Half a century ago, Argentinian musician Ariel Ramirez set out «to compose a religious work that shall express the hope of humankind for a better world.» Written in the 1960s, the «Misa Criolla» was also a means to thank the people who had helped the young musician during his years of travel through Europe some years after the Second World War. They also confronted Ramirez with the recent history of the society and culture which, half a millennium earlier, had left the Native American and Creole cultures devastated and marginalised when it discovered and conquered the American continent, and converted the population to Christianity by missionary work.

In the «Misa Criolla» Ramirez combined Christian liturgy (sung in the language of the Spanish conquerors) with rhythms and melodies of Creole folk music. This served as the starting point for Argentinian musician Eduardo Egüez and his ensemble La Chimera to connect the traditional music of the Andes in the «Misa Criolla» with music that had blended Christian sacred music with folk music of the American continent centuries before. When European Jesuits established missions in South America, they fell back on the Native American culture to some extent. That way, the new faith felt familiar to the indigenous people.