Rolando Alarcón Soto (August 5, 1929 – February 4, 1973), was a Chilean singer-songwriter and teacher, who was one of the main figures of the movement Nueva Canción Chilena. He was the artistic director of Cuncumén, one of the most important folk groups in Chile in the 20th century. During the 1970s, Rolando was a political activist for the Popular Unity of the socialist president Salvador Allende.
Rolando Alarcón Soto born on August 5, 1929, son of a primary school teacher and an miner,[1] he lived most of his childhood in Sewell and adolescence in Chillan,[2] where he studied guitar and piano. In the 1950s Alarcón moved to Santiago de Chile, where he trained as a teacher, teaching in public schools. In 1955, as a result of the summer season schools taught by Margot Loyola at the University of Chile, the Cuncumén group was formed, in which Alarcon took over as artistic director during seven years.[3] The folk group toured Europe, recorded six LPs and was consolidated as one of the main folk conglomerates in Chile.[4]
In 1960 when Alarcón was still part of group Cuncumén, his first album titled Traditional Chilean Songs, was released in United States on the Folkways Records label. The album consists mainly of songs Chileans folkloric songs of the 19th century performed by Rolando. In 1988 the label "Alerce" reissued the album under the Spanish title Canciones tradicionales.[5][6] Rolando with Silvia Urbina joined at the La imagen de Chile tour held in Peru, Panama and United States. In 1962, after a tour to the socialist countries, Silvia and Rolando left the Cuncumén group and started a duo that resulted in Chile nuevo vol. 1, a 1964 album consisting of six songs written by Alarcón, Clemente Izurieta and Richard Rojas.[1][7] "Doña Javiera Carrera" (one of the songs from the album), won an composition competition for schools.[8] During 1963 composed some solo songs like "¿A dónde vas, soldado?" (included in the 1966 album, Rolando Alarcón), that generated a lot of controversy for its antimilitarist content. In addition, he wrote songs of social commitment such as "Yo defiendo a mi tierra" (I defend my land); and others more linked to the Chilean tradition, such as "Mocito que vas remando" (Little boy you're going rowing).[4][9] Later, he joined the cast of La pérgola de las flores for a tour in Mexico, in which he composed "Si somos americanos" (If we are Americans),[1] a song of clear continental feeling which, like others by Alarcón such as "Yo defiendo a mi tierra" and "Mocito que vas remando" were included in the 1965 album Rolando Alarcón y sus canciones, released on RCA Victor label.[4][10] The song was released as a single and reached number 8 on the Chilean charts.[11] Since 1965, he was one of the permanent artists of the Peña de los Parra, along with other outstanding Chilean singer-song writers such as Victor Jara or Patricio Manns. In 1967 he represented the Chilean singers in the First Protest Song Festival held in Cuba.[12][4] In 1966, he participated for the first time in the Festival de Viña, achieving third place with the song "Niña, sube a la lancha" performed by Pedro Messone. In 2000 that same song was chosen among the ten best in the history of the festival. In 1967 he released El nuevo Rolando Alarcón, where the composer's turn was towards social contingency and towards sounds that moved away from folklore to adopt more modern styles of the time, in addition to rhythms performed by Los Tickets.[1] In 1968 he released Canciones de la guerra civil española on his recently created label, Tiempo,[3] an album consisting of popular Spanish songs, the only piece composed by Alarcon is entitled "No pasaran". Carlos Valladares and Enrique San Martín from Los Emigrantes participated in the musical accompaniment.[13] In 1969, he got an honorable mention at the First Festival of the Nueva Canción Chilena with the song "Canción de Juan el pobre" (included in the album El Hombre).[14] In 1970, he won on the Viña del Mar International Song Festival with the song "El Hombre" (from the namesake album), performed by Los Emigrantes.[4] In 1971, was released on the DICAP label, Canta a los poetas soviéticos (Sing to the Soviet Poets), where he performs the work of the poet Yevgeni Yevtushenko and the singer-songwriter Bulat Okudzhava.[15] In 1972 released his last studio album titled El alma de mi pueblo, that featured the duo Los Emigrantes, group adherent to the then Popular Unity.[14] By this date, Alarcón was a determined activist in the campaign that would bring the socialist president Salvador Allende and the Popular Unity to power in Chile. As an enthusiast of the cause, he participated intensely until in 1973, in the middle of a "Chile Ríe y Canta" tour, his heart broke when he tried to push a bus from the Matadero-Palma route in which the Peña cast. An old ulcer caused internal bleeding,[1] and he died on February 4 at the Salvador Hospital, Santiago due to cardiac arrest.[3]
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