Atahualpa Yupanqui – Biografía
Campo de la Cruz
Atahualpa Yupanqui (in Quechua, he who comes from distant lands to say something) was born in Campo de la Cruz, in José de la Peña, Pergamino district (in the north of the province of Buenos Aires) on January 31 from 1908.
His real name is Héctor Roberto Chavero. He was an Argentine singer-songwriter, guitarist, poet and writer.
He is considered the most important Argentine folklore musician. His compositions have been sung by renowned performers, such as Mercedes Sosa, Los Chalchaleros, Horacio Guarany, Alfredo Zitarrosa, José Larralde, Jairo, Andrés Calamaro, Divided, Soledad and Suma Paz, among many others, and continue to form part of the repertoire of innumerable artists in Argentina and in different parts of the world.
He made her first musical studies with Father Rosáenz. Later, from the age of 6, he learned guitar with Bautista Almirón.
In 1917 his family moved to Tucumán. At 19 years old, he composed his song “Camino del Indio”. He undertook a trip to Jujuy, Bolivia and the Calchaquí Valleys. In 1931 he toured Entre Ríos, settling for a time in Tala. He passed through Montevideo to then go to the eastern interior and the south of Brazil.
Edith Piaf
The renowned Édith Piaf invited him to perform in Paris on July 7, 1950. He immediately signed a contract with “Chant du Monde”, the recording company that published his first LP in Europe, “Minero soy”, which obtained the first prize for Best Record of the Charles Cros Academy, which included three hundred and fifty participants from all continents in the International Folklore Contest. Subsequently, he traveled extensively in Europe.
In 1952, Yupanqui returned to Buenos Aires. He broke off relations with the Communist Party, which made it easier to arrange appearances on the radio. While with Nenette, his wife, he was building his house in Cerro Colorado, province of Córdoba, Yupanqui travels the country.
Recognition of Yupanqui’s ethnographic work became widespread during the 1960s, and with artists such as Mercedes Sosa and Jorge Cafrune recorded his compositions and made him popular with younger musicians, who refer to him as Don Ata.
Yupanqui alternates between his houses in Buenos Aires and Cerro Colorado. During 1963-1964, he toured Colombia, Japan, Morocco, Egypt, Israel and Italy. In 1967, he toured Spain, and settled in Paris.
Argentina
He periodically returned to Argentina and appeared in Argentinísima II in 1973, but these visits became less frequent when the military dictatorship of Jorge Videla came to power in 1976.
In 1986 France decorated him as Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters. In 1987 he returned to the country to receive a tribute from the University of Tucumán.
He had to go to Buenos Aires in 1989 to overcome a heart condition, despite which in January 1990 he participated in the Cosquín Festival. A few days later, Yupanqui fulfilled an artistic commitment in Paris.
He returned to France in 1992 to perform in Nîmes but became indisposed and died there on May 23.
Unfortunately, I was no longer able to interview Atahualpa Yupanqui, this wonderful Argentine singer-songwriter, so poetic and at the same time so political. I heard one of his last concerts in March 1992 at the Volkshaus in Zurich. He was already so weak that someone walked him to his chair and handed him the guitar.
Atahualpa Yupanqui died a few weeks later, at the age of 84, in Nimes, at an award ceremony. He is buried in the garden of his house in the Cerro Colorado, Córdoba Province, Argentina.
Fortunately, we have found an interview that a Spanish colleague conducted in the 90s with Atahualpa Yupanqui.
Buy the full transcript
