Los Amigos Invisibles

Los Amigos Invisibles
Background information
Origin	Venezuela
Genres	Acid Jazz Disco Funk
Years active	1991–present
Labels	EMI Luaka Bop Gozadera Records
Website	Official website
Members
Julio Briceño José Luis Pardo Armando Figueredo Mauricio Arcas José Rafael Torres Juan Manuel Roura

Los Amigos Invisibles is a Venezuelan band that plays a blend of disco, acid jazz and funk mixed with Latin rhythms.

History

In 1995 they released their debut album, A Typical and Autoctonal Venezuelan Dance Band, which was a huge success in Venezuela. The band comprises Julio Briceño (a.k.a. "Chulius", vocals, percussion), José Luis Pardo (a.k.a. "Cheo" or "DJ Afro", guitar, songwriting), Armando Figueredo (a.k.a. "Odnam", keyboards), Mauricio Arcas (a.k.a "Maurimix", congas, percussion), José Rafael Torres (a.k.a "Catire", bass), and Juan Manuel Roura (a.k.a. "Mamel", drums, percussion).

They played in clubs around Caracas for the next two years until David Byrne's Luaka Bop record label signed the group and released The New Sound of the Venezuelan Gozadera in 1998. Two years later came their third release, Arepa 3000: A Venezuelan Journey into Space. In 2000 they relocated to New York City and in 2003 they released their masterpiece, The Venezuelan Zinga Son, Vol. 1 (Luaka Bop released the album in 2004 in the U.S.) which was nominated for the Latin Grammy in the category of best Alternative Latin Album.

2005 saw the release of their collection of Venezuelan covers, Super Pop Venezuela in their native country only. The album was released in August 2006 in the U.S. by Gozadera records.

During the week of July 7th, 2009, their song "Vivire Para Ti" featuring Natalia Lafourcade, was offered as one of the Singles of the Week in the iTunes music store.

On November 7th, 2009 they won the Latin Grammy.

Band members

• Julio Briceño (a.k.a. "Chulius", vocals, percussion)
• José Luis Pardo (a.k.a. "Cheo" or "DJ Afro", guitar, songwriting)
• Armando Figueredo (a.k.a. "Odnam", keyboards)
• Mauricio Arcas (a.k.a "Maurimix", congas, percussion)
• José Rafael Torres (a.k.a "Catire", bass)
• Juan Manuel Roura (a.k.a. "Mamel", "Mamel" or "Mamulo," drums, percussion)

Discography

• A Typical and Autoctonal Venezuelan Dance Band (1995)
• The New Sound of the Venezuelan Gozadera (1998)
• Arepa 3000: A Venezuelan Journey into Space (2000)
• The Venezuelan Zinga Son, Vol. 1 (2003)
• Super Pop Venezuela (2005 in Venezuela, 2006 in the U.S.)
• Super Pop Venezuela, Remixes (2008)
• En una noche tan linda como ésta (2008)
• Comercial (2009)

References

See also

• Venezuela
• Venezuelan music

External links

• Los Amigos Invisibles official website
• Los Amigos Invisibles' myspace website
• Los Amigos Invisibles at Rockero
• Los Amigos Invisibles at Yahoo Music
• Dj Afro official website
• Odnam's myspace website
• Q&A Sessions: Los Amigos Invisibles' Julio Briceño with nocheLatina