Chaln Cmara

Personal

Vocation

Mexican troubadour and composer, a guitarist and singer (baritone tessitura), who accompanied Guty Cárdenas on many of his recordings. He learned guitar with Ricardo Palmerín, who also gave guitar lessons to his brothers Nidia and Fausto. With the latter he formed a duet of recognized artistic quality that lasted until the brothers were in their 80s, still performing at musical evenings in Mexico City and in Merida, Yucatan. In 1928 he recorded with Guty Cárdenas in New York for Columbia, finding immense popularity in Latin American countries. He went on to work with Guty, particularly on XEW radio, until his murder in 1932. He formed several famous duets following his success with Guty Cárdenas: with the Yucatan tenor, Ermilo Castilla, with Wello Rivas and in 1958 with the juchiteco troubadour, Saúl Martínez, another great interpreter of the songs of Guty Cárdenas. He also performed tropical music with the group La Cumbancha and was a member of the Flores-Mejía quartet, directed by another great Mexican popular musician, Manuel Esperón. He died in Mexico City on 2 February 1992, aged 86. Link to Wikipedia biography (Spanish)