Willy Rios | Biography
Charanguista Musician, Author, Composer
A musician for 40 years, Willy Rios began his musical career at the age of 11 at the MASIS cultural center in Sucre Bolivia with the charango as his main instrument.
In 1988, he was part of the group Los Masis with whom he made several tours of South America, Europe and finally Canada, which became his adopted country.
In Montreal 1993, he joined various musical projects and later traveled to Japan, Australia, Germany, France, Chile and Bolivia.
In 2008, he was invited to participate in the project and television program La Sinfonía del Nuevo Mundo (ARTV). The same year, Le cirque du soleil invited him to record a song on the CD Totem.
In 2014, he began teaching charango courses online, it was there that the online school Charangueando was born .
Willy recorded more than 15 CDs with different artists in Canada and Japan. He released his first CD (2015) as an arranger and composer, where one feels the influence of the multicultural music of Montreal.
In 2016, Willy Rios was awarded the award for Best Soloist of the Year in World Music at the Canadian Folk Music Awards 2016 with his album Para ti.
In 2017 he decided to return to his native Bolivia to continue full time with the Charangueando online school project and also the physical school in Sucre Bolivia.
Always accompanied by great musicians, Willy invites you on a multicultural journey with soft, melancholic and joyful music at the same time.