Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical – Galaxia Tropical – Analog Africa no. 43 (Analog Africa, 2026)
Analog Africa will release Galaxia Tropical, a new compilation of Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical, on February 6, 2026. For sure, the record is the label’s second deep dive into the world of Peruvian Cumbia Amazónica.
The album gathers 14 tracks with razor-sharp guitar grooves, drawing attention to Ranil as singer, bandleader, label founder, and unapologetic showman. Locals once dubbed his style “llullampeo” for its wild, unpredictable feel, and these recordings capture that charge in full: restless percussion, swirling arrangements, and a joyful band that makes you want to shake your hips.
Analog Africa founder and compiler Samy Ben Redjeb first met Ranil in Iquitos in April 2019, after a taxi driver casually offered to drive him straight to the singer’s radio station in the Belén market. That chance encounter led to a month of collaboration on the first compilation. Plans for a follow-up celebration in early 2020 never happened; Ranil died on April 24, 2020, just as the pandemic swept across Peru.
Born in 1935 as Jorge Raúl Llerena Vásquez, Ranil grew up in the Peruvian Amazon, absorbing radio signals from Colombia, Brazil, and Ecuador. He worked as a rural teacher near the Brazilian border while writing songs. Later, Ranil returned to Iquitos to join Los Silver’s as singer in the early 1970s. After two cult albums and a failed attempt to secure fair record deals in Lima, he launched his own label, Producciones Llerena, which was a radical move for the region.
Ranil released more than a dozen LPs through his label, often in chaotic fashion, with mismatched artwork and patchy documentation. As Amazonian cumbia lost ground in the 1980s, he reinvented himself again, founding Radio Llerena in Belén’s market. The station’s loudspeakers blasted cumbia, commentary, and community news, turning him into one of Iquitos’s most familiar voices and a serial mayoral candidate for Belén under the Popular Action banner.
Track listing:
01 / A1. Galaxia Tropical – Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical (Diomar Vela) / 00.02:45 / Instrumental
02 / A2. Bahia – Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical (Raul Llerena Vásquez) / 00.03:05 / Spanish
03 / A3. Inka – Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical (Humberto Caycho Alcantara) / 00.02:55 / 1989 / Instrumental
04 / A4. Tres Cienaguero – Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical (Raul Llerena Vásquez) / 00.03:05 / Spanish
05 / A5. Con Ranil Por Supuesto (Interludio 1) – Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical (Raul Llerena Vásquez) / 00.00:06 / 1988 / Spanish
06 / A6. Gitanita – Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical (Juan Wong Popolizio) / 00.03:05 / 1998 / Instrumental
07 / A7. Álbores De Mi Selva – Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical (Raul Llerena Vásquez) / 00.03:00 / 1991 / Instrumental
08 / B1. Cumbia Del Torero – Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical (Raul Llerena Vásquez & Alberto Gaviria) / 00.03:00 / 1992 / Instrumental
09 / B2. Llora Venus – Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical (Raul Llerena Vásquez) / 00.02:45 / Instrumental
10 / B3. Serenata (Interludio 2) – Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical (Raul Llerena Vásquez) / 00.00:13 / 1987 / Spanish
11 / B4. Pueblo – Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical (Raul Llerena Vásquez) / 00.03:05 / Spanish
12 / B5. Mambo En Espana – Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical (Ramón Márquez) / 00.03:00 / 1992 / Instrumental
13 / B6. Lindo Atardecer – Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical (Raul Llerena Vásquez) / 00.02:20 / 1991 / Instrumental
14 / B7. Andalucía – Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical (Raul Llerena Vásquez) / 00.02:50 / 1991 / Spanish
Compiled by Samy Ben Redjeb
Author: Iliana Cabrera
