Pepe Villalobos
Peruvian musician (1930–2026)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
José "Pepe" Villalobos Cavero (8 April 1930 – 31 July 2026), nicknamed the Rey del Festejo (transl. King of Festejo),[1] was a Peruvian musician and composer. He specialized in Peruvian Creole music and Afro-Peruvian music and wrote several popular Afro-Peruvian songs during the 1960s and 1970s.
Pepe Villalobos | |
|---|---|
| Born | 8 April 1930 Barrios Altos, Lima, Peru |
| Died | 31 July 2026 (aged 96) |
| Children | 5, including Victoria Villalobos |
| Relatives | Arturo "Zambo" Cavero (cousin) |
Villalobos learnt music as a child growing up in Barrios Altos and Jirón Áncash, a neighborhood and a street in Lima, Peru. When he was 15, he began performing on Lima radio stations. Villalobos toured internationally alongside musicians such as Óscar Avilés and his cousin, Zambo Cavero; over time, he shifted his focus from performing to music composition and research. He won multiple awards from APDAYC and the Peruvian Ministry of Culture in his lifetime and ran a club with his daughter.
Music
Villalobos grew up in a musical neighborhood.[2] At the age of ten, he moved to a house on Jirón Áncash near the cajón player Víctor Arciniega Samamé, also known as El Gancho; Arciniega served as Villalobos's first music teacher,[2][3][4] though he learnt from a variety of elder Black musicians.[5] When he was fifteen, he began performing on local Lima radio stations.[2]
Though he had started as a performer, touring Latin America, Mexico, and the United States with musicians such as Óscar Avilés and Zambo Cavero, Villalobos later turned his focus to research and music composition.[1][4][6] He recorded Lima folklore and set it to music; stories about colonial-era slavery in Peru formed the basis of songs such as Chinchiví and La Carimba.[1][5] Much of his success came during the 1960s and 1970s, when he wrote several popular Peruvian Creole songs.[5] He became known as an expert on Afro-Peruvian music.[4][7] Villalobos studied at the Instituto Musical Bach in the 1980s and, from 1979 to 1983, sang in a choir at the National University of San Marcos.[8]
Villalobos was the subject of the 2021 book Villalobos: El rey del festejo by Vicente and Tilsa Otta.[4] A member of APDAYC, awards Villalobos won from the organization included the Esmeraldas Musicales award, Zafiro Musical award, and Eduardo Márquez Talledo award.[9] He also received various awards from the Ministry of Culture[5] and, in the 1970s, won multiple music competitions at the Festival de Arte Negro in Cañete.[6]
With his daughter, Villalobos ran a club in the Lince district of Lima: the Asociación Cultural Musical La Casa de Pepe Villalobos.[1]
Compositions
Personal life and death
Villalobos was born on 8 April 1930, in the neighborhood of Barrios Altos in Lima, Peru.[2][4] When he was ten, he moved to Jirón Áncash.[3] He was the nephew of pianist Alejandro Villalobos and the cousin of singer Zambo Cavero.[1] Villalobos was married to Angélica Ruiz; the couple had five children, including the singer Victoria Villalobos.[1] He had Afro-Peruvian and non-Afro-Peruvian ancestry.[5]
Later in his life, Villalobos had multiple heart attacks.[3] He died on 31 July 2026, at the age of 96.[2][7]