Michel Bestrin,was born in Chile, and migrated to Australia as a teenager. Initially settling in Sydney,where he completing his schooling,Michel played with various musicians until joining Sonido de los Andes , (one of Sydney's most well known groups at the time). Michel was invited to move to Melbourne and join up with Inka Marka and his old friend Jose Diaz with whom he had played with some years earlier in Sydney in the original Inka Marka . Michel is an extremely talented musician playing many instruments, and all of them extremely well, sometimes more than one at the same time. They include Guitar, charango, ronrocco, sampona, quena,clarinet and saxophone. The last two of which he played in a marching band until leaving school, where he quickly transcribed their use to Salsa and Latin Jazz.He also dabbles in percussion and has been known to beat out a mean conga as well.

Michel's wonderful interpretations on the charango, show us that sometimes less is more, and his willingness to explain andean music to anyone that's interested makes him extremely approachable and popular with fans. His love of classical music and latin jazz can be seen in the imaginative arrangements he devises.

Michel's also the bands resident computer whiz and he's the one responsible for the audio on this web site,