Don Medardo Luzuriaga founded the group Don Medardo y sus Players in 1964 after merging with the youth band Los Players; he served as conductor and vocalist. The ensemble first gained national attention with the single "Cumbia Chonera" and later released "A Esto Le Llaman Amor", "A Guayaquil", "Agua de Cualquier Cosa", and "Café y Petróleo" (all 2020). Chronologically, the group issued Vol. 1 De Quito Para El Ecuador y América (1968) through Vol. 17 Reconocimientos Nacionales (1976), and celebrated its 50th anniversary with 50 Años de Éxito, Vol. 105 (2017). The band toured extensively, including six performances in the United States in the 1970s, and collaborated with notable regional artists. In 1977, the group received the Platinum Disc from Fadisa for national sales records and the Gold Disc from Remo Récords for the track "El Aguacerito". The group was honored by the New York Association of Show Writers as a foreign orchestra and received a diploma from the Peruvian Tropical Orchestra Association. Don Medardo Luzuriaga died in 2018; the group continued under new leadership, preserving its discography of over 109 albums and sustaining its influence in Ecuadorian and Latin American tropical music.
