album rating: ★★★★★
a) Genre
Argentine folklore / Milonga / Payada. El Payador Perseguido (The Pursued Troubadour) is a single extended work in the tradition of the payada -- the Argentine and Uruguayan art of improvised or composed narrative verse sung to guitar accompaniment, rooted in the gaucho oral poetry tradition. The piece is structured as a relato por milonga (a narrative told in the milonga rhythm), spanning approximately 36 minutes and divided into two parts across a vinyl LP side. It draws on the literary and musical tradition of the gaucho epic, most directly on Jose Hernandez's poem Martin Fierro (1872/1879). Yupanqui inhabits the persona of an outcast payador who sings of social injustice, political repression, the wisdom of indigenous cultures, the land, and the imperative of artistic integrity. The 1973 recording is a re-recording of the work, originally recorded in Argentina in 1964 on Odeon Records. For the 1973 version, Yupanqui re-recorded the piece in Paris, where he had been in self-imposed exile since the early 1950s following political persecution in Argentina.
b) Release
The 1973 version was released in France on Le Chant du Monde (catalogue LDX 74506), a French left-wing independent label historically associated with folk, world music, and politically engaged artists; it operated under the broader Le Nouveau Chansonnier International imprint for this release. Le Chant du Monde had previously issued several of Yupanqui's French exile recordings. An Argentine LP edition in gatefold format was released simultaneously or shortly thereafter. A separate Argentine LP edition (catalogue including a two-disc presentation of Parts 1 and 2 of El Payador Perseguido alongside the full 36-minute relato) was released under different catalogue numbers. Earlier Argentine pressings of the original 1964 recording had appeared on Odeon. Multiple subsequent digital and CD reissues have been made available through Universal and successor catalogues.
c) Production
Atahualpa Yupanqui performed and recorded the work as a solo artist, accompanying himself on guitar throughout -- the payada tradition requires no external accompaniment. No separate producer is credited on the 1973 French release; the recording was self-directed and artistically autonomous, consistent with Yupanqui's working practice throughout his French exile period. The text and music of El Payador Perseguido are entirely Yupanqui's own composition -- an original work of narrative poetry set to the milonga rhythm, not a collection of folk songs.
d) Recording
The 1973 version was recorded in Paris, France. Yupanqui had been based in Paris since the early 1950s, when he had fled Argentina following political persecution related to his membership of the Argentine Communist Party. The original recording of the same work had been made in Argentina in 1964 for Odeon Records. The 1973 Paris re-recording was made to give the work wider international distribution through Le Chant du Monde's European network.
e) Reception
El Payador Perseguido is considered by many specialists and devoted listeners to be one of the most important recordings in the history of Latin American music. A passionate Discogs reviewer asserts: 'THIS is one of the most FUNDAMENTAL RECORDS made in Latinamerica in the last 3 CENTURIES', arguing that Yupanqui -- 'born to aborigen and indio parents' -- 'is telling here the whole knowledge and wisdom of many and many generations' of Quechua, Quichua, Inca, Atacameno, Diaguita, and Calchaquie ancestors. The same reviewer describes him as 'the most influential folklore singer in Latinamerica along with Violeta Parra.' The work is explicitly autobiographical and politically charged: in the key passage of El Payador Perseguido, Yupanqui sings, 'Yo no canto a los tiranos / Ni por den del patron... Por la fuerza de mi canto / Conozco celda y penal' (I do not sing for tyrants / Nor at the master's bidding... By the power of my song / I have known cell and penal colony). Rate Your Music does not have a separate entry for the 1973 version; the 1964 original version carries a rating of 3.83 from 42 listeners. The Argentine cultural establishment has retrospectively recognised the work as a cornerstone of national cultural heritage.
Atahualpa Yupanqui
Hector Roberto Chavero Aramburu (born 31 January 1908, Campo de la Cruz, Pergamino, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina -- died 23 May 1992, Nimes, France), known by the Quechua pseudonym Atahualpa Yupanqui, was an Argentine guitarist, singer-songwriter, and poet widely considered the greatest figure in Argentine folk music history and one of the towering presences of 20th-century Latin American music. He adopted his pseudonym from two figures of Quechua history: Atahualpa, the last Inca emperor, and Tupac Yupanqui, an Inca conqueror. His father was of Quechua and Spanish descent; his mother of Basque heritage. He was born in the province of Buenos Aires but grew up in the northwestern Argentine interior, absorbing the music, poetry, and oral traditions of the gaucho and indigenous cultures of the pampas and Andean foothills. He learned guitar as a child and began performing publicly as a teenager. His political activism led to his persecution by successive Argentine governments: in 1945 he joined the Communist Party of Argentina and was subsequently forbidden from performing in public or recording; many of his songs were banned from radio. He went into exile in Paris in 1949, where he was warmly received -- Pablo Picasso attended one of his early Paris concerts -- and where he would live for most of the remaining decades of his life, while continuing to record and perform internationally. He recorded over 70 albums. He received the Grand Prix du Disque from the Academie Charles Cros in France. He influenced Argentines including Mercedes Sosa, Leon Gieco, and Gustavo Santaolalla, and was admired by figures including Edith Piaf (who recorded his song 'Le Jardinier'), Jorge Luis Borges, and Pablo Neruda. He died in Nimes, France, in 1992 while on a concert tour, at the age of 84.
This text was generated by Claude (Anthropic). It may contain errors or inaccuracies
