Margot Loyola Palacios (September 15, 1918 – August 3, 2015) was a musician,

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fo ...

singer and researcher of the

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

of Chile and Latin America in general. Loyola was active as a musician and musical ethnographer/anthropologist for many decades. She published a large body of work dealing with musical

style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...

s, folk music and customs of all Chilean regions as well as other South American countries. She also taught music.

Early career

Loyola was born in Linares, Chile in 1918. She studied piano with Rosita Renard and Elisa Gayán at the National Conservatory of Music of Chile, and studied song with Blanca Hauser. In 1952 she immersed herself in researching the typical Peruvian dances and musical forms, the ''

marinera Marinera is a courtship dance that originated along the coastal regions of Peru, using handkerchiefs as props. The dance is a mix of Spanish contradanza and Andean zamacueca, and is a stylized reenactment of a courtship, showing a blend of t ...

'' and the '' resbalosa''. This allowed her to study the origins of these dances and to characterize the simililarities between the Peruvian and Chilean ones (''resfalosa'' and '' cueca''). Subsequently, she worked with Porfirio Vásquez, the patriarch of black music in Peru, and then went on to study the

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

culture of Peru with José Maria Arguedas. Later, Loyola studied Argentine and Uruguayan

traditional A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

and

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

, with Carlos Vega and Lauro Ayestarán, respectively. In 1952, she began her celebrated research on the

ceremonial dance Ceremonial dance is a major category or classification of dance forms or dance styles, where the purpose is ceremonial or ritualistic. It is related to and overlaps with sacred dance and ecstatic dance. Definition History Description ...

s of the Chilean north, with Rogelia Perez and other musicians and groups. Loyola researched the

and traditional musical styles of all the regions of Chile as well as

Easter Island Easter Island ( rap, Rapa Nui; es, Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its ne ...

(a Chilean province, located in the

south Pacific Ocean South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

). She compiled and published a great deal of valuable material obtained from her scholarly research and was regarded as an artist and researcher of great authority. Among the art expressions she researched, some were virtually rescued from oblivion and

extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

by her work.

Legacy and recognition

Loyola created Chile's first

traditional music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...

and dance group, The Conjunto de Alumnos de Margot Loyola (Student Group of Margot Loyola), through which she effectively became an unofficial ambassadress of the

Chilean culture The culture of Chile reflects the population and the geographic isolation of the country in relation to the rest of South America. Since colonial times, the Chilean culture has been a mix of Spanish colonial elements with elements of indigenous (m ...

. In 1972, Loyola became a professor of the

University of Chile The University of Chile ( es, Universidad de Chile) is a public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

, and in 1998 she was made a

Professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

of the Catholic University of Valparaíso. She was awarded the coveted Chilean National Prize for Musical Arts in 1994 and the "Premio a lo Chileno" in 2001. She died on August 3, 2015 at the age of 96 in

Santiago de Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

Works

Loyola's activities resulted in several books, videos, LPs, cassettes and CDs.

Bibliography

* "Bailes de tierra" (Earth dances), (1980) * "El Cachimbo", (1994)

Videography

* "Danzas tradicionales de Chile" (Traditional dances of Chile), (1994) * "La

Zamacueca The Zamacueca is an ancient colonial dance and music that originated in the Viceroyalty of Peru, taking its roots from Spanish, and Andean rhythms. Although currently the dance is not widely popular, several dance institutions in places such as Pe ...

" (1999) * "Los del Estribo: Cantos y Danzas Populares de Chile", (2001)

Discography

* 14 LPs, 6 cassettes and 7 CDs, in addition to other editions in various other countries

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loyola, Margot 1918 births 2015 deaths Chilean folk singers 20th-century Chilean women singers University of Chile alumni University of Chile faculty Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso faculty Chilean guitarists Chilean singer-songwriters Chilean people of Basque descent People from Linares Chilean folklorists Women folklorists Women in Latin music