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Huáscar
Sapa Inca
Huáscar, the 12th Inca emperor
Reign	1527–1532
Born	1491
Birthplace	Huascarpata
Died	1533
Place of death	Cusco
Predecessor	Huayna Capac
Successor	Atahualpa
Dynasty	Hanan Cuzco
Father	Huayna Capac

Huáscar Inca (Quechua: Waskar Inka, of uncertain meaning, said to be related to his birthplace Huascarpata; 1503–1532) was Sapa Inca of the Inca empire from 1527 to 1532 AD, succeeding his father Huayna Capac and brother Ninan Cuyochi, both of whom died of smallpox while campaigning near Quito.

After the conquest, the Spanish put forth the idea that Huayna Capac may have intended Huáscar to be the Emperor, and his half-brother Atahualpa to be the governor of the Quito province. Then Huayna Capac and his initial heir Ninan Cuyochi died prematurely without naming a successor. Without a clear line of succession, a war broke out between Huáscar and his brother Atahualpa.

The Spanish chronicler Juan de Betanzos who provided with information pertaining to the Huáscar-Atahualpa civil war outlines Huáscar's tyranny. This may be a very biased account, as Betanzos's wife, on whose testimony much of his chronicle is based was previously married to Atahualpa. Betanzos outlines how Huáscar would seize his lords' wives if they took his fancy. More importantly, he seized both the Lands of the Previous Incas and the Lands of the Sun. In Incan society, the lands of previous dead Incas remained part of their household to support their divine-like cult. Similarly lands were reserved for the worship of the Sun. In this way, Huáscar's seizure represented his disrespect and insensitivity for Inca religion. Huáscar then declared war on Atahualpa. The battles reported by Betanzos talk of Quizquiz (Atahualpa's commander) leading armies of 100,000 men with armies of 60,000 men supporting Huáscar. This demonstrates the numerical potential of Incan armies. Betanzos's account also enlightens us on the bloody nature of Incan wars. Atahualpa's punishment of the Canares saw him rip the hearts from their chiefs and force their followers to eat them, as well as killing babies in the wombs of pregnant women. The war was uncompleted, with Atahualpa in the clear ascendancy on Pizarro's arrival. However it was partly due to the ongoing civil war that Pizarro was able to triumph. Firstly, the Incan armies were depleted from the civil war. Secondly, disunity can be demonstrated by Huáscar's celebrations and in the celebrations of the province of Cuzco (loyalists to Huáscar) at Atahualpa's capture. Furthermore, Atahualpa had Huáscar killed so that he was not in a position to offer Pizarro a larger ransom of gold than Atahualpa was offering for his own release.

See also[link]

• Huascarán, highest peak in Peru and named for Huáscar

Huáscar Barradas (born Maracaibo, 1964) is a Venezuelan flutist and Professor of flute at the "Instituto Universitario de de Estudios Musicales" in Caracas. As a flutist he has represented Venezuela at a range of international festivals and as both soloist and symphonic musician plays a wide range of music types. As a professor, he has previously worked at the National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela and taught his course “The art of performing the flute” at different Conservatories in and out of Venezuela.

Background[link]

Huáscar is the product of an academic education which includes studies at the "Conservatorio de Música José Luis Paz" of Maracaibo in Venezuela, the Brooklyn Conservatory of New York (graduated Cum Laude), the Juilliard School of Music, the Superior School of Music of Frankfurt (Sehr gut). He has studied under the supervision of Maestros such as Eulogio Gómez, Bernard Golberg, Nirijam Nastasy, Robert Aitken, Aurele Nicolet, Peter Lukas Graf, Michael Scheneider, among others. He studied orchestral conducting with Vincent La Selva and Karoly Kope, and Jazz with Shelton Berg and Ron Carter. He is a founder member of the Estudiantina Juvenil and the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Zulia State. He won the Texas Junior College Competition in 1983. He was sponsored by the Society for the Professional Development of Young Artists of Hannover, Germany.

He has been granted important scholarships such as the German Academic Exchange Service and the Fundación Beracasa. In addition to it, he has also been granted the Order of Merit “Relámpago del Catatumbo" given by the Government of Zulia State, and the Order of Merit “Ciudad de Barquisimeto”.

Career[link]

He has been principal assistant flutist of the Maracaibo Symphony Orchestra and the National Philharmonic Orchestra, and now occupies this same position at the Municipal Symphony Orchestra of Caracas. He has produced six CDs with his Venezuelan music band “Huáscar Barradas y Maracaibo”. In addition to it, he has recorded as soloist with the National Phylharmonic Orchestra the piece specially written for him by the Venezuelan composer Domingo Sánchez Bor, “Viaje de la Jirafa” (Journey of the Giraffe).

He has represented Venezuela at important festivals such as Radio France et Montpellier Festival, European Flute Festival of Frankfurt, Expo-Hannover 2000, National Flute Association Convention 2000, the International Contemporary Music Festival of Bogotá, International Festival of Folklore in Turkey, 1st Latin American Flute Convention in Caracas, XII International Musica Convention of Medellin, among others.

He has performed with important artists who at the same time have been special guest performers to his concerts, like Maestro Simón Díaz, María Teresa Chacín, Cecilia Todd, Ilan Chester, Guaco, Pedro Castillo, Aldemaro Romero, “El Pavo” Frank Hernández, Martirio, and Chavela Vargas.

Personal life[link]

He was married to Kharla Aranguren an architect. They got married in 2001 but divorced one year later. A song was dedicated to her in his CD WORLD.

