Los Jaivas

Chilean progressive rock group with innovative fusion of indigenous South American instruments. Formed in Viña del Mar, their earliest surviving recordings in circulation are heavy live improvisations from 1969 and 1970. Their run of studio albums in the 1971-1984 period are considerably more polished and rightly considered classics of the Latin prog subgenre. Having fled military persecution in Chile and Argentina for French exile, their music has taken on an increasingly mainstream sound since the mid-1980s. Despite the untimely deaths of percussionist Gabriel Parra in 1988 and lead singer and guitarist Eduardo "Gato" Alquinta in 2003, Los Jaivas continue to have a huge following in Chile.