Soy Provinciano

"Soy provinciano" was written for a film that was never made. The composer, arranger and bassist Juan Rebaza Cárdenas created words and music for the soundtrack of a planned movie about internal migration in Peru. When the song reached Chacalón y la Nueva Crema, the singer himself did not like it at first, but the rest of the band did, especially the guitarist Alberto Bedriñana. They released it on the B-side of a 45 for the label Discos Horóscopo, and it became their biggest hit. Chacalón, born Lorenzo Palacios Quispe, grew up poor in Lima's La Victoria district in a family from Ayacucho, singing and dancing from a young age before leaving school to work as a shoemaker. He took over La Nueva Crema in 1978 alongside José Luis Carballo, who named the group after the rock band Cream. The song quickly took hold in Lima's working-class neighbourhoods, home largely to migrants from the provinces, and his concerts at the Carpa Grau became huge. People said that when Chacalón sang, the hills came down, a reference to the vast crowds from the city's poorer districts who filled his shows. It became an anthem for the Peruvians who moved to the capital in the late twentieth century, and an emblem of chicha music. More than 600 versions have been recorded, including a metal cover and a symphonic arrangement. When Chacalón died in 1994, aged 44, more than 70,000 people attended his burial. A song meant for a film about migrants found its real audience among the migrants themselves.