Gilbert Favre

Who was Gilbert Favre?

Gilbert Favre was a flautist of Swiss descent. He also played the quena as a founding member of the popular Bolivian folk group Los Jairas. Favre was commonly referred to as "El Gringo" by the Bolivian public. While living in Chile as an assistant to the Swiss anthropologist Jean Christian Spahni, Favre and celebrated Chilean folk singer Violeta Parra met and fell in love, provoking Parra's divorce. Favre eventually left for Bolivia to begin playing and experimenting with Andean music alongside virtuoso guitar player Alfredo Dominguez and renowned singer Ernesto Cavour, but Parra joined him and became part of the music scene in La Paz. Favre returned to Geneva in the early 1960s together with Parra; after a few years in Europe, they returned to South America. As the Trio Domínguez-Favre-Cavour gained media attention and became increasingly popular, Favre decided not to move back to Chile and left Parra for good; she would later write "Run Run Se Fue Pa'l Norte," dedicated to her lover, and commit suicide.

Favre met his first wife Indiana in Bolivia; they settled in the Dordogne area of France and had two sons, Patrick and Christian. Christian died in a motorcar accident while holidaying in France. The couple later divorced and while in Paris, Favre met his second wife Barbara Erskine, then working for the New York Times. They lived in Russin, Switzerland, where Favre died in 1998.