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Chilean ensemble Inti-Illimani, which plays Latin American music on more than 30 wind, string, and percussion instruments, will perform 8 p.m. today at the Williams Center for the Arts.
Tickets cost $4 with Lafayette ID and $18 for the public, and may be purchased by calling the box office at 610-330-5009.
The ensemble will give a free workshop noon Wednesday about the “neuva cancion” movement in Latin American music.
Deeply steeped in the folk traditions of South America, Inti-Illimani enjoys a cult following for the haunting beauty of its songs; the lilting rhythms of guitars, flute, and violin; and its evocative indigenous stringed instruments and Andean pipes. Its performances are marked by celebrations of cultural identity and fervent invocations of humanity, pacifism, and triumph of freedom over oppression.
With this year marking the 30th anniversary of the Pinochet coup in Chile, the group has been involved in recent cultural events throughout South America celebrating the return of democracy to the country.
“Few Latin American acts can rival the Chilean group in terms of the sheer beauty of sound,” states the Los Angeles Times. “Much like a Zen affirmation, Inti-Illimani’s music floats within your soul, filling it with calmness and hope.”
“Inti-Illimani’s voices are strong, especially when all musicians are singing in unison, harmony or counterpoint,” says the New York Times. “The string work is excellent, with intricate arrangements that sometimes fit together in a socket-like manner.”
Known for their open-minded musical approach, the “Intis” met in the 1960s at Santiago Technical University, where they planned to become engineers. However, they formed as a musical ensemble while exploring the indigenous cultures of Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Argentina. In 1973, Chilean President Salvador Allende was deposed while Inti-Illimani was on tour in Europe, and Italy became the group’s home for the next 14 years. In 1988, Inti-Illimani was warmly welcomed back to Chile, moving home permanently in 1990. The group became, and remains, South America’s ambassador of human expression.
Inti-Illimani has appeared on Amnesty International stages with Peter Gabriel, Bruce Springsteen, Mercedes Sosa, Sting, and Wynton Marsalis and at benefit concerts for the Victor Jara Foundation (London, Dortmund, Glasgow) with Gabriel, Paco Peña, John Williams, Emma Thompson, Karen Matheson, Maria Farantouri, Salsa Celtica, and the Rambert Dance Company.
“We have never been so political that it was propaganda,” Jorge Coulon, a founding member. “We are not a political group in that sense, but we have always been politically engaged. We have a concept of society and about the relationships between human beings, and we try to translate our ideas into our sound, not to be part of one political party or another, but in the sense to bring about a better world.”
In 2000, Inti-Illimani signed a worldwide license agreement with Warner Brothers Latin America, which has released The Best of Inti-Illimani: 1973-1987; Inti-Illimani Performs Victor Jara, a selection of works by the late Chilean composer, singer, poet, actor, and close friend of the Intis; and Inti-Illimani: Antologia en vivo, live tracks spanning 33 years. Xenophile Records also released The Best of Inti-Illimani with works from the four titles the group recorded with the company during the 1990s. In November 2002, Inti-Illimani released Lugares Comunes (Common Places) and is touring through 2004 in South America, Italy, the United States, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Inti-Illimani continues to be the most nominated group at the annual Entertainment Journalist Association Awards Ceremony in Santiago.
The nationally recognized Performance Series attracts more than 10,000 people each season. It has been cited for performing excellence by the National Endowment for the Arts, National Dance Project, Chamber Music America, Lila Wallace Reader’s Digest Fund, Pennsylvania Arts and Humanities Councils, and Association of Performing Arts Presenters.
Inti-Illimani’s visit to Lafayette is supported by the James Bradley Fund, created by his widow, Helen Bradley, who recently died at her home in Weston, Mass.
The 2003-04 Performance Series at Lafayette is supported in part by gifts from Friends of the Williams Center for the Arts; by the F.M. Kirby Foundation; by provisions of the Alan and Wendy Pesky Artist-in-Residence Program, the James Bradley Fund, and the Ed Brunswick Jazz Fund; and by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour, and New England Foundation for the Arts.