Quilapayún
Encyclopedia
Instrumental
An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
and vocal folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
group from Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
and among the longest lasting and most influential exponents of the Nueva Canción
Nueva canción
Nueva canción is a movement and genre within Latin American and Iberian music of folk music, folk-inspired music and socially committed music...
Chilena (New Song) movement. Formed in Chile during the mid-1960s, the group became inseparable with the revolution that occurred in the popular music of the country under the Popular Unity
Popular Unity
Unidad Popular was a coalition of left wing, socialist and communist political parties in Chile that stood behind the successful candidacy of Salvador Allende for the 1970 Chilean presidential election....
Government of Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in Latin America....
. Since its formation and during its forty year long history - both in Chile and during its lengthy period of exile in France - the group has seen modifications to its personnel lineup, to the subject and content of its work, and controversy regarding irreconciliable differences with the current and former group director; which has led each to maintain a distinctive - yet equally impressive - Quilapayún ensemble: one in Chile (named: Quilapayún-Histórico) and one in France (named: Quilapayún-France).
History
Quilapayún originated in 1965 when Julio NumhauserJulio Numhauser
Julio Numhauser is a Chilean musician of the Nueva Canción-movement. He founded the folk music group Quilapayún in 1965 together with the brothers, Julio Carrasco and Eduardo Carrasco, where he stayed until 1967, and he later founded another folk music group, Amerindios, together with Mario...
, and the brothers Julio and Eduardo Carrasco
Eduardo Carrasco
Eduardo Guillermo Carrasco Pirard is a Chilean musician, university professor of philosophy, author, and one of the founders of the Chilean folk music group Quilapayún - and the group's musical director from 1969 to 1989....
formed a folk music trio which they simply called "the three bearded men" (viz. Quila-Payún) in the Mapuche
Mapuche
The Mapuche are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina. They constitute a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who shared a common social, religious and economic structure, as well as a common linguistic heritage. Their influence extended...
language (viz. Mapudungun
Mapudungun
The Mapuche language, Mapudungun is a language isolate spoken in south-central Chile and west central Argentina by the Mapuche people. It is also spelled Mapuzugun and sometimes called Mapudungu or Araucanian...
– the language of the people native to the region that is now the south of Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, the Araucanians). Their first public performances were at the Universidad de Chile in Valparaíso
Valparaíso
Valparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...
organized by their first musical director, Ángel Parra
Ángel Parra
Ángel Cereceda Parra is a Chilean singer and songwriter, son of Violeta Parra, notable Chilean folklorist and brother of Isabel Parra. He travels abroad helping to maintain the Nueva Canción tradition in Chilean expatriate communities in Europe, North America, and Australia. His son -also named...
(The son of Violeta Parra
Violeta Parra
Violeta del Carmen Parra Sandoval was a notable Chilean composer, songwriter, folklorist, ethnomusicologist and visual artist...
). In 1966 Patricio Castillo joined the group and they began performing and winning notoriety for their Andean music
Andean music
Andean music comes from the general area inhabited by Quechuas, Aymaras and other peoples that lived roughly in the area of the Inca Empire prior to European contact. It includes folklore music of parts of Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela...
as well as their black ponchos which became the group's trademark. During this time they won their first prize, La Guitarra de Oro (The Golden Guitar) in the Primer Festival Nacional del Folkore "Chile Múltiple". (First National Festival of Folklore), they also made their first recording, appearing in one song of Ángel Parra
Ángel Parra
Ángel Cereceda Parra is a Chilean singer and songwriter, son of Violeta Parra, notable Chilean folklorist and brother of Isabel Parra. He travels abroad helping to maintain the Nueva Canción tradition in Chilean expatriate communities in Europe, North America, and Australia. His son -also named...
, "El Pueblo" ("The People").
