June 22, 2023, 4:00 AM
June 22, 2023, 4:00 AM
The streets of the historic center of La Paz were taken over by dozens of people who chanted the songs of Franz Chuquimia, the leader of Jach’a Mallku who died on Monday. The emotional farewell took place yesterday at the “last concert” at the Alberto Saavedra Municipal Theater.
“When I leave, if you want to cry, better give me a smile, I don’t want to cry, I want joy, I will always remember my farewell,” Chuquimia sang in aOne of his last presentations in Oruro. On Monday his voice was gone, but his musical legacy stayed.
“My dad is not dead, he is with us, here, giving us the strength we need, to thank everyone for being here. And daddy, you would have wanted none of this to end, to continue and we will continue with your legacy. Look at so many people who have come to see you, who love you,” Sebastián, one of Franz’s sons, said with a broken voice on the theater tables, where he received tributes. “It’s the first time I’ve stepped on stage, the second time I’ve grabbed the microphone and I do it for my dad”, the boy confessed.
The municipality of La Paz provided the Alberto Saavedra Pérez theater for the final farewell to the national singer-songwriter who toured all the country’s stages. Born in La Paz in 1969, he founded Jach’a Mallku when he was 25 years old. Since then he has done nothing but achieve success in the west of the country, in neighboring countries and Europe.
At the farewell, the musicians of his group performed some of their hits such as Por quererte más and Morenada al amor. Those attending the wake joined the songs between applause and tears. “You will always live in our hearts”, “fly high mate”, “long live Jach’a Mallku”, “thank you, Master Franz for your teachings”, expressed the musicians of the group, to later interpret the renowned brunette Cecilia. The crowd that took over the theater non-stop chanted each song between sobs.
Right there the mass of the present body took place. At 1:00 p.m. the wake ended. A massive caravan, in the company of the municipal band Eduardo Caba, toured the streets of downtown La Paz in a funeral march to the Jardín Cemetery.
Shortly before, the funeral procession reached Plaza Murillo and the crowd did not stop singing their songs. The rain of flowers that reached the coffin did not stop either.
Last Saturday night, the folkloric group suffered the theft of their music equipment, uniforms and instruments from their vehicle on the streets of Belisario Salinas and Presbítero Medina, in the Sopocachi area of La Paz, sAccording to what the Jach’a Mallku cultural center published.
On Monday morning the 19th, the singer-songwriter He was transported to the Hospital Obrero where he was to undergo dialysiss, although he was also affected by the robbery that the group had suffered.
René Tambo, head of the Homicide Division of the Special Force to Fight Crime (Felcc) of La Paz, confirmed the death of the musician who It occurred inside the vehicle that was taking him to the medical center.
The artist, in a recent interview with the state channel, said that about three years ago he suffered a small cold in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic and that, on a second occasion, last year, he was infected again by this same disease until ending up in the hospital. “As a result of that I had to lose both my kidneys, today I am a chronic kidney disease, andializo in the Hospital Obrero. I preferred losing some kidneys to losing my life, because the disease was about to reach the lungs ”, revealed.
