Alux Nahual

The Prog Rock band from Guatemala… and probably the most important and succesful rock band from Central America.

Alux Nahual were a very luck and odd band. They enjoyed commercial success without compromising the artistic value of their music. Their appeal was based on making music that no one from Central America was doing at the time, rock sung in Spanish, and singing about very native themes. Anyone from the region could identify themselves with the subjects of their music, such as civil war, mayan philosophy, history, social issues, etc.

Consisting of up to eight members during the top of their game, they released 8 studio albums and a live album during their career (1979 – 1999). They released 4 gems of symphonic-folk prog: “Alux Nahual” (1981), “Conquista” (1982), “Hermanos de Sentimiento” (1984) and “Centroamerica” (1986). The first two are more folky and organic. One could compare the sound of th albums to Kansas and Jethro Tull. “Hermanos” and “Centroamerica” introduce synthesizers to their sound still sounding very good. These two albums are harder to compare, but maybe to 80’s Latin American rock with Camel and Led Zeppelin. Their sound is also hard-rocking at times.

In 1987, with the change of their drummer and the exit of their violinist they changed their sound, being more rock oriented. Even so, they released an extremely important album in centralamerican rock history, which is Alto al Fuego (1987). They performed the song “alto al fuego” (Cease the fire) during the conference of the presidents from Central America, demanding the stop of the civil war. Their other three albums are very good rock albums with tinges of prog.  

They disbanded in 1999 to work on solo projects, but reformed in 2006 for a tour to raise funds for the people that lost their homes because of the hurricaine Stan.

I’m very proud of this band, since it’s the first band that I find from my country that plays prog. I’m also very sad because I wasn’t even born when they were on their heyday, but what I’ve heard from other people is that the concerts were always sold out and were a blast. They were quiet a sight on stage, because the violinist is also an entomologist and a cowboy (by the way, he was my biology teacher in college) and their violoncellist always played dressed in frac. They also played with two drummers onstage.

So, I recommend you highly Alux Nahual. The studio albums are very hard to find, but the compilations are more available. You should start with “Leyenda I”, or “Antología”, and then try to find their first four albums.

Raúl Soto.

It needs corrections because my english isn't perfect, but it's a beggining.

I want to know, what else do you guys need? Samples maybe?