Polymarchs - Origins (1973 - 1978)

1978)

Apolinar Silva De La Barrera came up with the idea of Polymarchs after he entered the IPN to study electromechanics. He envisioned a collective (or a SONIDERO as they are actively called in Mexico City) which provided a sound-system, a light-show and a DJ playing records to a crowd. Apolinar presented this idea to his sister Mary, who agreed to help him and with the help of their other siblings, Elisa and Luis, they formed the collective sometime in the early 1970s and fused each of their names as such:

Apolinar (POLY), Maria (MAR), Elisa (who was nicknamed "Lichi")(CH) and added the S of their last name Silva.

There is much uncertainty as to when exactly Polymarchs was exactly formed, however in several interviews Apolinar has stated that Polymarchs began to tour the streets of Mexico City in the mid to late 1970's. The original year of inception is considered to be 1978, since Polymarchs celebrated their 30th anniversary in 2008 at the World Trade Center Mexico. The original lineup consisted of Apolinar and his friend Jaime Ruelas as the main DJ's and his sister Mary as the emcee for the events. The famous Polymarchs logo, that is still used to this day, was created by Ruelas while he was studying graphic design at the time. eventually Ruelas quit Polymarchs and focused on becoming a full graphic design artist. He designs many of Polymarchs's album covers and was hired at Discos Musart in the 1990s.

The original fliers for the events consisted of a viking mascot well into the 1980s, yet at the suggestion of veteran radio DJ, Mario Vargas, Polymarchs began incorporating Egyptian figures after the jock labeled the collective as "El Faraonico Polymarchs".

While Polymarchs was not the first collective or SONIDO formed in Mexico City, they were indeed one of the few collectives that didn't play Cumbia or Salsa music which was popular in the streets at the time. Disco music was in its full glory in the late 1970s and Polymarchs incorporated this sound through the end of the decade.