Los Hijos del Sol

Cariñito

Los Hijos del Sol are a Peruvian cumbia group led by the composer Ángel Aníbal Rosado, who started with huaynos and criollo music and took up cumbia as a challenge, according to NTS; the singers Lucila Campos and Eva Ayllón recorded his songs. English Wikipedia gives his birth as May 4, 1942, though a Panamericana article says 1939, and his death as September 10, 2008; Panamericana says he registered more than 300 songs with APDAYC. The group's formation is dated 1976 by Panamericana and Wikipedia's song article and 1977 by NTS, MusicBrainz and the Rosado article. NTS lists "Si Me Quieres", on Orion in 1976, as his first hit, and the labels Sucesos, Orion and Midas Record.

KCH Comunicación says work on the "Cariñito" melody began in July 1977 and that it was recorded in April 1978 at Elías Ponce's studios, with Edson Bordaes singing lead and José Luis Carballo on guitar and arrangements. Panamericana adds that with a guitarist missing, Rosado played electric guitar for the first time, and that his cousin Hugo Mantari said the final version was recorded in one take. It was registered with APDAYC in 1980, and its release is dated 1978 by Panamericana and 1979 by NTS's Discogs-derived table. Carballo later formed Chacalón y la Nueva Crema.

Rodolfo Aicardi heard the group's version in Ecuador and recorded it with Los Hispanos for Discos Fuentes; Blu Radio says it was a national hit in Colombia in December 1979 and is now one of Colombia's best-known Christmas songs. The Roots of Chicha (Barbès, compiled by Olivier Conan, September 25, 2007) put "Cariñito", "Linda Muñequita" and "Si Me Quieres" in front of an international audience, and PopMatters's Deanne Sole heard a band almost straight cumbia next to Los Mirlos. Covers include Chico Trujillo, Kien Mató a Rosero, Bareto, La Chamba with the original guitarist, Lila Downs (2019) and Kevin Herm Connolly (2023). The song played for the Peruvian delegation at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, and Dua Lipa sang it with Mauricio Mesones at Estadio San Marcos in Lima on November 25, 2025, which taught many Colombians it was Peruvian.