Gilbert Favre (November 19, 1936 – December 12, 1998) was a clarinetist from Geneva, Switzerland. He trained at the Conservatory of Geneva, and also played jazz clarinet. In South America, he discovered the quena, and when he moved to Bolivia, he traded in his clarinet. In La Paz, he created the musical cabaret "La Peña Naira" at the Plaza San Francisco featuring indigenous music. The club became a hub for the diplomatic corps stationed in La Paz, as well as a favorite for Bolivians. Gilbert was the founding member of the popular

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

n folk group Los Jairas. Favre was commonly referred to as "El Gringo" by the Bolivian public. Favre traveled from Geneva to South America as assistant to the Swiss anthropologist Jean Christian Spahni. In Santiago, Favre met celebrated Chilean folk singer

Violeta Parra Violeta del Carmen Parra Sandoval (; 4 October 1917 – 5 February 1967) was a Chilean composer, singer-songwriter, folklorist, ethnomusicologist and visual artist. She pioneered the Nueva Canción Chilena (The Chilean New Song), a renewal and a ...

and fell in love. Favre played quena with Violeta and her son Angel Parra. He appears on recordings as "El Tocador Afuerino". Favre eventually left for Bolivia, where he created "La Peña Naira" and started experimenting with Andean music playing alongside virtuoso guitar player Alfredo Dominguez and renowned

charango The charango is a small Andes, Andean stringed instrument of the lute family, from the Quechua people, Quechua and Aymara people, Aymara populations in the territory of the Altiplano in post-Colonial times, after European stringed instruments we ...

player Ernesto Cavour. Parra appeared several times at La Pena. Favre returned to Geneva in the early 1960s together with Parra; after a few years in Europe, they returned to South America. As the Trio Domínguez-Favre-Cavour gained media attention and became increasingly popular for their "neofolklore", Favre decided not to move back to Chile and left Parra for good; she would later write "Run Run Se Fue Pa'l Norte," dedicated to her lover. Violetta Parra would later commit suicide. Their relationship was portrayed in the award-winning film ''

Violeta Went to Heaven ''Violeta Went to Heaven'' () is a 2011 Chilean biographical drama film about singer and folklorist Violeta Parra, directed by Andrés Wood. The film is based on a biography by Ángel Parra, Violeta's son with Luis Cereceda Arenas. He colla ...

'' (2011), in which Favre was played by Thomas Durand.Violeta Went to Heaven (IMDB)
/ref> Favre met his first wife Indiana in Bolivia; they settled in the

Dordogne Dordogne ( , or ; ; ) is a large rural departments of France, department in south west France, with its Prefectures in France, prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and ...

area of France and had two sons, Patrick and Christian. The couple later divorced and while in Paris, Favre met his second wife Barbara Erskine, then working for the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

. They lived in Russin, Switzerland, where Favre died in 1998. Christian died in a motorcar accident while holidaying in France.

References

1936 births 1998 deaths Swiss folk flautists Swiss expatriates Expatriates in Bolivia Swiss people of French descent Place of birth missing Los Jairas members 20th-century flautists Expatriates in Chile {{flautist-stub