Popular music ensemble
Founded in 1968 to research, recover, create and disseminate Canarian popular music, Los Gofiones have combined heritage work, Atlantic repertory and stage innovation for more than half a century.
Los Gofiones was founded in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria on 3 October 1968. Totoyo Millares brought cultural figures together at the Jardín Canario with a clear aim: to research and recover island folklore. Their first performance took place at Teatro Pérez Galdós in 1969 and their first album followed in 1970. Since then, several generations have shared the ensemble’s large body of singers and instrumentalists.
The group has turned the stage into a form of public research. Its official history records 24 albums of its own, more than 1,200 concerts and performances across the Canaries, mainland Spain, the Americas and Portugal. The 2002 Canary Islands Gold Medal and 2018 Popular Culture Award recognise work extending beyond music: preserving repertories, returning them to the public and explaining the cultural identity within them.
Their repertory is rooted in Canarian tradition while following the islands’ historic relationships with Cuba, Venezuela, Mexico and other Atlantic territories. From 2000 onwards, productions such as Cronistas de la Música Popular, La Trastienda and the Zafra laboratory added dramaturgy, movement, intimate acoustics and new forms of storytelling. Their albums range from Gofiones a su tierra and En las raíces del pueblo to México en el corazón.
Continuity rests on shared practices. The Christmas Concert, begun in 1987 and later established in Plaza de Santa Ana, became a community tradition. In 2018 the ensemble launched the Canary Islands Institute of Traditions for research, training and outreach; its seminars, publications and stage projects connect archival work with new audiences.
The ensemble is founded at the Jardín Canario on Totoyo Millares’ initiative.
They debut at Teatro Pérez Galdós and release their first album.
An annual concert begins and becomes a Las Palmas de Gran Canaria tradition.
They receive the Gold Medal and Canary Islands Popular Culture Award.
Their fiftieth anniversary culminates in a permanent research, training and outreach centre.
