Pepe Villalobos
Pepe Villalobos | |
|---|---|
| Born | 8 April 1930 Barrios Altos, Lima, Peru |
| Died | 31 July 2026 (aged 96) |
| Children | 5, including Victoria Villalobos |
| Relatives | Arturo "Zambo" Cavero (cousin) |
José "Pepe" Villalobos Cavero (8 April 1930 – 31 July 2026), nicknamed the Rey del Festejo (transl. King of Festejo),[1] was a Peruvian musician and composer. He specialized in Peruvian Creole music and Afro-Peruvian music and wrote several popular Afro-Peruvian songs during the 1960s and 1970s.
Villalobos learnt music as a child growing up in Barrios Altos and Jirón Áncash, a neighborhood and a street in Lima, Peru. When he was 15, he began performing on Lima radio stations. Villalobos toured internationally alongside musicians such as Óscar Avilés and his cousin, Zambo Cavero; over time, he shifted his focus from performing to music composition and research. He won multiple awards from APDAYC and the Peruvian Ministry of Culture in his lifetime and ran a club with his daughter.
Music
[edit]Villalobos grew up in a musical neighborhood.[2] At the age of ten, he moved to a house on Jirón Áncash near the cajón player Víctor Arciniega Samamé, also known as El Gancho; Arciniega served as Villalobos's first music teacher,[2][3][4] though he learnt from a variety of elder Black musicians.[5] When he was fifteen, he began performing on local Lima radio stations.[2]
Though he had started as a performer, touring Latin America, Mexico, and the United States with musicians such as Óscar Avilés and Zambo Cavero, Villalobos later turned his focus to research and music composition.[1][4][6] He recorded Lima folklore and set it to music; stories about colonial-era slavery in Peru formed the basis of songs such as Chinchiví and La Carimba.[1][5] Much of his success came during the 1960s and 1970s, when he wrote several popular Peruvian Creole songs.[5] He became known as an expert on Afro-Peruvian music.[4][7] Villalobos studied at the Instituto Musical Bach in the 1980s and, from 1979 to 1983, sang in a choir at the National University of San Marcos.[8]
Villalobos was the subject of the 2021 book Villalobos: El rey del festejo by Vicente and Tilsa Otta.[4] A member of APDAYC, awards Villalobos won from the organization included the Esmeraldas Musicales award, Zafiro Musical award, and Eduardo Márquez Talledo award.[9] He also received various awards from the Ministry of Culture[5] and, in the 1970s, won multiple music competitions at the Festival de Arte Negro in Cañete.[6]
With his daughter, Villalobos ran a club in the Lince district of Lima: the Asociación Cultural Musical La Casa de Pepe Villalobos.[1]
Compositions
[edit]Personal life and death
[edit]Villalobos was born on 8 April 1930, in the neighborhood of Barrios Altos in Lima, Peru.[2][4] When he was ten, he moved to Jirón Áncash.[3] He was the nephew of pianist Alejandro Villalobos and the cousin of singer Zambo Cavero.[1] Villalobos was married to Angélica Ruiz; the couple had five children, including the singer Victoria Villalobos.[1] He had Afro-Peruvian and non-Afro-Peruvian ancestry.[5]
Later in his life, Villalobos had multiple heart attacks.[3] He died on 31 July 2026, at the age of 96.[2][7]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "José Villalobos Cavero, el 'El Rey del festejo': "Interpretar música criolla es como rezar el Padre Nuestro"". Perú 21 (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 31 July 2026. Retrieved 1 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Falleció 'Pepe' Villalobos Cavero, el hombre que convirtió el festejo en memoria". El Comercio (in Spanish). 31 July 2026. ISSN 1605-3052. Archived from the original on 31 July 2026. Retrieved 1 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 "¿Cuál es el futuro de la música criolla? la leyenda José "Pepe" Villalobos tiene la respuesta a sus 90 años". El Comercio (in Spanish). 11 December 2020. ISSN 1605-3052. Archived from the original on 1 August 2026. Retrieved 1 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Se fue José Villalobos, el guardián del festejo". Perú 21 (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Chocano, Rodrigo (3 August 2019). "Producing African-descent: afro-peruvian music, intangible heritage, authenticity and bureaucracy in a Latin American music compilation". International Journal of Heritage Studies. 25 (8): 763–779. doi:10.1080/13527258.2018.1542331. ISSN 1352-7258.Full access available to users of The Wikipedia Library.
- 1 2 Vadillo Vila, José (1 April 2014). "El "Rey de los festejos" Pepe Villalobos en disco grabado por su hija". Agencia Andina (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 1 August 2026. Retrieved 1 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Alvarez, Renzo (31 July 2026). "Adiós al 'Rey del Festejo': murió a los 96 años 'Pepe' Villalobos, autor de 'Mueve Tu Cucú' y 'Mi Comadre Cocoliche'". RPP (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 31 July 2026. Retrieved 1 August 2026.
- ↑ "Pepe Villalobos invita a celebrar carnavales con "guitarra, cajón y olla"". Agencia Andina (in Spanish). 10 February 2012. Archived from the original on 15 November 2022. Retrieved 1 August 2026.
- ↑ "'Pepe' Villalobos Cavero, el recordado 'Rey del festejo', falleció a los 96 años". El Comercio (in Spanish). 31 July 2026. ISSN 1605-3052. Retrieved 1 August 2026.
External links
[edit]- Pepe Villalobos discography at Discogs
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