El Condor Pasa

El Condor Pasa is a traditional folk song from Peru that became an international hit in the 1970s. The original author of the song is Peruvian composer Daniel Alomía Robles who wrote the zarzuela (Spanish operetta) influenced by the indigenous movements of the time; he called it El Cóndor Pasa. Later that year, a play written by Peruvian Julio de La Paz was added to the composition, and it was performed for the first time at the Mazzi Theatre in Lima.

The operetta is about a group of Andean miners who are being exploited by their boss. The condor that looks at them from the sky becomes a symbol of the freedom that they yearn for. The composition was divided into eight musical pieces, but only three parts became popular. The most favored of the three is – you guessed it – “El Cóndor Pasa”.

Today there are numerous renderings of the song, with versions by artists such as Garfunkel and Simon, Plácido Domingo, Celia Cruz, Gigliola Cinquetti, Julie Felix and Marc Anthony.