Benjamín "Chamín" Correa (4 December 1929 – 14 January 2020) was a Mexican guitarist. He was renowned in the Spanish-speaking world for his traditional romantic music. Member of Los Tres Caballeros together with
Roberto Cantoral
Roberto Cantoral García (7 June 1935 – 7 August 2010) was a Mexican composer, singer and songwriter. He was known for composing a string of hit Mexican songs, including "El Triste", "Al Final", "La Barca" and " El Reloj" The Sociedad de Auto ...
and Leonel Gálvez from 1954. In 1957 they gained 4 golden discs for being the trio of major success on a global scale. He died in
Cuernavaca
Cuernavaca (; nci-IPA, Cuauhnāhuac, kʷawˈnaːwak "near the woods", ) is the capital and largest city of the state of Morelos in Mexico. The city is located around a 90-minute drive south of Mexico City using the Federal Highway 95D.
The na ...
, Morelos at the age of 90.
Career
He was only 5 years old when his father Don Manuel Escamilla, director of the Fine Arts Symphony, introduced him to the beautiful world of the guitar. Later he took classical guitar lessons with his maternal grandfather Judge Enrique Pérez de León.
Chicago Tribune: "Chamin Correa Perez de León learned classical guitar when he was kneehigh from his grandfather and by the time he was 11 he was plugged in and gigging all over Mexico City."
His career spans over six decades and he has released 150 records on vinyl and in CD format. They call him the "Requinto De Oro" which translates to "Golden Requinto" because of his talent of playing the
Requinto Guitar
A requinto guitar is a smaller version of a classical guitar, with a scale length between 52-54cm. It is tuned a fourth higher than a standard classical guitar, to A2-D3-G3-C4-E4-A4. They often, but not always, have a cutout to reach the higher ...
.
On his own web site there are a number of videos, one shows him singing in a lead role in a black-and-white movie from the 1950s. Another video shows him in a recent concert performing with Gloria Estefan. This shows how long he has performed at the forefront of the genre of traditional Latin-American music.
Chamin Correa has released many albums, both solo and with groups - including Los Tres Caballeros. He has also recorded with many famous artists, including
El Tri,
Dave Brubeck
David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasti ...
,
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...
,
Gloria Estefan
Gloria Estefan (; born Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García; born 1 September 1957) is a Cuban-American singer, actress, and businesswoman. Estefan is a seven-time Grammy Award winner, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, and has been ...
,
José José
José Rómulo Sosa Ortiz (17 February 1948 – 28 September 2019), known professionally as José José, was a Mexican singer and actor. Born into a family of musicians, José began his musical career in his early teens playing guitar and sin ...
,
Enrique Guzmán
Enrique Guzmán (born February 1, 1943) is a Venezuelan-born Mexican singer and actor. He is one of the pioneers of Rock & Roll in Mexico, along with César Costa, Angélica María, Johnny Laboriel and Alberto Vasquez, among others. He is als ...
,
Luis Miguel
Luis Miguel Gallego Basteri (born 19 April 1970) is a Puerto Rican-born Mexican singer, often referred to as ''El Sol de México'' (The Sun of Mexico), which is the nickname his mother gave him as a child—"mi sol". Luis Miguel has sung in mu ...
,
Victor Yturbe El Piruli, and
Marco Antonio Muñiz
Marco Antonio Muñiz (born 3 March 1933) is a Mexican singer from Jalisco, Mexico. Known all over Latin America, he also acted in the 1965 film '' Sinful'' ( Spanish: El Pecador). He belongs to the Golden Age of Mexican cinema.
Early life and car ...
. His main instrument is a nylon-stringed concert guitar.
His most popular songs include 'El reloj', 'La barca', 'Donde estás', 'Poquita Fe', 'Regalame esta noche', 'Alma de Cristal' and 'Noche no te vayas'.
Unfortunately Chamín Correa died in a hospital in Mexico City at around 7:00 PM January 14, 2020. Chamín died in his sleep, the cause of death was
Pulmonary emphysema
Emphysema, or pulmonary emphysema, is a lower respiratory tract disease, characterised by air-filled spaces ( pneumatoses) in the lungs, that can vary in size and may be very large. The spaces are caused by the breakdown of the walls of the alve ...
