May 6, 1959 - June 23, 2009
Two days before the King of Pop passed on, Peru lost its Princesa del folklore. Like Mike, Alicia Delgado was also 50 years old when she died and the details of her death are pretty chilling, but a bit murky. Alicia was stabbed nine times and hung with a leather belt by her ex-chauffer Pedro Mamanchura, after a love triangle of sorts came to light.
Delgado was in lesbian relationship with fellow folklore singer Abencia Meza for 8 years before her death. The couple had a history of domestic violence and, after it emerged that Delgado was having an affair with her harpist, Meza paid Mamanchura to kill her.
Abencia Meza and Alicia Delgado
Of course, the news of Alicia´s death was overshadowed by the death of Michael Jackson, but it´s quite significant for Peruvian music. She was quite popular in the cities of Cuzco, Huancayo and Tumbes, but not very much so in cities like Lima or Arequipa. Most people in Peru would describe it as country or mountain music. It´s a pretty grisly story and details continually emerge on the situation. Mamanchura admitted to the crime, but Meza is kinda saying "I was just playin!!"
Below are 6 tracks in a zip file of Alicia´s music. It´s her beautiful voice over a bit of harp playing, with about 30 seconds of drums at the end. Pretty interesting stuff and I think that Joanna Newsom lady totally stole her act. Cop it!
6 tracks from Alicia Delgado
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