Margot Loyola

Margot Loyola Palacios (September 15, 1918 – August 3, 2015) was a Chilean folklorist, musician, dancer, and teacher. She is considered one of the most influential musicians of Chile, pioneering folkloric research and transforming traditional music education and performance.

Loyola was active as a folklorist, performer, and educator from the 1940s until her death in 2015. She published a large body of work dealing with the folk music and dances of all Chilean regions, most notably on the cueca and tonada.

Early career Loyola was born in Linares, Chile on September 15, 1918 to Recaredo Loyola and Ana María Palacios. She studied piano with Rosita Renard and Elisa Gayán at the National Conservatory of Music of Chile, and studied voice with the opera singer Blanca Hauser. In 1936 the National Conservatory's director, Armando Carvajal, invited Margot to begin collecting folk music in the rural areas surrounding Santiago. She and her sister, Estela Loyola, performed as the sister duo Las Hermanas Loyola throughout the 1940s, singing and playing guitar for a range of traditional Chilean genres, including the cueca, tonada, and waltzes. During this time, she also composed songs with friend and poet Cristina Miranda.

In the 1950s, after the separation of Las Hermanas Loyola, Margot began studying with folklorists and musicians across Latin America, including Carlos Vega in Argentina, Lauro Ayestarán in Uruguay, and José Maria Arguedas in Peru. She began teaching folk music and dance at the Escuelas de temporada (seasonal schools) across Chile, teaching hundreds of students how to dance cueca. Folkloric groups such as Conjunto Cuncumén began as a direct result of these schools, positioning Loyola as a musical influence on musicians such as Víctor Jara and Rolando Alarcón and the Chilean nueva canción movement, albeit somewhat indirectly. She also developed a friendship with folklorist and composer Violeta Parra during this season.

Loyola researched the folklore and traditional musical styles of all the regions of Chile as well as Easter Island (a Chilean province, located in the south Pacific Ocean). In 1952, she began her research on the ceremonial dances of the Chilean north, with Rogelia Perez and other dance groups at La Tirana. She also conducted research traditional dances on the southern island of Chiloé.

Legacy and recognition Loyola's students have moved into top positions as folklorists, instructors, and university professors in Chile. Her student and eventual husband, Osvaldo Cádiz, began the conjunto folklórico (folkloric ensemble) Palomar in 1962 under the name Conjunto de Margot Loyola. The conjunto folklórico, still active today, staged Loyola's research through music and dance performances.

In 1972, Loyola became a professor of the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso, where she began the Conjunto Folklórico PUCV shortly after. In 1998 she was made a Professor emeritus of the Catholic University of Valparaíso. She was awarded the coveted Chilean National Prize for Musical Arts in 1994 and the "Premio a lo Chileno" in 2001.

Works Loyola's activities resulted in many books, videos, LPs, cassettes and CDs.