In one of these performances of 1966 in Valparaíso the group met with Víctor Jara
Víctor Jara
Víctor Lidio Jara Martínez was a Chilean teacher, theatre director, poet, singer-songwriter, political activist and member of the Communist Party of Chile...
with whom the group maintained a close and productive artistic association with for many years. At the request of the group, Víctor Jara becomes Quilapayún's musical director and he worked on the groups discipline, their stage performances and the style and content of the groups music and songs. Jara presents them to the record label Odeon Records
Odeon Records
Odeon Records was a record label founded in 1903 by Max Straus and Heinrich Zuntz of the International Talking Machine Company in Berlin, Germany. It was named after a famous theatre in Paris, whose classical dome appears on the Odeon record label....
, where they would record 5 LPs. Their first album, Quilapayún
Quilapayún (Album)
Quilapayún is the self-titled debut album released by the Chilean musical group Quilapayún in 1966.-Track listing:#"La paloma"/The dove #"El forastero"/The foreigner...
was basically an Andean music
Andean music
Andean music comes from the general area inhabited by Quechuas, Aymaras and other peoples that lived roughly in the area of the Inca Empire prior to European contact. It includes folklore music of parts of Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela...
album but they included songs of Ángel Parra
Ángel Parra
Ángel Cereceda Parra is a Chilean singer and songwriter, son of Violeta Parra, notable Chilean folklorist and brother of Isabel Parra. He travels abroad helping to maintain the Nueva Canción tradition in Chilean expatriate communities in Europe, North America, and Australia. His son -also named...
, Víctor Jara and new compositions of Eduardo Carrasco
Eduardo Carrasco
Eduardo Guillermo Carrasco Pirard is a Chilean musician, university professor of philosophy, author, and one of the founders of the Chilean folk music group Quilapayún - and the group's musical director from 1969 to 1989....
such as "La Paloma" and "El canto del cuculi
White-winged Dove
The White-winged Dove is a dove whose native range extends from the south-western USA through Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. In recent years with increasing urbanization and backyard feeding, it has expanded throughout Texas and into Louisiana...
".
Bourgeois society wants art to be another factor contributing to social alienationSocial alienationThe term social alienation has many discipline-specific uses; Roberts notes how even within the social sciences, it “is used to refer both to a personal psychological state and to a type of social relationship”...
, we artists should transform it into a revolutionary weapon, until the contradiction that actually exists between art and society finally comes to pass.
This surpassing is called revolution and its motor and fundamental agent is the working classWorking classWorking class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
. Our group, loyal to the ideals of Luis Emilio RecabarrenLuis Emilio RecabarrenLuis Emilio Recabarren Serrano was a Chilean political figure. He was elected several times as deputy, and was the driving force behind the Worker's Movement in that country.- Early life :...
, sees its work as a continuation of what has already been achieved by many other popular/folk artists.
This side of the trenches has been occupied by artists whose names are forever linked to the revolutionary struggle of our people: the first Luis Emilio RecabarrenLuis Emilio RecabarrenLuis Emilio Recabarren Serrano was a Chilean political figure. He was elected several times as deputy, and was the driving force behind the Worker's Movement in that country.- Early life :...
, the latest: Violeta ParraVioleta ParraVioleta del Carmen Parra Sandoval was a notable Chilean composer, songwriter, folklorist, ethnomusicologist and visual artist...
and Pablo NerudaPablo NerudaPablo Neruda was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet, diplomat and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after Czech poet Jan Neruda....
. The example they have given us is the light that guides us.— Quilapayún (1969)
In 1967 they recorded an album together with Víctor Jara, Canciones folklóricas de América (Folk Songs of America). During this time Julio Numhauser left the group over discrepancies on the style of music the group was pursuing and was replaced by Guillermo "Willy" Oddó. During 1967 they also toured the USSR, Italy, France and other parts of Europe and recorded an LP with the Chilean painter and poet Juan Capra.
In 1968, Quilapayún participated in the launch of a new record label of La Jota (Chile's Communist Party
Communist Party of Chile
The Communist Party of Chile is a Chilean political party inspired by the thoughts of Karl Marx and Lenin. It was founded in 1922, as the continuation of the Socialist Workers Party, and in 1934 it established its youth wing, the Communist Youth of Chile .In the last legislative elections in Chile...
