Sacem wishes to pay tribute to Jorge Milchberg, the French-Argentine songwriter and icon of Andean music, who died on August 20th, 2022 at the age of 93.
There once was a song heard round the world, bringing renown to Andean music and a group called Los Incas that formed in Paris. Milchberg, the composer and performer of Argentine music who led the group for 60 years, had a hand in the hit song, El Condor Pasa, covered by, among many others, Simon & Garfunkel and Marie Laforêt. Though he did not compose the music, he did the rewriting and the now famous arrangements of what, at the beginning, was only a theme played in zarzuela, a traditional form of musical theatre inspired by the music of the Andes.
Jorge Milchberg was born in 1928 in Buenos Aires. Classically trained as a pianist, he met artists such as Paco Ibanez and Jesús Rafael Soto in Paris in 1955. The following year, he founded the group Los Incas. A virtuoso on the charango, the small stringed instrument nicknamed "the lute of the Andes", his international success made him an ambassador of Latin American music and one of the pioneers of what was later known as world music. At the end of the 60s, he accompanied Marie Laforêt on stage, directing and orchestrating her songs during a famous show at the Olympia. He went on to work with artists like Isabelle Aubret, Francesca Solleville, Valérie Lagrange and Jean-Pierre Kalfon.
In addition to traditional pieces of Andean music and his own compositions (Dédicaces, 1991, Charango, 1999), he was sometimes inspired by new age music, as in the album Miroirs Sonores (1988), with his son Olivier. He also wrote several film scores, including Jacques Baratier's La Poupée (1962), in which Catherine Sauvage performs four of his songs, and Jean-Marc Vallée's Wild (2014), which features the theme from El Cóndor Pasa.
The man known as “The Inca” died on August 20th in Paris, at the age of 93. But his music, like the great bird that made him famous, continues to fly around the world.
Jorge Milchberg joined was admitted to Sacem as a composer in 1963, and as an author in 1965. He was promoted to permanent member in 1974 as a composer.
"Jorge Milchberg will always be remembered as a major craftsman of 20th century Andean music. His modern reinterpretation of traditional tunes and his personal approach to composition allowed the mountain melodies of South America to conquer the hearts of listeners around the world."
Serge Perathoner, composer, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sacem
Published August 30 2022