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AndrzejBy / / Featured, Music, Ukraine / 6 min read

Los Iankovers

The Latin American Band Bringing Ukrainian Music to the World

This post was updated on 20 August 2026. Reason for update: Added Instagram links to each of the band members profiles.

Music often connects different cultures, but Los Iankovers (Лос Янковерс) stand out for how they do it. Starting in Bogotá, Colombia, the group mixes Latin American rhythms with traditional and patriotic Ukrainian songs.

Lead singer Ianko Bohdan Peñafort of Los Iankovers performing a traditional Ukrainian wedding song.
Lead singer Ianko Bohdan Peñafort Lobunets of Los Iankovers performing a traditional Ukrainian wedding song.

Members of the band pictured above, from left to right: Isamar Fernández (cellist, affectionately known by the Ukrainian diminutive Samarochka), Ianko Bohdan Peñafort Lobunets (band lead and multi-instrumentalist), Juan David Carrión (saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist) and Nicolas Castaño (guitarist).

Lead singer Ianko Bohdan Peñafort Lobunets started Los Iankovers in 2017 with musicians from Colombia and Venezuela. Ianko’s mother is from Kyiv and his father is Colombian. Growing up in Colombia, Ianko wanted to connect with his Ukrainian roots, especially after the events in Ukraine in 2014. He learned Ukrainian on his own and explored traditional folk and rebel songs. This personal journey soon became a musical project that blends Ukrainian folk melodies with Latin American acoustic sounds.

What Is Chatroulette?

To see how Los Iankovers gained so many online fans, it’s helpful to know about Chatroulette.

Chatroulette, which started in 2009, is an online video chat site that randomly connects people from all over the world for one-on-one webcam chats. Users can talk, text, or stream video with a stranger, or click “next” to meet someone new. Over time, musicians and creators have used it to perform live for random audiences and record their real-time reactions.

Taking Ukrainian Culture to Random Strangers Online

After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Los Iankovers started using Chatroulette to share Ukrainian culture and support the country. Often wearing traditional embroidered shirts called vyshyvankas, the band joins random video chats to play live acoustic versions of well-known Ukrainian folk and patriotic songs.

Their video compilations usually fit into two main types:

1. Surprising Global Audiences and Ukrainians

When they meet people from Western Europe, North America, or Latin America, the band often surprises them by singing fluently in Ukrainian.

When they connect with Ukrainians, including soldiers and people who have left their homes, the moments are often emotional and bring a sense of unity and pride.

Watch the reaction of two girls from Kyiv at timestamp 5:55, when they realise that Los Iankovers are singing the Ukrainian folk song “Hutsulka Ksenya” in their own language!

2. Confronting Russian Users on Chatroulette

One of the main features on their YouTube channel is compilations of the band meeting Russian users by chance. They play songs like “Ой, у лузі червона калина” (Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow), the National Anthem of Ukraine, and historical rebel songs, recording how people react in the moment.

These meetings can lead to anything from surprise and confusion to intense debates, showing a clear difference between celebrating culture and facing political conflict.

Compilations of the band meeting Russian users by chance.

Watch how a Georgian woman reacts to Los Iankovers performing the well known Georgian folk song “Suliko”. The band’s performance moves her to tears in this poignant moment, which starts at time stamp 7:36 in the video.

You can watch this video from the beginning by rewinding it to the start.

A Georgian woman reacts to Los Iankovers performing the well known Georgian folk song “Suliko”.

Suliko. Lyrics in Georgian (first verse)

საყვარლის საფლავს ვეძებდი,
ვერ ვნახე!.. დაკარგულიყო!..
გულამოსკვნილი ვტიროდი
„სადა ხარ, ჩემო სულიკო?!“

Suliko. Lyrics in English (first verse)

I was looking for my sweetheart’s grave,
And longing was tearing my heart.
Without love my heart felt heavy, I cried to the night –
“Where are you, my Suliko?”

Tours and Connecting Across The globe

Los Iankovers don’t just share their music online. They have also toured in over ten European countries, plus Canada and Ukraine, playing live shows and raising funds for Ukraine. By mixing their online performances on Chatroulette with live tours, they keep bringing Ukrainian culture to people who might not see it otherwise.

To see their live Chatroulette performances and musical style, check out Los iankovers playing Ukrainian songs on Chatroulette via their YouTube channel.

Los Iankovers – Member Profiles

Source: Колумбійський гурт, який співає українські пісні. Інтерв’ю з «Лос Янковерс» (Colombian band that sings Ukrainian songs. Interview with “Los Iancovers”). ПЕРШИЙ ЗАХІДНИЙ (First Western, Lviv). YouTube. 3 June 2025.

● Ianko Bohdan Peñafort Lubinets

Role: Founder, lead vocalist, band leader

Origin: He was born in Bogotá, Colombia and has Ukrainian family roots; his mother is from Kyiv

Background:

  • He has visited Ukraine about 15 or 16 times, with his first trip to Lviv in 2016.
  • After spending years performing in Spanish-language bands in Bogotá, he started Los Iankovers.
  • He sees Ukrainian music as the emotional heart of the project.
  • He introduced the other musicians to Ukrainian culture, and they welcomed it right away.
  • He works closely with the band’s manager, Nina, who found the group during the pandemic.
  • He firmly chooses not to perform in Russian because of its use in propaganda.

● Juan David Carrión

Role: saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist

Origin: Bogotá, Colombia

Background:

  • He is the newest member of the band, having joined in December, five months before the interview.
  • He met Ianko through Bogotá’s professional music scene while performing at different events.
  • Says Ukrainian music is “super beautiful” and that it reflects the country’s landscapes, people, and food.
  • He is currently learning Ukrainian.

● Nicolás Castaño

Role: Guitarist/Multi‑instrumentalist

Origin: Bogotá, Colombia

Background:

  • He studied mathematics at university instead of music.
  • Ianko calls him a “musical brother,” saying that music comes as naturally to him as a native language.
  • He loves Ukrainian songs, culture, language, and food.
  • He is actively learning Ukrainian.
  • He is known for his natural musical talent, even though he has not had formal conservatory training.

● Samarochka (Isamar Fernández)

Role: Cellist and vocalist

Origin: Venezuela; now based in Colombia

Background:

  • Her real name is Isamar Fernández.
  • Her nickname, “Samarochka,” is a Ukrainian affectionate diminutive that comes from Isamar to Samar to Samar-ochka.
  • She used to play cello in the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, which is one of the most prestigious ensembles in Latin America.
  • She moved to Colombia because of the political and economic crisis in Venezuela.
  • Connection to Ukraine:
  • She says that performing Ukrainian music is her way of showing respect and support as a foreigner.
  • She has been studying Ukrainian longer than anyone else in the band.
  • She fell in love with Lviv during a previous visit.

Further Watching: Los Iankovers’ other social media accounts

Facebook Page and Instagram account.
TikTok account.

A Note on Repertoire and Historical Context

While Los Iankovers’ high-energy fusion of Latin American rhythms and Ukrainian folk has won them widespread admiration, some of their songs, most notably “Батько наш Бандера” (Our Father is Bandera), touch on complex historical memory. As a Polish observer, referencing Stepan Bandera inevitably brings to mind the painful history of the UPA and the Volhynia massacres. However, for modern Ukrainians resisting Russian aggression, the song functions purely as a symbol of anti-Russian independence rather than an alignment with 1940s nationalist ideology. It is this modern, defiant spirit that the band captures in their performances.

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