Created by Pat Dixon, 1995

Atahualpa Yupanqui1908 - 1992

Argentinean artist, writer, poet, musician, promoter of Argentina’s folklore.

Known as one of the initiators of protest music in Latin America, along with Violeta Parra and Carlos Puebla.

Created by Pat Dixon, 1995

Thinking it was a good thingOne day a painter did my portraitBut he only painted the outsideBecause he could not see the inside

When will a painter come That can paint what I feelThe desire to live life Without anguish or torments

A pretty smoke came outfrom my thatched hut but my soup is not plentifulbecause I work a few hours

Creyendo hacer cosa buenaUn pintor me pintó un díaMas me pintó por afueraPorque adentro no veía.

Cuando vendrá ese pintorQue pinte lo que yo siento?Ganas de vivir la vidaSin angustias ni tormentos

Salió un humito muy lindoDe mi rancho de totoraPero mi sopa es escaza porque son pobres mi horas

Yupanqui’s Music: The Painter

Created by Pat Dixon, 1995

Yupanqui’s Music: The PainterWhen will a painter comeWho can paint what I feelThe desire to live lifeWithout anguish or torments

It was a bad painterThe one that painted me that daySinging verses from the sierraWith an empty stomach

It was a bad painterAbout that I have no doubtBecause he only painted my ponchoAnd forgot about my hunger

Cuando vendrá ese pintorQue pinte lo que yo sientoGanas de vivir la vidaSin pesares ni tormentos

Es mal pintor el pintorque me ha pintado ese día cantando coplas serranas con la barriga vacia

Es mal pintor el pintory en esto no hay duda algunapues solo pintó mi ponchoy se olvidó de mi hambruna

Created by Pat Dixon, 1995

Yupanqui’s views about the role of the artist in society

In his song The Painter, Atahualpa condemns elitist art, indifferent to social issues. In later years he thinks about manbeyond his function as just an artist:

“ The first duty of man is to define himself. To find his place asa witness in an old dispute between truth and lies. To testify and to expose. To arrive at this we have to get rid of our innermiseries. We have to sweep the patio from the very back”From El Canto De la Patria Profunda

He often fought against representing himself falsely, to satisfy the media. “The artist has to feel deeply, rejecting all kinds of frivolities and abstruse intellectualisms”.

Created by Pat Dixon, 1995

Atahualpa Yupanqui’sBiography

Born in 1908, Hector Chavero ( Atahualpa Yupanqui) is raised in the Argentine pampa to a father who worked for the railroads. The rural setting taught him about the ways of the Criollos, Indians and Spanish who inhabited the region.

His first love was the guitar and he began lessons at age six, training in the classical style but also imitating the folk traditions of the “payadores and pamperos”.

His family moves to Tucuman when he was 13 where he becomes aware of social classes and the perspectives of the disadvantaged, a theme that would shape his message in later life.

Created by Pat Dixon, 1995

Atahualpa Yupanqui’sBiography

At age 18 his father dies. He is unable to fulfill his wish to become a doctor and he has to work to support the family. The family moves to Junin, near Buenos Aires and he begins to sing in peñas at politically oriented gatherings . He composed his first song “Caminito del Indio,” as an hommage to Don Anselmo and his ancestors of Indian origin. After an unsuccessful attempt to establish himself in Buenos Aires, la “ciudad gringa” he would return to Tucuman to spend several years studying the “Patria Grande” of his ancestors. By then he had already changed his name to Atahualpa Yupanqui. Ata: to come, Hu: from far away, Alpa: land, Yupanqui: to do, to narrate.

Created by Pat Dixon, 1995

Atahualpa Yupanqui’sBiography

At 24 he finds himsel in Uruguay for subversive activities against the government of General Agustin P. Justo. During his two year exile he meets other protest singers and learns about the culture of southern Brazil.

He returns to Rosario, his birth place, and learns of the death of his guitar teacher, Bautista Almirón. He is deeply affected and leaves for Tucuman where he begins to write zambas and his music begins to be accepted by the public.

He begins to travel extensively through Argentina. Mainly by horse, with other singers, trying to learn the ways of the common man. He meets the famous musicologist Carlos Vega and collaborates in his research.

Created by Pat Dixon, 1995

Atahualpa Yupanqui’sBiography

In 1945 he joined the Communist Party (which he left in 1952) and during the ensuing two years he was detained eight times by Perón’s regime, which also placed a total ban on his recordings and live performances. He goes to France

where he settles more or less definitively. He had met Edith Piaf in 1948 and she gave him his first break in Europe, featuring him in series of live concerts produced by her.

In 1949 he performed 60 concerts in Eastern Europe initiating a life of touring up until the late 1980’s.

In 1940 he published his first book of poetry“Piedra Sola” the first of eleven books. Yupanqui was a well-read man , he wrote poetry and spoke many languages.

Created by Pat Dixon, 1995

Atahualpa Yupanqui’s Biography

• In 1967 he returns to Latin America after hearing about the death of Che Guevara. He meets with poet Pablo Neruda and other intellectuals and continues to write about events affecting the Malvinas Islands and the Tupamaros in Uruguay. He travels to Chile to celebrate the process of Liberación Nacional and collaborates in musical projects with Victor Jara, Isabel and Angel Parra and records his famous song “Los Hermanos” a tribute to the workers of the world.

• By this time he and Violeta Parra have been recognized as the parents of Latin American folklorists. He also travels to Japan where he presents over thirty guitar recitals.

Created by Pat Dixon, 1995

Atahualpa Yupanqui’sBiography

• By the mid-seventies Atahualpa Yupanqui has acheived world wide recognition. His contributions to the field of music and poetry make him a legend and his message becomes more intense and direct as time passes. He becomes the recipient of numerous awards. http://www.fundacionkonex.com/yupanqui.html

• Yupanqui’s life ended on May 23,1992 in Argentina, his beloved country. His message until the end, dealt with problems and situations commonly shared by all human beings. His guitar was the vehicle through which all these themes were expressed, always at the service of the humanistic/political consciousness which motivated him.

Created by Pat Dixon, 1995

La Guitarra• Three basses and three trebles has my guitar/ with some I cry

passions,with others I sing joy.

• The guitar went to the country I know not what it was seeking/remembering landscapes sighing as it passes.

• The guitar at the seashore I know not what it was feeling at the beach/ that it learned to say goodbye though no one is leaving.

• The guitar went to the Indians to learn their mystery; and returned to the people more profound from having drunk so many silences.

• The guitar went to the poor people and they spoke to it so much/ that filled with grief and fear it came to my arms sobbing.

• The guitar went to the ballad that was there awaiting it: since then they walked together traveling through the world

Created by Pat Dixon, 1995

Glossary of Spanish Words

• Peñas• Criollos

• Payadores• Pamperos

• Places of gathering…• People of Spanish and

Indian origin• People who tell stories

through music• People who live in the

Argentine pampas or plains where cattle is raised.