Chabuca Granda

María Isabel Granda Larco was born on 3 September 1920, in a copper mining area in
the region of Apurímac. She began singing at 12 years old, in the school choir at the
exclusive girls' school Colegio Sophianum, in San Isidro, an affluent neighborhood
of Lima, Peru.
At this age she sang as a soprano (an operation later gave her the deep voice for
which she is remembered). However, she wasn't well known until after her divorce, a
scandal in contemporary Lima's conservative Catholic society.
Early in her career her work was expressive and picturesque – evoking the romantic
and beautiful neighborhood of Barranco in Lima, with its grand French houses with
impressive entrances and winter gardens. Some of her most famous songs from this
period are "Lima de Veras", "La flor de la Canela", "Fina Estampa", "Gracia", "José
Antonio", and "Zeñó Manué", to name a few. She broke the conventional rhythmic
structure of the waltz, later broke convention with her poetic cadences as well. Later in
her career she wrote songs dedicated to the Chilean Violeta Parra and to Javier
Heraud, a Peruvian poet who died in 1963.
Towards the end of her career, Chabuca Granda incorporated Afro-Peruvian rhythms
into her work. Afro-Peruvian music, while popular, was not considered "high art" due to
the prevalent racism and devaluation of Afro-Peruvian culture. She masterfully
blended the suggestive and colorful rhythms into her work, enriching Peruvian popular
music.
She died of heart problems in a clinic in Fort Lauderdale, in the United States, in 1983.
Her voice and compositions are known far from the borders of her country, and her
popularity has introduced the world to the fine and sensitive character of Peruvian
music.
Chabuca Granda continued to make her presence felt a decade after her death,
when Caetano Veloso used her song, "Fina Estampa", as the title track of an album
released in 1994, while her song, "Maria Lando", written with César Calvo, provided the
North American breakthrough for Peruvian vocalist Susana Baca the following year.
Granda's song "La Flor de la Canela" has become an anthem for the city of Lima, since
it was made popular by the Peruvian group Los Chamas in 1952. Granda worked with
a lengthy list of influential guitarists including Oscar Avilés, Lucho Garland, Lucho
González, Alvaro Lagos, and Felix Casaverde.

 Fina estampa (criollo waltz)

 La Flor de la Canela (criollo waltz)
 Cardo o Ceniza (Landó)
 José Antonio (criollo waltz)
 Bello Durmiente (criollo waltz)
 María Landó
 Ha de llegar mi Dueño (Tondero)