ABSTRACT
In 1998 the Chilean musical group Inti-Illimani celebrated their thirtieth anniversary. During these 30 years they have achieved the greatest international reputation of any of Chile’s nueva canción groups, enjoying periods of enormous popularity at home and abroad, especially in Italy. In 2002, as I write this piece, they are a year short of celebrating 35 years. Yet between 1998 and 2002 two key members left the group: musical director Horacio Salinas (a member since October 1967) and singer-instrumentalist José Seves (a member since 1971). As a group, Inti-Illimani have been notable for maintaining a core personnel since their inception. For Inti-Illimani watchers, the departure of Salinas and Seves means the departure of original core members and the removal of the group’s main creative axis: that between its musical director-composer and its most lyrical vocal interpreter. Inti-Illimani have since taken in new members and have continued touring the world without any apparent hitch. But the change is significant, for whereas Seves left in the late 1990s for personal and, later, health reasons (returning to perform with the group on occasion), Salinas’ exit in 2001 was more telling, as he had been the group’s musical director and main composer since he joined in his mid-teens, and the parting of ways came as the result of a discussion inside the group as to their future musical direction.
