Los Jaivas

Los Jaivas is a Chilean folk band consisting of:

• Eduardo Alquinta
• Juanita Parra (replacing Gabriel Parra)
• Mario Mutis
• Eduardo Parra

and

• Claudio Parra

They appeared in Chilean music in 1963 as a progressive-rock-andino group, mixing rock with South American ancestral music. The Parra brothers met Mario Mutis and Gato Alquinta in their childhood and they started to play music for fun. They became prominent in Viña del Mar, playing at many parties. The former name of the band was High-bass, but after a while they entered a new phase, more hippie and very South-Americanist, so they decided to change the name to Jaivas.

Their albums are El Volantin, Todos juntos, Sueños de America, El indio, Palomita blanca soundtrack, Sueños de America, Mambo de machaguay, Aconcagua, Alturas de machu picchu, Si tu no estas, Obras de violeta parra, Mamalluca, Hijos de la tierra, Trilogia el rencuentro, Arrebol.

The band lived in Argentina, after a military government took over in Chile, until 1977, then went to France. The first change in the band was in 1988 when Gabriel died in Peru. His daughter Juanita took his place behind the drums. In January of 2003, the main voice, Gato Alquinta, died in Coquimbo, Chile, of a heart attack. The band started again with Gato's sons: Ankatu (guitar), Eloy (saxophone) and Aurora (vocals).

In August 2003, Los Jaivas will celebrate its first 40 years in music.