On a day like today, the Creole poet and interpreter Felipe Pinglo Alva was born in Barrios Altos

A day like today 121 years ago he was born in the Barrios Altos district, on July 18ht, 1899, in the heart of Lima; the composer, performer, and popular poet considered Creole music father; Felipe Pinglo Alva.

The Peruvian Creoleism father or the commoner as he is also known because he was the creator of the popular Creole waltz «Luis Enrique, the commoner», studied at the iconic Guadalupe Our Lady School in Lima. Forever displayed an exceptional talent for singing and composition, despite the fact that he had no professional training in music.

The revolutionary chords of Pinglo Alva were the greatest contribution to Creolism and to the Peruvian popular culture identity. He gave a new dimension to the Peruvian waltzes and was the creator of innumerable Creole successes that continue to this day. He rose to fame after his first composition called «Amelia» in 1917.

 

Felipe Pinglo with other composers             Source: Historia del Perú

He was the author of more than 300 musical pieces; and although most of them were Creole waltzes, he also dabbled in genres such as one-step and fox-trot. Among the themes that immortalized him, the best known and remembered are: «Luis Enrique, the commoner«, «The Mirror of my Life«, «My beloved’s garden», «Bouquet», «Back to the Neighborhood», «The Prayer of the Farmworker», «Begging», «Dreams of Opium», «El Canillita», «Rosa Luz» and «Amelia».

He died on May 13th, 1936, in the Odriozola ward from Dos de Mayo hospital, of unknown causes. Before dying, he gave the first and last interview of his life to the journalist Juan Francisco Castillo, for the missing weekly Cascabel.

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