Eva Ayllón

Eva Ayllón

Eva Ayllón is a Peruvian singer from Lima, born in 1956, and is one of the country’s best-known Afro-Peruvian performers. She is associated with festejo, música criolla and polca criolla, and her work draws on indigenous Peruvian, African and Spanish influences within the wider criolla tradition.

Early life and stage name

She is born María Angélica Ayllón Urbina and adopts the name Eva from her maternal grandmother, Eva, who begins teaching her music when she is young. As a child and teenager, she sings in school competitions and later appears on television and radio.

Career

During the early 1970s, Ayllón performs with several música criolla groups, including Rinconcito Monsefuano, La peña de los Ugarte, Los Mundialistas o Callejón and Los Kipus. By 1975, she begins a solo career and is touring internationally by 1979.

In 1989, she forms Los Hijos del Sol, a Peruvian supergroup created to promote Peruvian music through performance and recording. She goes on to record more than 20 albums. Her 2004 album Eva! Leyenda Peruana is her first production in the United States. Kimba Fa explores styles she has performed over three decades.

Style and recognition

Ayllón is particularly associated with lando, festejo and the vals, and is often known as “The Queen of Lando”. She continues to tour and is based in New Jersey with her Peruvian-American husband and children.

Associated act

Eva Ayllón & Jean Pierre Magnet