Francisco Aranda

Francisco Aranda (Pancho) was born in Santiago, Chile.

Growing up among musicians Pancho inherited his father's passion for music from an early age. Pepe Aranda, his father, was a very famous musician in Santiago, Chile. It was his father that first put a musical interest in Pancho's life.

His family moved to Ecuador where he continued polishing his musical skills. Francisco's musical focus was on Latin music of Central America and the Caribbean.

He was trained by well-known percussionist Vladimir Espinosa. Francisco learned to play the drums, congas, claves, and timbales. As a timbale virtuoso, he learned Afro-Cuban rhythms. Francisco devoted much of his life to studying different styles, rhythms, instruments and also the artistic cultural expressions of Latin music.

In 2001, his career took another turn as a percussionist when he became part of the band Solazo, a remarkable Latin group in the eastern United States. While with Solazo, Francisco performed in important festivals around the country such as: MerleFest-NC, Leaf Festival-NC, FloydFest-VA, and SOB-NY.

In addition to his extraordinary performing career, Francisco has rapidly gained a reputation as a talented artist that brings an important contribution to this unique and energetic new Latin jazz project called Los Gatos.