Youth Organization) and here they record their LP X Vietnam which included songs from the Spanish Revolution
Spanish Revolution
The Spanish Revolution was a workers' social revolution that began during the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 and resulted in the widespread implementation of anarchist and more broadly libertarian socialist organizational principles throughout various portions of the country for two to...
; to the surprise of many commercial record labels its release became a nationwide success. This album established the group's thematic and aesthetics and created great interest and a following among progressive youth. From the success of this album the label DICAP (Discoteca del Cantar Popular) appeared, which became the springboard of the Nueva Canción Chilena (New Chilean Song) movement. The DICAP label would record up to 60 musical productions until the military coup of September 11, 1973, which banned and literally destroyed the record label. During 1968 Julio Carrasco left the group for political differences, and was replaced by Hernán Gomez. A that time they performed at different university places and made their first two hours show, during two days in Santiago getting a tremendous success.
In 1969 they recorded the ‘Basta
Basta (album)
Basta is an album that was released by Quilapayún in 1969. It brings together an eclectic and diverse collections of popular/folk songs and anthems from different parts of the World: from across Latin America, the former USSR, and Italy...
’ LP, which included an eclectic and highly political collection of songs from different parts of the world, establishing the fundamental element of the New Chilean Song: its Internationalism
Proletarian internationalism
Proletarian internationalism, sometimes referred to as international socialism, is a Marxist social class concept based on the view that capitalism is now a global system, and therefore the working class must act as a global class if it is to defeat it...
. This album was released with a lengthy statement made by the group about the nature of their work and their commitment to the socialist cause.Rodolfo Parada joint the group.
In 1969 they also appeared supporting Víctor Jara in his album, Pongo en tus manos abiertas (Into your open hands) in songs such as "A Cochabamba
Cochabamba
Cochabamba is a city in central Bolivia, located in a valley bearing the same name in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cochabamba Department and is the fourth largest city in Bolivia with an urban population of 608,276 and a metropolitan population of more than 1,000,000 people...
Me Voy", "El Martillo" and "Movil Oil Special". They also joined Jara at the Primer Festival de la Nueva Cancion Chilena (First Festival of the New Chilean Song) where they jointly interpreted ‘Plegaria a un Labrador’ (Prayer to a Laborer) which ultimately won the festivals award. After three years Víctor Jara and Quilapayún assumed different paths and Eduardo Carrasco
Eduardo Carrasco
Eduardo Guillermo Carrasco Pirard is a Chilean musician, university professor of philosophy, author, and one of the founders of the Chilean folk music group Quilapayún - and the group's musical director from 1969 to 1989....
became the group's director.
They were forced into exile in France after the right-wing military coup of 1973. The group settled in the city of Colombes, France for more than a decade. Their major works include Santa María de Iquique (1970), an album of spoken history, songs, and instrumentals about a notorious massacre in the city of Iquique
Iquique
Iquique is a port city and commune in northern Chile, capital of both the Iquique Province and Tarapacá Region. It lies on the Pacific coast, west of the Atacama Desert and the Pampa del Tamarugal. It had a population of 216,419 as of the 2002 census...
, and the song "El pueblo unido jamás será vencido
El pueblo unido jamás será vencido
"¡El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido!" is one of the most internationally renowned songs of the Nueva Cancion Chilena movement. The music of the song was composed by Sergio Ortega and the text written by Quilapayún...
" ("The people, united, will never be defeated"), with lyrics by Quilapayún and music written by famed Chilean songwriter and playwright Sergio Ortega
Sergio Ortega
Sergio Ortega was a Chilean composer and pianist.- Biography :Ortega was born in Antofagasta, Chile. He studied composition with Roberto Falabella and with Gustavo Becerra-Schmidt in the National Conservatory at the Universidad de Chile...
.
The group splits into two factions
Both Quilapayún and Inti-IllimaniInti-Illimani
Inti-Illimani is an instrumental and vocal Latin American folk music ensemble from Chile. The group was formed in 1967 by a group of university students and it acquired widespread popularity in Chile for their song Venceremos which became the anthem of the Popular Unity government of Salvador...
