Gilbert Favre (November 19, 1936 – December 12, 1998) was a clarinetist from Geneva, Switzerland. He trained at the Conservatory of Geneva, and also played jazz clarinet. In South America, he discovered the

quena The quena (hispanicized spelling of Quechua ''qina'', sometimes also written ''kena'' in English) is the traditional flute of the Andes. Traditionally made of cane or wood, it has 6 finger holes and one thumb hole, and is open on both ends or th ...

, and when he moved to Bolivia, he traded in his clarinet. In La Paz, he created the musical cabaret La Pena de Naira at the Place San Francisco featuring indigenous music. The club became a hub for the diplomatic corps stationed in La Paz, as well as a favorite for Bolivians. Gilbert was the founding member of the popular

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

n folk group

Los Jairas Los Jairas was a Bolivian folk music group that was active in the 1960s. Their work features the charango, a stringed instrument from Bolivia. ''World Music'' wrote that "In Bolivia innumerable groups have followed the Los Jairas model. Among th ...

. Favre was commonly referred to as "El Gringo" by the Bolivian public. Favre traveled from Geneva to South America as assistant to the Swiss anthropologist Jean Christian Spahni. In Santiago, Favre met celebrated Chilean folk singer

Violeta Parra Violeta del Carmen Parra Sandoval (; 4 October 1917 – 5 February 1967) was a Chilean composer, singer-songwriter, folklorist, ethnomusicologist and visual artist. She pioneered the Nueva Canción Chilena (The Chilean New Song), a renewal and ...

and fell in love. Favre played quena with Violeta and her son Angel Parra. He appears on recordings as "El Tocador Afuerino". Favre eventually left for Bolivia, where he created La Pena de Naira and started experimenting with Andean music playing alongside virtuoso guitar player Alfredo Dominguez and renowned

charango The charango is a small Andean stringed instrument of the lute family, from the Quechua and Aymara populations in the territory of the Altiplano in post-Colonial times, after European stringed instruments were introduced by the Spanish during c ...

player Ernesto Cavour. Parra appeared several times at La Pena. Favre returned to Geneva in the early 1960s together with Parra; after a few years in Europe, they returned to South America. As the Trio Domínguez-Favre-Cavour gained media attention and became increasingly popular for their "neofolklore", Favre decided not to move back to Chile and left Parra for good; she would later write "Run Run Se Fue Pa'l Norte," dedicated to her lover. Violetta Parra would later commit suicide. Their relationship was portrayed in the award-winning film ''

Violeta Went to Heaven ''Violeta Went to Heaven'' ( es, Violeta se fue a los cielos) is a 2011 Chilean biopic about singer and folklorist Violeta Parra, directed by Andrés Wood. The film is based on a biography by Ángel Parra, Violeta's son with Luis Cereceda Aren ...

'' (2011), in which Favre was played by Thomas Durand.Violeta Went to Heaven (IMDB)
/ref> Favre met his first wife Indiana in Bolivia; they settled in the

Dordogne Dordogne ( , or ; ; oc, Dordonha ) is a large rural department in Southwestern France, with its prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and the Pyrenees, it is named af ...

area of France and had two sons, Patrick and Christian. The couple later divorced and while in Paris, Favre met his second wife

Barbara Erskine Barbara Erskine (born 10 August 1944) is an English novelist. She was born in Nottingham in 1944. Her father was World War II Battle of Britain flying ace Squadron Leader Nigel Rose. Erskine has a degree in medieval Scottish history from Univer ...

, then working for the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

. They lived in

Russin Russin is a municipality in the canton of Geneva in Switzerland. History Russin is first mentioned around 1100 as ''Russino und Rucins''. In 1217 it was mentioned as ''Russins''. Geography Russin has an area, , of . Of this area, or 53.6% ...

, Switzerland, where Favre died in 1998. Christian died in a motorcar accident while holidaying in France.

References

1936 births 1998 deaths Swiss folk flautists Swiss expatriates in Chile Swiss expatriates in Bolivia Swiss people of French descent Place of birth missing Los Jairas members 20th-century flautists {{flautist-stub