France: disappearance of the Argentine pianist Miguel Angel Estrella, a committed figure in music
Argentinian pianist Miguel Angel Estrella, in July 1980, in France Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images - Daniel SIMON
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He had denounced in France the repression of military dictatorships in Latin America and worked for the widest access to music for all.
Argentinian pianist Miguel Angel Estrella died in France on Thursday April 7 at the age of 81.
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He had taken refuge in Uruguay to flee the Argentine dictatorship in power since 1976, but under the famous Condor plan for the repression of opponents in Latin America, Miguel Angel Estrella had not been spared by the Uruguayan authoritarian power.
He was imprisoned and tortured for more than two years on the pretext of "subversive activities".
In February 1980, he came out bruised, his hands damaged, but living in the jails of the dictatorship thanks to international pressure, particularly in France.
In his support committee, Simone Signoret, Yves Montand or even Nadia Boulanger, Yehudi Menuhin.
My jailers "
focused mainly on my hands (...), pretending in particular to want to amputate me
", will then tell the Argentine pianist.
He returned to music and testified, tirelessly, on television sets (he was a regular guest on Jacques Chancel's Grand échiquier), and in several books such as
Musique pour l'espoir
, alongside the biographer Jean Lacouture, named after the NGO he created to open musical workshops in slums, prisons, retirement homes.
To give access to music to those who are deprived of it because of their situation or social condition.
Argentinian pianist Miguel Angel Estrella at Danielle Mitterrand's funeral in November 2011. The musician, a committed artist, had been close to the First Lady's France Liberties Foundation.
AP - Laurent Cipriani
Born on July 4, 1940 in Tucuman (northern Argentina), from a father son of Lebanese peasants who emigrated to Bolivia and an Argentine teacher mother of mixed Amerindian descent, Miguel Angel Estrella discovered a passion for the piano in 12 years old and joined the Conservatory of Buenos Aires.
He manages to get a scholarship and stays in London and Paris in the mid-sixties, where he is a pupil of Nadia Boulanger, for whom Estrella was a "
born musician
" and "
also and first of all a poet
", and Marguerite Long.
Despite the danger, he returns to Argentina and plays in the slums, for children.
A dangerous commitment to a military dictatorship.
It was the Argentinian delegation to Unesco which announced the death of the musician.
Miguel Angel Estrella had been Argentine Ambassador to Unesco and Goodwill Ambassador of Unesco.
He was currently head of the Argentine House at the Cité Universitaire in Paris.
Miguel Angel Estrella had been naturalized French in 1985. Always committed to the poor, the musician had also received in 2000 the Nansen medal from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
In Argentina, the first reactions were quick to come from members of the government and Vice-President Christina Kirchner who greeted the pianist, the artist and the great defender of human rights.
Hasta siempre!.
Murió Miguel Ángel Estrella, pianist and activist for peace and inclusion.
El músico tucumano murió a los 81 años en Francia.”Quiero pelear con la música contra quienes quieren sojuzgarnos", solía decir el fundador de "Música Esperanza". https://t.co/T88pUs5X53
— Bernarda Llorente (@bernardallorent) April 7, 2022
(with agencies)
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