He was one of the greatest exponents of national song and of the lyrics in which he demonstrated his love for our Homeland. “I will walk through the hills, jungles and plains all my life bringing songs to your hope, dear land,” he wrote. Atahualpa Yupanqui and that defines it.
This great singer-songwriter was born on January 31, back in 1908, in Campo de la Cruz, a town in the province of Buenos Aires. It was not called that in your documentsince the real name of Atahualpa Yupanqui It was Hector Roberto Chavero.
He was the son of a railway employee, he was fortunate that at the age of six he began to study violin with the town priest. Nevertheless, Atahualpa Yupanqui he preferred the guitar and learned with the teacher Bautista Almirón.
In 1913, he chose his stage name in honor of the last Inca ruler. When translating the name of the composer, Its meaning is “the one who came from distant lands to count”. Years later they moved to Tucumán, land to which he would dedicate several of his works.
He toured a large part of Argentina and learned about its customs and sounds. During the thirties, he made his first recordings for the RCA Víctor label, with his own songbook. He joined the Communist Party and took a critical stance against Perón.
He retired to the town of Cerro Colorado, province of Córdoba, and his trips to Europe where he performed in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Bulgaria. In Paris, he linked up with various artists and intellectuals of the day and met Edith Piaf.
International fame
Between the sixties, Atahualpa Yupanqui consolidated his international fame. One of the most important duets of his career was the one he formed with Pablo del Cerro, an artistic pseudonym used by his wife, Antonieta Paula Pepín Fitzpatrick, known as Nenette.
Don Ata passed away on May 23, 1992 in Nimes, France. Two weeks later, on June 7, his ashes were delivered to the land of Cerro Colorado, province of Córdoba, one of his places in the world.
