Inti-Illimani

Inti-Illimani來自Ayamara的方言，Inti是太陽的意思，Illimani則是靠近玻利維亞的一座山。這個樂團的原始團員，本是圣地亞哥科技大學(xué)工學(xué)院的學(xué)生，由于對南美原住民音樂的愛好，讓他們成立了這個樂團。在當(dāng)時，他們與智利推動在地音樂的音樂家合作，所用的管弦和打擊樂器結(jié)合現(xiàn)代和傳統(tǒng)，歌詞也多與社會運動和推動國家民主化有關(guān)。
1973年，智利的總統(tǒng)被軍政府所推翻，許多本土藝術(shù)家被殺或被關(guān)。當(dāng)時正在歐洲巡回演出的Inti-Illimani，發(fā)現(xiàn)他們的護照被軍政府所注銷，從此流亡意大利長達(dá)14年之久，直到1990年才重回祖國智利的懷抱（有沒有很熟悉啊？）。他們的音樂廣受世人歡迎，這樣的背景更讓他們被視為南美的音樂大使。讀完這樣的簡介讓我很震撼，也更加期待他們的演出。
For well over 30 years, Inti-Illimani (the name translates as Sun God) has held a beacon for Chilean music, both the traditional folk styles and the more contemporary nueva cancion. Back in 1967 a group of students at Santiagos Technical University formed a band to perform folk music. Taking their name from the Aymaran Indian language of the Andes, they began playing traditional music — something few did back then — and quickly earned a reputation around the capital, becoming more and more adept on their instruments. By the 70s theyd grown into a political beast, taking on the nueva cancion (literally new song) of many young groups, and being quite outspoken lyrically — enough to be forced into exile in 1973, where theyd stay for 15 years. However, they refused to be cowed by the Chilean dictatorship. Basing themselves in Rome, Italy, they continued to record, and toured more heavily then ever before, earning a powerful reputation around the globe, and becoming very unofficial ambassadors of Chilean music, as well as opponents to the ruling regime. In addition to performing with a number of famous, political figures like Pete Seeger and Mikis Theodorakis, they were included on the famous 1988 Amnesty International Tour, along with Sting, Peter Gabriel, and Bruce Springsteen. It was, perhaps, their highest profile moment, at least in worldwide terms, and set the stage for their return to their homeland, where theyve continued to be outspoken. While theyve remained a force in world music, their career in the U.S. was hampered by the lack of any consistent record deal until 1994, when they signed with Green Linnet offshoot Xenophile. Prior to that, only a few of their 30-plus discs made it into domestic U.S. record bins. The eight-piece lineup remained stable until 1996, when Max Berru decided to retire from music after almost three decades, shortly after the group had been celebrated with a Best Of disc in Italy (not to be confused with the 2000 Best Of on Xenophile, which collected tracks from their last four releases only). Instead of replacing him, theyve continued since as a septet. 1997 saw the band honored with a U.C. Berkeley Human Rights Award for their labors in the past. Since then, although theyve continued to release albums and tour, theyve cut back on their earlier hectic schedule, but also widened their musical horizons, as 1999s Amar de Nuevo looked at the complete spectrum of Latin roots music and its Creole heritage.