The Parra brothers (Gabriel, drums Claudio, piano, and Eduardo, electric piano) met Mario Mutis (bass) and Eduardo “Gato” Alquinta (guitars and lead vocals) in their childhood and started to play music for fun. They became prominent in Viña del Mar, playing at many gigs with a bossa-nova/bolero style. The former name of the band was High & Bass. However, most of their fans believed they were called “Jaibas” (crabs). After a while they decide to correct their name and definitely change it to Los Jaivas.
After a first phase characterized by a of more tropical sound they began to blend styles, experimenting with hippie sound, progressive rock and avant-garde jazz. Their most recognized feature it’s their blending of styles with the traditional sounds -and instruments- of the region. After the military coup in Chile the band moved to Argentina, where they stayed until 1977 when they moved to France.
The band formation changed in 1988, when Gabriel died in Peru. His daughter Juanita tooked his place at the drums. In January of 2003, “Gato” (the cat) Alquinta died in Coquimbo (Chile) of a heart attack. Actually, various of the children of the original members take their places and continue with the band until today.
Albums:
- Los Jaivasnote (1971)
- Los Jaivasnote (1973)
- Los Jaivasnote (1975)
- Cancion Del Surnote (1977)
- Los Sueños de Americanote (1979)
- Alturas de Macchu Picchunote (1981)
- Aconcagua (1982)
- Obras de Violeta Parranote (1984)
- Si Tu No Estasnote (1989)
- Palomita Blanca soundtracknote (1992)
- Hijos de la Tierranote (1995)
- Trilogia: El Reencuentronote (1997)
- Mamalluca (1999)
- Arrebolnote (2001)
Los Jaivas provides examples of:
- Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: "Desde Li-MA vengo a mi Machaguay..."
- Album Closure: Various examples, particularly "Final" and "Que Pena Siente El Alma".
- Album Intro Track: "Del Aire Al Aire" and "Alumno". Also, "Cacho" features a short piano introduction.
- "Marcha Al Interior Del Espiritu" was purposefully chosen to be the album opener.
- Most of "Arauco Tiene Una Pena" is a long, epic intro to the whole album.
- Palomita Blanca starts with the appropiately named "Tema De Los Titulos"note .
- Andean Music: Many of their songs take inspiration from Andean Folk Music.
- Band of Relatives: The group is mostly consisted on Parra family, first of brothers and cousins and later sons/daughters and grandsons/granddaughters.
- The Band Minus the Face: Mostly because of the death of various of the original members, included vocalist "Gato" Alquinta.
- B-Side: Excluding their non-album singles, their 1972 singles had two songs that didn't appear in the original version of La Ventana (but did appear on reissues). Curiously, "Todos Juntos", one of the band's classics, was originally the b-side for a less remembered song, "Ayer Cache".
- Concept Album: Most of the albums of the band are this. A good example is "Alturas de Macchu Picchu", which is Pablo Neruda's famous poem translated into a music album.
- Cover Album: Obras de Violeta Parra is entirely composed of (mostly) prog versions of Violeta Parra's songs, considered as some of the greatest Chilean compositions ever.
- Cult Soundtrack: Palomita Blanca.
- Epic Instrumental Opener: "Del Aire Al Aire" from Alturas de Macchu Picchu and ESPECIALLY "Arauco Tiene Una Pena" (the song is 11 minutes long and has lyrics, but it features a 6 and a half-minutes long instrumental intro unrelated to the original song).
- Epic Rocking: At least one example per album (except for Si Tu No Estas).
- Face on the Cover: Only two examples:
- Los Sueños De America has a picture of the band and Brazilian musician Manduka, surrounded by art from René Olivares, who made most of the covers in the band's studio discography.
- Aconcagua has art of the band, also made by René Olivares.
- Folk Music
- Grief Song: "Si Tu No Estas" and "Rosas En El Jardin", from Si Tu No Estas, are dedicated to the band's former drummer Gabriel Parra, who died in a car accident in 1988.
- Hidden Track: Trilogia: El Reencuentro features the sound effects heard at the beginning of "Date Una Vuelta En El Aire" (both the original and the re-recorded version heard in this album) after 8 minutes of silence.
- Last Note Nightmare: "Ultimo Dia".
- Location Song: "Mambo de Machaguay". A special mention is "Alturas de Macchu Picchu", recorded (in audio and video) in Macchu Picchu itself.
- Longest Song Goes Last: El Indio, Aconcagua and Mamalluca fall into this trope.
- Trilogia: El Reencuentro technically also falls in this, however that's because the last track, while being only 51 seconds long, features some sound effects after 8 minutes of silence, making the track 10 minutes long.
- Looped Lyrics: "Marcha Al Interior Del Espiritu" and "Primer Encuentro Latinoamericano De La Soledad".
- "Ultimo Dia" too, to some extent.
- After some verses at the beginning of the song, most of "Dum Dum Tambora" is just the title being sung.
- Miniscule Rocking: "Bolerito", "El Pasillo Del Condor", "Que Pena Siente El Alma", "Alumno", and some songs in Palomita Blanca.
- New Sound Album: Si Tu No Estas features heavy use of keyboards and synthesizers.
- Non-Appearing Title: Many examples, notably "La Poderosa Muerte".
- Posthumous Collaboration: "Aguamarina" and "El Dormilón Imposible" feature Gabriel Parra on drums and were released a year after his death.
- Progressive Rock: One of the most known Latin American representants of the genre.
- Remaster: As expected, most albums got reissued and remastered on CD at some point, most notably La Ventana, where the reissues mix up the tracklist and most of them have a song missingnote .
- The Remake: Many of their songs have been re-recorded in studio over the years, particularly Trilogía: El Reencuentro, where almost every song is a re-recording of an old one with guest artists.
- Self-Referential Track Placement: "Ultimo Dia" in El Volantin, if you don't count the 26-second long album closer (which wasn't in the vinyl tracklist anyways).
- Self-Titled Album: Their first three albums (not counting Los Sueños De America).
- Title Track: Most albums from Cancion Del Sur to Arrebol have one.
