz (drums) and Celín Vásquez (singer). Later Francisco Ruíz left Los Electros to form his group called Los Duendes with Juan García (bass), Resurrección Ruíz (timbales) and Leonardo Vela (lead guitar). At the end of 1973, the group Los Génesis was formed in Rioja under the direction of Pedro Rojas (second guitar) with Walter Paima (bass), Charlemagne Díaz (drums), Hernán Ortiz (tumbas) and Juan Díaz Salazar (vocals). Since they needed a first guitar and composer, they went to Moyobamba to incorporate Leonardo, who was replaced in Los Duendes by Crox Alvarado. In the mid-seventies they go to Lima to record their first full length for the label Volcan but they can't record as Los Génesis because there was already another band with that name, so they changed to Siglo XX. After the group disbanded, Leonardo and Pedro Rojas moved to Moyobamba and incorporated musicians Alejandro Angulo (timbales), Alfonso Mori (bass), Víctor Villacorta (tumbas) and Walter Arévalo (voice). On this trip to Lima, the owner of the Volcán invites Leonardo to stay and work at the record company but the job in the record company does not satisfy him and so he returns to Moyobamba to join the Grupo Arco Iris by Javier Puerta with Jorge del Águila (bass), Alejandro Angulo (timbales), Víctor Villacorta (tumbas) , Ernesto Ríos (vocals) and Walter Arévalo (vocals). Towards the end of the 1970s Jorge Franco Prado contacted Leonardo to relaunch the Lima group Los Reales del Perú with musicians from Lima and Moyobamba: Alfonso Rojas (first and second guitar), Jorge del Águila (bass), Guillermo Alvarado (timpani) and Eduardo Vizconde (vocals). In 1980 Leonardo went alone to Lima and recorded two small albums with his own compositions for the label Universal (30). For these productions he takes the name of Los Reales de Moyobamba, even if the truth is that he was the only one present and the label completed the group with local musicians. After this, Leonardo is encouraged to form his own group, for this he leaves Los Reales, where Alfonso Rojas permanently takes on the first guitar and the task of composing, Guillermo Alvarado leaves to form the Grupo Atlantic. In the early eighties Leonardo recorded his first opera as Sonido Verde de Moyobamba, the group incorporates Carlos Córdova (second guitar), Leoncio Vásquez (bass), Marcial Rojas (timbales) and Abner Carbajal (singer), the latter two from Los Rangers de Moyobamba.