Raquel Barros Aldunate (2 December 1919 – 11 August 2014) was a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

an folklorist noted for her studies and dissemination of .

Biography

In 1952, Raquel Barros founded the Folkloric Association of Chile, of which she was the director for many years. This group, currently called the Raquel Barros Folkloric Group of Chile, is the country's oldest group. Between 1958 and 1980, she was a researcher at the

University of Chile The University of Chile () is a public university, public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

at the Institute of Musical Research and then at the Music Department. Barros was vice-dean and assistant dean of the Faculty of Musical Sciences and Arts and Performance of that house of studies between 1974 and 1975. In 1973, she was the director of the . Barros always combined research with folklore practice. Even at an advanced age, she worked on disseminating Chilean culture. At 82, she headed the cultural center of the Municipality of Recoleta. In 1996, she was appointed Corresponding Member of the Permanent International Folklore Commission, based in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, Argentina. In 2004, she was a member of the "FONDART" Project Qualification Commission of the

National Council of Culture and the Arts The National Council of Culture and the Arts (CNCA) was the Chilean government agency responsible for arts and cultural policy. The council was founded in 2003 and amalgamated arts and cultural policy under a single agency. It was a cabinet-level ...

. Raquel Barros died at the in Santiago on 11 August 2014 after suffering a fall at her home.

Publications

Some of Barros' publications include: * "El folklore de Chiloé", published by the National Secretariat of Women for the OAS meeting, Santiago, 1976 (with Manuel Dannemann) * "La poesía folklórica de Melipilla", ''Revista Musical Chilena'', No. 60, Santiago, 1958 * "La danza folklórica chilena – Investigación y enseñanza", ''Revista Musical Chilena'', No. 71, Santiago, 1960 * "El guitarrón en el Depto. de Puente Alto", ''Revista Musical Chilena'', No. 74, Santiago, 1960 * "Introducción al estudio de la tonada", ''Revista Musical Chilena'', No. 109, Santiago, 1964 * ''Guía metodológica para el estudio del folklore chileno'', Editorial Universitaria, Santiago, 1964 * ''La ruta de la Virgen de Palo Colorado'', Santiago, 1966 * ''El romancero chileno'', Santiago, 1970 In addition, Barros made numerous compilations of folk music that are on tapes in the Traditional Music Archive of the .

Honors

Raquel Barros received countless awards and recognitions for her work disseminating Chilean folklore in Chile and other countries. In 1992, she won a medal from the Municipality of Santiago for her contribution to traditional Chilean culture; this municipality had already given her a medal in 1971 when the 20 years of the Chilean Folkloric Association were approaching. Several municipalities and other Chilean organizations have recognized her work, including the Municipality of

Talagante Talagante () is a commune and the capital city of the province of the same name in the Santiago Metropolitan Region of central Chile. The word ''Talagante'' in Quechua comes from ''talacanta'', meaning "Lazo de Hechicero", which was the prope ...

(1992), the (1993), the Council of Music (1996), the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

(2000), the National Folklore Prize of the San Bernardo Festival (2000), and the Chilean Cueca Samuel Claro Valdés Award (2009). In 2013, she received the

Altazor Award The Altazor Award of the National Arts or simply Altazor, is a Chilean award which is awarded annually. The winners are chosen by the own creators and performers of the arts. They were established in 1958, but were not awarded until 1999. The a ...

in the Traditional Folklore – Researcher category. In 2014, she received the

Pablo Neruda Order of Artistic and Cultural Merit The Pablo Neruda Order of Artistic and Cultural Merit () was created in 2004 by the National Council of Culture and the Arts (Chile), National Council of Culture and the Arts of the government of Chile, as part of the commemoration of the 100th ann ...

along with 11 other personalities from her country's artistic field.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barros, Raquel 1919 births 2014 deaths Chilean folklorists Chilean women folklorists Chilean people of Basque descent People from Santiago, Chile Academic staff of the University of Chile