Yupanqui was born Héctor Roberto Chavero Aramburu in
Pergamino (
Buenos Aires Province), in the Argentine pampas, about 200 kilometers from Buenos Aires. His father was a
mestizo of
Quechua and
Basque origins, while his mother was born in the
Basque country. His family moved to the city of
Tucumán in northwestern Argentina when he was nine. In a bow to two legendary
Incan kings, he adopted the stage name
Atahualpa Yupanqui. In his early years, Yupanqui traveled extensively through the northwest of Argentina and the
Altiplano studying the indigenous cultures. He became politically active and joined the
Communist Party of Argentina. In 1931, he took part in the failed
Kennedy brothers uprising against the de facto government of
José Félix Uriburu and in support of deposed president
Hipólito Yrigoyen. After the uprising was defeated, he was forced to seek refuge in
Uruguay. He returned to Argentina in 1934. In 1935, Yupanqui paid his first visit to
Buenos Aires; his compositions were growing in popularity, and he was invited to perform on the radio. Shortly thereafter, he made the acquaintance of pianist Antonieta Paula Pepin Fitzpatrick, nicknamed "
Nenette", who became his lifelong companion and musical collaborator under the pseudonym "Pablo Del Cerro". Because of his Communist Party affiliation (which lasted until 1952), his work suffered from censorship during
Juan Perón's presidency. He was detained and incarcerated several times. Between 1944 and 1949, he was exiled in Uruguay. In 1944 he was hired by Samuel V. de León to perform in the city of
Durazno for the benefit of students of the city, who had been collecting money to fundraise for the Misiones Socio Pedagógicas. To mark his first visit to the city he composed "A orillas del Yí", and dedicated it to Julio Martínez Oyanguren. In 1949, he travelled to Europe.
Édith Piaf invited him to perform in Paris on 7 July 1950, and he soon signed a contract with
Le Chant du Monde, the recording company that published his first LP in Europe,
Minero Soy (I am a miner). This record won first prize for best foreign disc at an international folklore contest at the
Académie Charles Cros, which had three hundred fifty participants from around the world. He subsequently toured extensively throughout Europe. In 1952, Yupanqui returned to Buenos Aires. He broke with the Communist Party, which made it easier for him to book radio performances. With Nenette, they constructed their house on Cerro Colorado (
Córdoba). Recognition of Yupanqui's
ethnographic work became widespread during the 1960s, and
nueva canción artists such as
Facundo Cabral,
Mercedes Sosa and
Jorge Cafrune recorded his compositions and made him popular among younger musicians, who referred to him as
Don Ata. From 1963 to 1964, he toured
Colombia, Japan,
Morocco,
Egypt,
Israel, and Italy. In 1967, he toured Spain, and settled in Paris. He returned regularly to Argentina and appeared in
Argentinísima II in 1973, but these visits became less frequent after
Jorge Videla and his military dictatorship came to power in 1976. ==Awards and recognition==