Chilean Band Brings Peace Message

Long before world music became popular, the Chilean group Inti-Illimani was dispersing its Andean musical message around the world.

What began as a casual musical gathering of students from Santiago Technical University in the 1960s grew into a cohesive unit viewed as an important cultural emissary. The group will perform Wednesday at Cal State Northridge.

As it matured, the band found inspiration and a sense of discovery in its own vast and complex region of the world.

“We don’t have specific goals,” said Jorge Coulan, founding band member. “We began playing and we continue to play Andean music because we fell in love with these sounds and these instruments.”

Band members, exiled in 1973 when Chilean leader Salvador Allende was deposed, felt the sting of political repression. They ended up living in Italy for 14 years before returning home in 1988 to a hero’s welcome. Their political antennae sensitized, Inti-Illimani played an important role in the Nueva Cancion (New Song) movement of the 1970s and ‘80s, which promoted sociopolitical awareness in Latin America.

“We are always interested in changes,” Coulan said. “We think that our country, the world, needs to find a way to live in peace, justice and democracy.”

Coulan said he feels a sense of poetic justice that the kind of music Inti-Illimani has been making for decades is becoming more and more popular, thanks to the Latin music explosion. “We don’t know about the future,” Coulan said. “Maybe the group will still live for many years, maybe not. The answer is in the combustible part of this engine--passion.”

BE THERE

Inti-Illimani performs Wednesday at 8 p.m. at the Cal State Northridge Performing Arts Center, 18111 Nordhoff St. $10-$19.50. Call (818) 677-2488.