the group was founded in granada in 1983 by manuel españa (voice), enrique moreno "conejo" (bass guitar) and carlos gilabert (keyboard), with the initial name of "la guardia del cardenal richelieu" ("cardinal richelieu's guard"). they were only teenagers and they adopted this name because they used to rehearse in the afternoons after they watched "dogtanian and the three muskehounds" on tv.