. They interviewed his daughter shortly after the news came out of his death. Chamín had some health issues in his later years and he was in really bad condition in his last months.
Famous singer
Rodrigo De La Cadena
Rodrigo Alvarez de la Cadena (born 3 January 1988) is a Mexican singer, performer, songwriter, radio host and musician. He is best known for his performances with a variety of worldwide artists and performers. He is also the host of a live radio ...
made a tribute for Chamín Correa held at
Teatro De La Ciudad
The (Theater of the City) was built as the (Esperanza Iris Theatre) in 1918 and is now one of Mexico City’s public venues for cultural events. The theater is located in the historic center of Mexico City on Donceles Street 36.
The former Espe ...
on February 9, 2020. Various artists collaborated with Rodrigo such as Chamin's family.
Producer, arranger, artist
For thirty years as artistic director he directed and produced with his arrangements for artists such as Enrique Guzman, Oscar Chavez, Julio Iglesias, Tehua, Lucho Gatica, Olga Guillot, Flor Silvestre, Tony Aguilar, Luis Miguel, Gloria Estefan, Simon, Juan Gabriel, Vicente Fernandez, Rocio Durcal, Tania Libertad, José José and Victor Iturbe "El Piruli" among others.
Romaproducciones site
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In his role as guitarist in IM Records, he sold over 5 million of the instrumental album "Cuerdas, Amor y Guitarra" playing different kinds of guitars such as the fife, acoustics, electro- acoustic, country, steel, electrical and even different types of electric bass. He has been awarded four golden records and for eight consecutive years "The Golden Guitar" award at the Festival of Pezzaro in Italy.[Romaproducciones](_blank)
/ref>
In May 1967 Correa appeared with Dave Brubeck
David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasti ...
and his quartet in a series of live performances in Mexico City. The concerts were issued on the album '' Bravo! Brubeck!'' in 1967.
Guitars produced branded with his name
Chamin Correa, internationally renowned artist, is currently seen as the best Requinto of America. That is why a line of guitars is produced which bears his name, "Correa Chamin Guitars," and has a wide variety of high quality models supervised by him personally.
Discography
Solo releases
*''Cuerdas, amor y guitarra, Vol. 5''(2005)
*''Éxitos, Vol. 2'' (2002)
*''30 grandes éxitos'' (2000)
*''20 éxitos'' (2000)
*''Cuerdas, amor y guitarra'' (2000)
*''Cuerdas, amor y guitarra, Vol. 2'' (2000)
*''A mi amigo José'' (1999)
*''Colección de Oro'' (1999)
*''Bolero'' (1995)
*''En Vivo, Vol. 1'' (?)
Appearances
* (2008)
*''Su historia y éxitos musicales, Vol. 1'' (2004)
*''Su historia y éxitos musicales, Vol. 2'' (2004)
*''De qué manera te olvido/Lobo herido, Vol. 11'' (2003)
*''El Príncipe con trío, Vol. 3'' (2003)
*''El Príncipe con trío, Vol. 2'' (2003)
*''El Príncipe con trío, Vol. 1'' (2003)
*''Colección RCA: 100 años de música'' (2002)
*''Canciones inéditas de María'' (2001)
*''Greatest Hits, Vol. 2'' (2001)
*''Dulce romance'' (2000)
*''30 éxitos'' (2000)
*''15 éxitos'' (2000)
*''Latinoamor'' (2000)
*''20 éxitos'' (2000)
*Lobo herido (2000)
*Todo o nada (1998)
*''Te deseo, amor, Vol. 2'' (1997)
*''Me vas a extrañar'' (1994)
*''Te deseo, amor'' (1993)
*''Time Signatures: A Career Retrospective'' (1992)
*''El dueto del siglo'' (?)
*''Serie Platino'' (?)
*''Mi tierra'' (?)
*'' Bravo! Brubeck!'' ( Columbia, live, 1967)
References
External links
*
Romaproducciones
Chamin Correa Timeline
{{DEFAULTSORT:Correa, Chamin
Mexican guitarists
Mexican male guitarists
1933 births
2020 deaths
Respiratory disease deaths in Mexico
Deaths from emphysema