90-year-old Chilean organ-grinder receives culture award

One day after the 100th birthday of Margot Loyola, the chilean Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage, Consuelo Valdés, announced the three winners of the «Margot Loyola Palacios  Lifework in Traditional Culture Award». In a ceremony at the «Palacio La Moneda,» the winner announce are the members of the Tabake Folkloric Projection Ensemble of Playa Ancha, Valparaíso, in the Research Category. Awarded also with this distinction was the street organ grinder Héctor Lizana for Creation, and finally to Elena Valdivia, in Formation category.

Chilean street organ grinde Héctor «Tito» Lizana, celebrates 90 years

Author: Agustín Ruiz. Expert in Intangible Cultural Heritage.

In an overflowing atmosphere of joy, the Lizana family celebrated on Tuesday, July 24, the 90th birthday of the famous organ grinder and chinchinero who has so much bequeathed to the patrimonial heritage. Mr. Hector «Tito» Lizana was born in Santiago on July 22, 1928. In the midst of friends, family and an extended family, Mr. Tito revived along with his grandson Hector Lizana Hidalgo, some of the most vibrant passages of his random but not less happy life.

Raised under the care of a neighbor of the Franklin neighborhood in central Chile, as a child Tito began very early to earn a living as an occasional seller and later, when he was barely 10 years old, as a drummer in a circus…

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