Florentín Giménez (14 March 1925 – 11 March 2021) was a

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

an pianist and composer.

Biography

Giménez was born in

Ybycuí Ybycuí is a Paraguayan rural community of the department of Paraguari, located 120 km away from Asunción, and 40 km from the Ruta una (Route 1). Toponimics Its name means "Sandy" in Guaraní. Geography Ybycuí is located 122& ...

Paraguarí Department Paraguarí (; Guaraní: Paraguari) is a ''departamento'' in Paraguay. At the 2002 census it had a population of 221,932.Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. After the war, he returned to Paraguay and formed his first orchestra, “Ritmos de América” (America’s Rhythms). In 1950, he formed the 14-member orchestra “Florentín Giménez y su típica Moderna”, which featured singers Oscar Escobar, Juan Carlos Miranda, Carlos Centurión, and Jorge Alonso. The group toured extensively in Argentina. During this same period, he formed an orchestra dedicated solely to folk music. Because of his protests against the government, Giménez was labeled a communist and arrested in 1953. He was jailed for several months. Upon his release, he signed a contract to play with his orchestra in more than 80 Brazilian cities, but the government refused to allow him to leave the country. In 1956, Giménez left Paraguay. Among his symphonic works are “Minas cué”, “El río de la esperanza”, “Ciclos”, “Fantasía Étnica”, and “Misa Paraguaya”. He has also composed music for plays and films. He died from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Paraguay The COVID-19 pandemic in Paraguay is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was confirmed to have reached Paraguay on March 7, 2020, in ...

, three days short from his 96th birthday.Falleció Florentín Giménez

References

External links

* Diccionario de la música paraguaya. Luis Szarán. Asunción Paraguay

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gimenez, Florentin 1925 births 2021 deaths Paraguayan composers Male composers People from Paraguarí Department Paraguayan pianists Male pianists 21st-century pianists 21st-century male musicians Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Paraguay