Raices & Rhythms: SONIDO

On Chile’s national day, Raíces & Rhythms: Latin America in Australia returns to The Street with a special concert and conversation featuring SONIDO, one of the foundational groups in Australia’s Latin American music story.

Formed in Sydney in 1977 as Sonido de los Andes, the group began when young Latin American migrants came together around the music and instruments of the Andes. Over almost five decades, that foundation has expanded to embrace Chilean traditions, Uruguayan candombe, Venezuelan joropo, Mexican ranchera, Cuban son, Colombian cumbia, rock and jazz.

SONIDO’s journey reflects the wider history of Latin American migration to Australia. For many Chilean migrants and political refugees arriving in the 1970s, music became a way to preserve memory, build community and create a sense of belonging. SONIDO helped take those sounds from community gatherings and fundraisers to theatres, festivals, television and national audiences.

In this band performance, SONIDO will share music from across its remarkable history and be joined by host and MC Fabricio Tocco for an on-stage conversation. Together, they will explore the band’s beginnings in Sydney’s Latin American community, the experience of creating music between cultures, and how its sound has evolved across generations.

An Argentine-Brazilian musician, writer and ANU academic, Tocco brings his own experience of migration, language and Latin American cultural identity to the discussion.

Presented on 18 September, the central date of Chile’s Fiestas Patrias, the evening is both a celebration and a piece of living cultural history: music carried across an ocean, transformed in Australia and passed from one generation to the next.
Following the intimate performance-and-storytelling format established by the first Raíces & Rhythms in 2025, this edition places one band—and nearly fifty years of shared history—at the centre of the stage.

Street One | Reserved | Duration 165 Minutes
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