Los Coquillos
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Island
Gran Canaria
Career
1990s; later reunions

In brief

Los Coquillos were one of the most recognisable Canarian pop rock bands of the 1990s, with songs that became generational memory and later circulated in Latin America.

Related figures

  • Ginés Cedrés
  • Miguel Cedrés
  • Miguelo Arencibia
  • Alberto J. Vega
  • Paco Chavanel

Works and repertoire

  • El Crimen Perfecto
  • Ángel Guardián
  • Héroe Antiguo
  • ...Hasta el Amanecer
  • Todos los rostros que tuvimos
  • Borracho hasta el amanecer
  • Báñate en Las Canteras
  • La Prisión Provincial

Group history

Los Coquillos emerged in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria at the beginning of the 1990s. Sources document a line-up associated with Ginés Cedrés, Miguel Cedrés, Miguelo Arencibia and Alberto J. Vega, with Paco Chavanel writing a central part of the repertory. Their first album, El Crimen Perfecto, appeared in 1991; Ángel Guardián, En Vivo, Héroe Antiguo, ...Hasta el Amanecer and Todos los rostros que tuvimos followed. El País documented that the quartet ceased to exist in 2001 and later reunited after the South American success of Borracho hasta el amanecer.

Why it matters

Their importance lies in how they brought Gran Canaria speech, urban spaces and humour into pop rock. Borracho hasta el amanecer connected with audiences in the Canary Islands and the Americas, while songs such as Báñate en Las Canteras and La Prisión Provincial placed local places and turns of phrase inside music with popular reach.

Style and repertoire

Their sound combined pop rock guitars, direct melodies and narrative lyrics with Canarian urban references. Canarias Cultura noted influences from The Smiths and Elvis Costello in the early period, but the distinctive mark lay in Ginés Cedrés’s voice and in writing that turned local situations into communal songs.

Transmission and legacy

The legacy of Los Coquillos continues through reunion concerts, interviews, documentaries on Canarian pop rock and the circulation of their songs on platforms and through versions. The reappearance of Borracho hasta el amanecer in Latin American charts showed that a song written from local codes could travel beyond the archipelago.

Key milestones

  1. El Crimen Perfecto

    They release their first album and establish the beginning of their recording period.

  2. Ángel Guardián

    The second album expands their urban pop rock songbook.

  3. Fin de la primera etapa

    El País documents the quartet’s disappearance after contractual problems.

  4. Eco americano

    Borracho hasta el amanecer circulates in South America and encourages the group’s reunion.

Sources and links