Rafael Manríquez (March 27, 1947 – June 26, 2013) was a Chilean journalist, singer, guitarist, composer and producer born in Santiago.
Manríquez took up the guitar at age fifteen to perform songs of neighboring Argentina recorded by Los Chalchaleros and other current favorites.
He soon joined his brother José Manuel and two other friends in the group Los Machis, named after the Mapuche (Indian) shamans (usually women).
After completing two years of journalism studies, Rafael moved to the Chilean capital, Santiago, where he joined Ñancahuazú, a talented trio in the nueva canción vein.
That was the great contribution of that movement, as well as the fact of the enthusiasm of the youth and all the people, their connection to the guitar.” This, in turn, led to “the rise of the nueva canción, with Víctor Jara, with Patricio Manns, with Isabel Parra, and, naturally, with Violeta Parra, the bearer and the mother of the nueva canción.” Then came the fateful day of 11 September 1973, when the commander-in-chief of the Chilean army, Augusto Pinochet, led a coup d’état, overthrowing Allende and his government.
Manríquez relocated to Berkeley, California, where he found many sympathetic musicians, some of whom had also suffered persecution and even torture at the hands of the Chilean military [citation needed].
Since 1984, Rafael has focused on his career as a solo artist, creating several independently produced CDs [citation needed] and performing throughout California.