Rolando Alarcón

From Hong Kong to Austria - and then from Austria to Chile. It should produce quite a jet lag. That's just the last 3 days.

In Chile, during the transition period between the 19th and the 20th century, there emerged a gay subculture in the bars and brothels of Santiago and Valparaiso, similar to the ones found in major European cities, but on a much smaller scale. For example, in the early twentieth century a kind of gay circuit existed in Santiago, around the Santa Lucia hill, the Mapocho Station and specific locations in the center. Points of secret meetings were "sleazy bars, public baths, brothels and parks". Also, since the 1940s, some bourgeois gay men lived in the neighborhood surrounding the Santa Lucia hill. They were part of a gay social structure, during the mid-twentieth century, and participated in a system of cultural codes. There prevailed the verbal transvestism, street life/cruising and the exercise of irony and subtext as a defense strategy. Part of this particular population were "lower-class men", who were in demand at the time for their "masculinity", as well as intellectuals, writers, and artists. Among them were Augusto D'halmar, Hernán Díaz Arrieta, Benjamin Subercaseaux, Luis Oyarzun, Roberto Humeres, Enrique Lafourcade and Rolando Alarcón.

("Una historia gay de Chile" by Óscar Contardo).

Rolando Alarcón Soto was born in Santiago, Chile on August 5, 1929. He grew up in Sewell, where he lived together with his parents, Atilio Alarcón de la Fuente and Zunilda Soto Riquelme, and his three brothers. At the age of ten he moved to Chillán in order to study, and it was also here that he became a teacher. He moved to Santiago in 1950 where he became interested in Folk music, and where in 1951 he started specializing, as a teacher, in that music.

His career as an artist began with the Folk ensemble Cuncumén, with which he toured Europe, twice. He also became its first musical director, remaining in the group until 1963. His instrumental arrangements and vocals were an influence on the vast majority of Folk musicians even until today. It was during this period, in 1960 in particular, that he recorded his first album, Traditional Chilean Songs. Si Yo Volviera A Quererte (If I Were To Love You) was the opening track:

After his departure from the Cuncumén, Alarcón formed a duet with Silvia Urbina with whom he recorded an LP of Russian songs and a mini album of Chilean Songs, called Chile Nuevo (New Chile). Here it is:

Between 1963 and 1964 he travelled around the world, as part of the cast of the musical "Imagen de Chile" (Images of Chile), and as part of the ensemble of the work La Pérgola de las Flores (The Pergola of Flowers). Between 1964 and 1965, he achieved recognition as a composer by giving songs to bands like Los Cuatro Cuartos ( Doña Javiera Carrera and Negro Cachimbo) and las Cuatro Brujas (Adónde Vas Soldado (Where Are You Going Soldier) and Mi Abuela Bailó Sirilla (My Grandmother Danced The Sirilla)).

Here's Negro Cachimbo by Los Cuatro Cuartos:

And here's Mi Abuela Bailó Sirilla by las Cuatro Brujas:

His next solo album came in 1965 and was called Rolando Alarcón Y Sus Canciones (Rolando Alarcón And His Songs). From that album, here's his hit Si Somos Americanos (If We Are Americans):

Another hit was Mocito Que Vas Remando (Little Fellow, You Are Going Rowing):

In 1966, another successful album, with his name as the title, was released. From that one, here's La Canción De La Noche (Song Of The Night):

By this time, Rolando had become involved with left-wing politics and joined the movement la Nueva Canción (the New Song), and his next record, 1967's El Nuevo Rolando Alarcón (The New Rolando Alarcón) was part of this movement: this cost him the removal of two of his songs, Se Olvidaron De La Patria (They Forgot The Homeland) and Escuche Usted General (Listen, General), which were censored. Here's a song that remained in the album, Don José Miguel Carrera:

... And here's Se Olvidaron De La Patria, which was finally released in 1969:

In 1968 he formed his own label, Tiempo, which he inaugurated with the album Canciones de la Guerra Civil Española (Songs from The Spanish Civil War). No pasarán (They Shall Not Pass) was one of the most famous morale-lifting songs of the era:

By 1969, the left-leaning party of Salvador Allende, who would become Chile's president on November 1970, was going strong, so the cencorship was a little more relaxed. That allowed Alarcón to include the formerly cencored Se Olvidaron De La Patria in his next album, El mundo folklórico de Rolando Alarcón (The Folk World of Rolando Alarcón), an album that also included collaborations with internationally renowned Folk singers. Here he is in La balada de Ho Chi Minh, with Ewan MacColl:

In Guantanamera, he joins forces with José Martí and Joseíto Fernández:

Here he is in ¿Dónde Están Las Flores? (Where Have All The Flowers Gone?) with Pete Seeger. To my very good friend Ella, who knew Pete Seeger and was in Latin America with the Peace Corps, I dedicate this song with great affection:

His next two records, also in 1969, were even more political. They were A La Resistencia Española (For The Spanish Resistance) and Por Cuba y Vietnam (For Cuba And Vietnam).

His next album came out in 1970 and was called El Hombre (The Man). He participated in the Festival of Cosquín with the title track:

His next album, Rolando Alarcón Canta A Los Poetas Soviéticos (Rolando Alarcón Sings Soviet Poets) (1971) contained the song Cuando Mataron A Lorca (When They Killed Lorca):

His penultimate album, also from 1971, was Canciones Desde Una Prisión (Songs From A Prison). From it, here's Pobrecita La Llave (Poor Little Key):

His last album, at least while he was alive, was El Alma De Mi Pueblo (The Soul Of My People), in 1972. From this album, here's Voy A Recorrer Mi Ciudad (To My City I'll Go):

Alarcón died on February 4, 1973. In an interview, Patricio Manns says that Alarcón suffered an internal hemorrhage and was taken to a first-aid station instead of a hospital, that the doctors there refused to operate on him because they were enemies of Allende, and that he died after five days. This was about 6 months before the Pinochet coup. (A relative of Alarcón says this story is apocryphal: that Alarcón was in Chañarall and had a bleeding ulcer, that he travelled to Santiago, was admitted to a hospital, and died on the operating table.)

Rolando Alarcón, a gay man who had to live clandestinely most of his life due to the prevailing hostility against gay people in those days, had even the president, Salvador Allende, expressing his grief at his funeral. The man who blended the strummed-guitar Folk sound with the drums and panpipes of indigenous Andean music, was now part of the collective memory.