's recent paths have been marked by internal issues. Over the years some members left with others taking their place. In the case of Quilapayún, formed by the early members Carlos Quezada, Hernán Gomez, Rodolfo Parada, Hugo Lagos, Guillermo García and Ricardo Venegas, joined by Patricio Wang, continues to operate out of France, and has released two albums since 1989. Parada registered the name "Quilapayún" without the authorization of the other members. Because of this, as well as other irregular events, other historic members refused to continue with Parada and Wang, resulting in the group splitting into two, both claiming the name and legacy of Quilapayún, and subsequent litigation. The Chile-based historic faction is celebrating the group's 40 year anniversary performing concerts in Chile, Latin America and Europe together with the "historic" Inti-Illimani. These joint concerts have been advertised and promoted as Inti+Quila
Inti+Quila
Inti+Quila is the name utilized by the historic Chilean Nueva Canción groups Inti-Illimani and Quilapayún during their recent collaborative artistic efforts. These have included a Latin American and European tour, as well as the release of a CD and a DVD compilation of their joint concerts...
. The current "historic" lineup includes Eduardo Carrasco, Rubén Escudero, Ricardo Venegas, Guillermo García, Ismael Oddó (son of Guillermo "Willy" Oddó), Hugo Lagos, Hernán Gómez, Carlos Quezada and Sebastián Quezada (son of Carlos).
On December 5, 2007, the Court of Appeal of Paris forbade Parada and Wang’s group "from making use of the name QUILAPAYÚN, subject to a fine of 10 000 per infringement". This judgement was confirmed by the Highest Court of Appeal (Cour de Cassation de Paris) on the June 11, 2009.
Notable members
- Eduardo CarrascoEduardo CarrascoEduardo Guillermo Carrasco Pirard is a Chilean musician, university professor of philosophy, author, and one of the founders of the Chilean folk music group Quilapayún - and the group's musical director from 1969 to 1989....
: wind instruments (quenaQuenaThe quena is the traditional flute of the Andes. Usually made of bamboo or wood, it has 6 finger holes and one thumb hole and is open on both ends. To produce sound, the player closes the top end of the pipe with the flesh between his chin and lower lip, and blows a stream of air downward, along...
, pincuyo, zampoña etc.) Voice: Bass. - Carlos Quezada: percussion instruments, guitar. Voice: TenorTenorThe tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
. - Guillermo "Willy" Oddó: guitar, percussion instruments. Voice: Baritenor. (died in 1991)
- Hernán Gomez: guitar, charangoCharangoThe charango is a small Andean stringed instrument of the lute family, 66 cm long, traditionally made with the shell of the back of an armadillo. Primarily played in traditional Andean music, and is sometimes used by other Latin American musicians. Many contemporary charangos are now made with...
. Voice: Bass-baritoneBass-baritoneA bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Wagnerian roles: the Dutchman in Der fliegende...
. - Hugo Lagos: string instruments, quena, zampoña. Voice: BaritoneBaritoneBaritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
. - Guillermo García: guitar, percussion instruments. Voice: Baritone.
- Ricardo Venegas Carhart: base guitar, quena, baritone.
Studio albums
- QuilapayúnQuilapayún (Album)Quilapayún is the self-titled debut album released by the Chilean musical group Quilapayún in 1966.-Track listing:#"La paloma"/The dove #"El forastero"/The foreigner...
(1966) - Canciones folklóricas de América (1967) (Quilapayún & Víctor JaraVíctor JaraVíctor Lidio Jara Martínez was a Chilean teacher, theatre director, poet, singer-songwriter, political activist and member of the Communist Party of Chile...
) - X VietnamX Vietnam (album)X Vietnam or Por Vietnam is an album by Quilapayún released in 1968. This was among the first albums to be released under the DICAP label and was a success upon its release in Chile...
(1968) - Quilapayún Tres (1968)
- BastaBasta (album)Basta is an album that was released by Quilapayún in 1969. It brings together an eclectic and diverse collections of popular/folk songs and anthems from different parts of the World: from across Latin America, the former USSR, and Italy...
