Enrique Males is a self-taught musician of Ecuadorian origin born in 1943. Males is a native of the indigenous community of Quinchuquí, which belongs to the Otavalo region, in the province of Imbabura.
His parents were Rafael and Carmen, who gave him four siblings. Her childhood was a difficult time. As a child he was the target of all the ridicules and offenses on the part of the rest of the infants outside his community, simply for having indigenous features.
During this same stage he attended a Christian school where he learned the Spanish language to pray and left his native speech behind.
At the age of nine, he decided it was time to work with his father, a fact that fueled his passion for singing and brought him to the city.
Later, as a young man, he was invited by the Ecuadorian embassy in Chile to Santiago de Chile. From there, his career grew like foam, since various personalities and public figures saw something special in him.
That something was the magic of his voice, which he made evident when he played boleros of the time. He was invited by many left-wing political and social institutions throughout Latin America. In addition to Chile, Nicaragua was a frequent visiting place for him.
He was especially close to Salvador Allende's Unidad Popular party. Thanks to all this, he was qualified as a person capable of representing the continent through song.
Through Enrique Males it was expected to denounce and make known the social, political and cultural problems that exist in Latin America.
For this Males also resorted to poetry and the use of indigenous musical instruments from the entire region.
All his works made special reference to women and their character as warriors and workers.
For more than fifteen years he has been with the dancer Patricia Gutiérrez. He is also the father of six children and the grandfather of seven grandchildren.
Contributions
Considered as the amauta (teacher, sage) of Ecuadorian song, poetry and word, Enrique Males is due to his roots.
The man uses a slow tone when speaking, and when he sings he calls out to the pre-Columbian souls.
His main contributions include the spread of Ecuadorian pre-Columbian music in all the places he has attended.
He has traveled multiple times outside the borders of Ecuador. Her compositions have also spread, since they have been used in various montages, both in the performing arts and in the cinema.
In total, it has a heritage of more than twenty years of musical experience and 24 productions.
His work has even been used by the National Ballet of Ecuador to create world-class cultural artistic displays.
One of his latest record productions is called Biographies. In this it recognizes and vindicates the original populations of the city of Ibarra, located in Ecuador. His tribute focuses on the Quichua imbaya community.
Some of the alliances that also give weight to his career are the traditionalist group Ñanda Mañachi, the Chilean group Altiplano or the groups Inti Illimani and Quilapayun.
With these last two he shares a very special friendship, while with the first of these he had the opportunity to remember his native language.
References
- Independent Regional Newspaper "El Norte". (2011). Enrique Males, ancestral song and dance. Recovered from elnorte.ec
- "La Hora" newspaper. (2011). Enrique Males: 43 years back. Recovered from lahora.com.ec
- "El Telégrafo" newspaper. (2011). Enrique Males, a life of committed singing. Recovered from: eltelegrafo.com.ec
- Land of Winds (Blog). (2011). Enrique Males. Recovered from: who.int
- Newspaper "El Tiempo". (2009). Enrique Males, 40 years in music. Recovered from: eltiempo.com.ec