Editing Eduardo Alquinta (section)

== Biography ==

=== Early years ===
Son of Carlos Alquinta and Aurora Espinoza Rojas, ,<ref name=reg>[[Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación]], Inscripción N°647, año 1945, circunscripción El Almendral.</ref> he began to devote time to music at the age of 12. He learned the songs of [[Atahualpa Yupanqui]] without his father noticing him. He met [[Claudio Parra]] at the Guillermo Rivera high school in [[Viña del Mar]], with whom he shared his love of cinema. This closeness turned into friendship with the entire family of Claudio and [[Mario Mutis]], another friend of the clan.

=== Beginnings in Music ===
By 1963, the year he began studying [[engineering]] at the [[Federico Santa María Technical University]], along with Mario Mutis and the Parra members, they formed a tropical combo called [[The High & Bass]] that animated parties. In the group, he was the guitarist and one of the vocalists in the band. Later, he dropped out of engineering to study [[architecture]], a career that he would share with Mario, and that he would not finish either.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=http://www.aldealocal.com/2006/08/biografia-gato-alquinta/|title=Biografí¬a: Gato Alquinta – Aldea Local|access-date=2018-02-16|website=www.aldealocal.com|language=es-ES|archive-date=2018-02-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180216144716/http://www.aldealocal.com/2006/08/biografia-gato-alquinta/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In 1968, he began to believe that the tropical music that the band performed was incompatible with the ideals that they were trying to convey to the public. For this reason, he traveled to several countries in America together with his wife, to search for new ideas and inspirations to establish a new musical component. Later, when he returned to Chile, he suggested to the band that they should be more original and be able to break with the established schemes to make their ideals known. The idea was well received, so they adopted the name of [[Los Jaivas]] in 1970. Before the appearance of their first official work, the studio [[musical album|album]] ''[[El volantín]]'', from 1971, made the recordings that were later released in 2004 in a five-disc ''set'' called ''[[La vorágine (album)|La Vorágine]]''.<ref name=":0" />

=== Los Jaivas ===
After the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|coup d'état in 1973]], the entire band decides to flee to Argentina, where they continue with their musical career. Soon after, because of the repression of the military regime in Argentina, they had to leave for [[France]]. They settled there in 1977, in the city of [[Paris]].<ref name=":1">{{cite web|url=https://chile-folclorico.webnode.cl/news/folcloristas-chilenos-biografias-eduardo-gato-alquinta-biografia-folclore-chileno-folclore-chile/|title=Folcloristas Chilenos Biografías, EDUARDO (GATO) ALQUINTA - BIOGRAFÍA, folclore chileno, folclore, Chile :: Chile y sus Tradiciones|access-date=2018-02-16|website=chile-folclorico.webnode.cl|language=es}}</ref> From there, Los Jaivas experimented with music, through the use of imagination and inspirations. Alquinta declared on one occasion that the song [[Mira Niñita]], was inspired while traveling by bus on Viana Street, so when they got to the Parra members, they made the song, being one of the most popular of the band.<ref name=":1" />
Later in 1981, Los Jaivas created their most famous and important album, [[Alturas de Machu Picchu (album)|Alturas de Machu Picchu]], where several of their songs were inspired by the lyrical work of [[Pablo Neruda]].
Over the years, while Los Jaivas were innovating in various musical genres such as [[progressive rock]], [[Latin American fusion]] and folklore, they were acquiring progressively more fame. Apart from being the band's guitarist and vocalist, Alquinta also dedicated himself to writing the lyrics for several famous band songs such as the aforementioned 'Mira Niñita', 'Pájaro Errante','Nubecita Blanca', 'Indio Hermano', among many others, which is why he became the best-known figure in the band.<ref name=":0" />
During an interview for Revista Vea in 1981, Alquinta declared that he was also dedicated to making musical instruments, such as [[zampoña]]s, [[trutruca]]s, flutes with reeds collected both in Chile and in [[Argentina]] and [[Bolivia]]. Additionally, he said that he considered himself some kind of mentholatum within the band because he constantly changed instruments.<ref name = ":0" />

=== Death ===
[[File:Monumento Eduardo Alquinta, Quinta Vergara, Viña del Mar 20200120 21.jpg|thumb|Monument to Gato Alquinta in [[Viña del Mar]].]]
While on vacation with his family at the Mistral tourist complex, on [[La Herradura (Chile)|La Herradura]] beach in [[Coquimbo]], Gato Alquinta lost his balance on some rocks and fell into the water where he remained for several minutes. When he was pulled out of the water, he was unconscious, so he was transferred to the San Pablo de Coquimbo Hospital, but despite efforts to revive him, he died on January 15, 2003, at 6:45&nbsp;p.m., at the age of 57 years old. After an autopsy by the Legal Medical Service, they determined that his cause of death was [[Acute myocardial infarction|heart attack]]. 
More than five hundred thousand people attended his funeral in the streets of Santiago de Chile, while his name became one of the most iconic figures in Chilean music. 
<ref>{{cite web|last=S.A.P.|first=El Mercurio|title=Sorpresiva muerte de  Eduardo "Gato" Alquinta, vocalista de Los Jaivas {{!}} Emol.com|url=http://www.emol.com/noticias/magazine/2003/01/15/102518/sorpresiva-muerte-de--eduardo-gato-alquinta-vocalista-de-los-jaivas.html|date=2003-01-15|access-date=2018-02-16|publisher=Emol|language=es-LA}}</ref>

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