(1969) - Quilapayún Cuatro (1970)
- Cantata Santa María de IquiqueCantata Santa María de IquiqueSanta María de Iquique, cantata popular is a cantata composed in 1969 by the Chilean composer Luis Advis Vitaglich, combining elements of both classical and folkloric/indigenous musical traditions to produce what became known as a popular cantata and one of Quilapayún’s most acclaimed and popular...
(1970) (Quilapayún & Héctor Duvauchelle) - Vivir como él (1971)
- Quilapayún Cinco (1972)
- La Fragua (1973) (Text and music by Sergio OrtegaSergio OrtegaSergio Ortega was a Chilean composer and pianist.- Biography :Ortega was born in Antofagasta, Chile. He studied composition with Roberto Falabella and with Gustavo Becerra-Schmidt in the National Conservatory at the Universidad de Chile...
) - El pueblo unido jamás será vencido (Yhtenäistä Kansaa Ei Voi) (1974)
- El Pueblo Unido Jamás Será VencidoEl Pueblo Unido Jamás Será Vencido (album)¡El Pueblo Unido Jamás Será Vencido! is a music album released by the Chilean folk group Quilapayún in 1975.-Content:...
(1975) - Adelante (1975)
- PatriaPatria (album)Patria is an album released by the Chilean folk group Quilapayún in 1975.-Track listing:#“Mi patria”/My Homeland #“El paso del ñandú”/The passing of the ñandu...
(1976) - La marche et le drapeau (1977)
- Cantata Santa María de Iquique (Nueva versión) (1978) (Quilapayún & Jean-Louis BarraultJean-Louis BarraultJean-Louis Barrault was a French actor, director and mime artist, training that served him well when he portrayed the 19th-century mime Jean-Gaspard Deburau in Marcel Carné's 1945 film Les Enfants du Paradis .Jean-Louis Barrault studied with Charles Dullin in whose troupe he acted...
) - Umbral (1979)
- Darle al otoño un golpe de ventana... (1980)
- La revolución y las estrellas (1982)
- Tralalí Tralalá (1984)
- Survarío (1987)
- Los tres tiempos de América (1988) (Quilapayún + Paloma San BasilioPaloma San BasilioPaloma San Basilio is a Spanish singer. Although she was born in Madrid, at the age of 6 months the family moved to Sevilla , where she was raised till the age of 8...
) - Latitudes (1992)
- Al horizonte (1999)
- Siempre (2007)
- Solistas (2009)
Live albums
- Enregistrement public (1977)
- Alentours (1980)
- Quilapayún en Argentina (1983) (Live in Argentina)
- Quilapayún en Argentina Vol II (1985) (Live in Argentina Vol. II)
- Quilapayún en Chile (1989) (Live in Chile)
- A Palau (2003)
- El Reencuentro (2004)
- Musica en la Memoria - Juntos en Chile (2005) (Inti-IllimaniInti-IllimaniInti-Illimani is an instrumental and vocal Latin American folk music ensemble from Chile. The group was formed in 1967 by a group of university students and it acquired widespread popularity in Chile for their song Venceremos which became the anthem of the Popular Unity government of Salvador...
+ Quilapayún)
Compilations
- Quilapayún Chante NerudaQuilapayún Chante NerudaQuilapayún Chante Neruda is compilation music album released by Quilapayún in exile in France in 1983.-History:The album was edited and released in commemoration of the 10th Anniversary of the death of the Chilean poet and Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda – who died in September 1973...
(1983) - Antología 1968-1992 (1998)
- La vida contra la muerte [Life against death] (2005)
- La fuerza de la historia [The force of history] (2006)
Resources in Spanish
- Quilapayún (Official website of Chile faction
- Nueva Cancion Chilena Singers discography - Inter alia
- Partituras
- Letras/Textos
- Che, Guía y Ejemplo - Songs of Quilapayún dedicated to Ernesto Che Guevara
- Entrevista: Eduardo Carrasco (Mexico, 1983
Resources in English
- Eye For Talent - The Best in World Music
- Chile: The Siege of Santa Maria de Iquique - A People's Cantata at Smithsonian FolkwaysSmithsonian FolkwaysSmithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was founded in 1987 after the family of Moses Asch, founder of Folkways...