Chico Trujillo

Chico Trujillo

Chico Trujillo is a Chilean group formed in 1999 in Villa Alemana, in central Chile. The band grows out of members of Lafloripondio, who return home after touring Germany, the Netherlands and Austria. Its core figure is Aldo Asenjo, also known as Macha, who begins meeting regularly with Antonio Orellana to play guitar and develop ideas. From those sessions, the group starts composing songs including “Cabildo”, “Me convertiste en santo” and “Déjame decirte algo”, followed by “Tongoy” and “María, ria”.

Tuto Vargas, the bass player from Lafloripondio, and Juanito Gronemeyer, the percussionist from the same band, later join the sessions. The formation then expands with Chapa on percussion and Tio Rodi on drums. In 2001, the band adds a horn section and Michael Magliocchetti on guitar. The group remains active from that point and continues from its original Chilean base.

Style and repertoire

Chico Trujillo performs cumbia, latin, nueva cumbia chilena and pachanga, with ska also part of its wider musical identity. Its early live set combines traditional Chilean songs and rhythms with acoustic guitars, vocals and a fuller band arrangement. In concerts, it includes cumbias such as “El Tren” and “Pedacito de mi vida”, alongside boleros and ska songs with updated lyrics.

Recordings and live work

The band records its first album, Chico Trujillo y la Señora Imaginacion, which is released in Germany as Arriba las Nalgas. It performs extensively in Chile, including concerts at the Huachaca festival, for the Comité de Liberación de los Presos Políticos Mapuches, and on television at the Festival del Huaso de Olmué, one of the country’s major folk events. It also organises free outdoor concerts and self-promoted shows in clubs and bars across Chile, including performances at La Batuta in Santiago.

International performances

In 2002, Chico Trujillo tours Germany with Chilean visual artist Rafael Insunza, who exhibits work at Kunsthaus Tacheles in Berlin. During that trip, the band performs at Tacheles, Café Zapata, a presentation titled “No al Plan Colombia” at Humboldt University, and Kunsthaus Köpi at the Festival Liberación de los Presos Políticos de Chile, as well as at various Latin parties. It also gives its first performances in Spain, including in La Coruña, Ferrol and Oliera.

After returning to Chile, the band plays the closing ceremonies of the Culture Carnival in Valparaíso with Blue Splendor. In February 2003, it appears again at the Festival del Huaso de Olmué, in a broadcast followed by more than four million television viewers in Chile, and performs with Tommy Rey and Gioloto y su Combo at a meeting of some of Chile’s best-known cumbia bands.