External links[link]

• Huáscar Barras Official website
• Huáscar Barradas Discography

Simón Díaz
Simón Díaz in the 1980s
Background information
Born	(1928-08-28) August 28, 1928 (age 83) Barbacoas, Aragua, Venezuela
Genres	Venezuelan folk music
Occupations	musician, singer, composer
Years active	1948–2007
Website	http://www.simondiaz.com

Simón Narciso Díaz Márquez (born August 8, 1928) is a Venezuelan singer and Grammy Award winning composer of Venezuelan music.

Career[link]

Díaz has endeavored to recover the folklore and musical traditions of the llanos, the Venezuelan plains. This style of music has since been performed by artists such as Argentina's Mercedes Sosa, Brazil's Caetano Veloso, Spain's Joan Manuel Serrat, Peru's Susana Baca, Puerto Rico's Danny Rivera, and Venezuelans Franco De Vita, Soledad Bravo and José Luis Rodríguez, among others.^[1][2] Many of Diaz's works have been adapted by symphonies and choral ensembles throughout Venezuela,^[3] as well as being incorporated into the orchestral and choral arrangements of conductors and composers of academic music.^[4]

Artists from various other disciplines have utilized Díaz's work. For example, German choreographer Pina Bausch included some of Díaz’s songs in her work Nur Du. Also, the film director Pedro Almodóvar included Díaz's song "Tonada de Luna Llena" as part of the soundtrack for his film The Flower of My Secret, sung by the Brazilian artist Caetano Veloso.^[1][2]

Díaz has also performed in theater, motion pictures and television. In the 1960s he became a comedian in Venezuela. He had the leading role in three plays, and in films like El Reportero^[5] and Isla de sal;^[6] has produced and hosted 12 different TV shows, all of them devised to promote Venezuelan music. One of these shows, Contesta por Tío Simón, was devoted to teaching popular culture to children. This children's show was on the air for 10 years, during which time Díaz's viewers began calling him "Uncle Simón".^[1][7] Diaz had a daily radio show for twenty-five years which focused on folklore and Venezuelan music. He has recorded over 70 records^[3][8] and CDs and has made innumerable performances throughout his career.^[1][9]

Simón Díaz signature

Díaz is the author of "Caballo Viejo", which was recorded by the Gipsy Kings as the hit song "Bamboleo". His compositions have been performed by artists such as Plácido Domingo,^[10] Ray Conniff,^[11] Julio Iglesias,^[12] Celia Cruz,^[10] Rubén Blades,^[10] Gilberto Santa Rosa,^[10] Gipsy Kings,^[10] Ivan Lins,^[13] Joyce,^[14] Cheo Feliciano,^[15] Juan Gabriel,^[10] María Dolores Pradera,^[16] Martirio,^[17] Tania Libertad,^[18] Ry Cooder^[19] and Devendra Banhart^[1][10]

The Latin American TV channel A&E MUNDO produced a documentary dedicated to Díaz under its “Biography” program that honors Diaz's many contributions to Venezuelan culture, the program began airing in September 2004.^[3]

This is a list of his work:

Awards and recognition[link]

Simón Díaz was awarded the highest recognition conferred by the Venezuelan state, "The Great Ribbon of the Liberator's Order". He was given honorary doctorate degrees by two major Venezuelan universities, Simón Rodríguez University^[20] and Zulia’s Universidad Católica Cecilio Acosta.

On September 30, 2008, the Latin Grammy Awards announced that it would honor Díaz with a Lifetime Achievement Award, (El Premio del Consejo Directivo).^[21] Diaz was awarded the 2008 Latin Recording Academy Trustees Award, presented by Venezuelan salsa singer Oscar D'León.^[7]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Simón Díaz Discography (partial)
• (Spanish) Simón Díaz Biography —Venezuelan cuatro blog
• (Spanish) Learn to play his songs —El cuatro venezolano blog
• (English) Lets bring Simón Díaz to the 2009 Grammy—Facebook group
• (Spanish) Simón Díaz music
• (Spanish) Palabras para Simón - Lo afirmativo venezolano

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Soledad Bravo
Soledad Bravo
Background information
Birth name	Soledad Bravo
Born	(1943-01-01) January 1, 1943 (age 69)
Origin	Logroño, La Rioja, Spain
Genres	Traditional, Political
Occupations	Singer Musician Composer
Instruments	Vocals Guitar Acoustic guitar
Years active	1968–present
Associated acts	Chico Buarque, Willie Colón, Pablo Milanés, Ray Barreto, Joaquín Sabina, Milton Nascimento, Paquito D'Rivera, Rubén Blades y Silvio Rodríguez.

Soledad Bravo (born 1943), is a Venezuelan singer.

Born in Logroño, La Rioja, Spain her father was a Spanish republican, moving to Venezuela with his family when his daughter was still at an early age. At 24, Soledad began studying architecture and philosophy at the Universidad Central de Venezuela, where she also began performing. One year later, in 1968, she released her debut titled Soledad Bravo Canta (Soledad Bravo Sings), which made her a star in Venezuela and other parts of South America. In the years that followed, she cooperated with Atahualpa Yupanqui, Gilberto Gil and others, having lived and performed in Europe and the Americas. Her repertoire is a vivid mixture of fiery, vivid Caribbean and Latin rhythms, Sephardic elegies and heartwarming ballads.

Considered to be one of the best voices in Latin America, one of her most popular and best known songs is Hasta Siempre, a cover of a Cuban hymn by Carlos Puebla to Ernesto "Che" Guevara.

See also[link]

• Biography and Discography