Rodolfo Parada Lillo is a Chilean musician, composer, engineer and anthropologist. Parada joined

Quilapayún Quilapayún () are a folk music group from Chile and among the longest lasting and most influential ambassadors of the ''Nueva Canción Chilena'' movement and genre. Formed during the mid-1960s, the group became inseparable with the revolution th ...

in 1968, which made the group into a

sextet A sextet (or hexad) is a formation containing exactly six members. The former term is commonly associated with vocal ensembles (e.g. The King's Singers, Affabre Concinui) or musical instrument groups, but can be applied to any situation where six ...

- the formation which recorded the “ Cantata Santa María de Iquique. Upon joining the group he became the major solo voice of the ensemble (e.g. in ''“Dicen que la patria es…”, “Por que los pobres no tienen”, “Plegaria a un labrador”, “Vamos mujer”''. A fan of the “chanson française” he decided to reduce his activity as a student leader while the group was at its popularity peak during the

Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (, , ; 26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 3 November 1970 until his death on 11 September 1973. He was the fir ...

Government. He first composed ''“Ausencia”'' for the group in their “Quilapayún 5” album with assistance from

Eduardo Carrasco Eduardo Guillermo Carrasco Pirard (born July 2, 1940 in Santiago) is a Chilean musician, university professor of philosophy, author, and one of the founders of the Chilean folk music group Quilapayún - and the group's musical director from 1969 t ...

. Whilst in exile he composed the instrumental music pieces: ''“Susurro”'' and ''"El paso del ñandu"'', plus he also composed music for Pablo Neruda's poem ''"El arbol de los libres"'' and for Rafael Alberti's ''"La primavera"''. After exile his voice register underwent a change and he assumed a lower vocal range e.g. ''“Ronda del ausente”, “Luz negra”; “Complainte de Pablo Neruda”'' - inter alia. After

left the band in 1989 and became the group director and principal composer. During this period he earned a doctorate in anthropology from the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

in Paris, and when the activity of the band decreased he worked in the

French Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture (french: Ministère de la Culture) is the ministry of the Government of France in charge of national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and protection of the arts (visua ...

. Parada was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (order of arts and letters) which is a national order of merit the French Republic grants individuals recognized for their outstanding contribution to the development of culture.

References

Chilean anthropologists University of Paris alumni Chilean folk singers 20th-century Chilean male singers Nueva canción musicians Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Chilean male artists {{chile-musician-stub