El Cronista Musica: How Chava Flores printed and composed some of Mexico's greatest music

Composer, musician and actor celebrated in today's Google Doodle 

Saturday 14 January 2017 10:30 GMT
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Chava Flores serenading his home town of Mexico City
Chava Flores serenading his home town of Mexico City

Today's Google Doodle celebrates the 97th birthday of the man who is considered to be “the musical chronicler of Mexico City”.

The image shows the late Chava Flores, a composer, musician and actor, serenading his home town of Mexico City.

Mr Flores’s father died when he was 13, so he was forced to start working to support his family.

He had several professions, ranging from door-to-door salesman to a warehouse manager, before joining a small printing press aged 26.

It was here he created the magazine “Álbum de Oro de la Canción” which translates to “Golden Album of Songs”. This led him to meeting a range of songwriters and musicians from across the country.

Through these meetings he was inspired into a career as a composer which eventually propelled him to fame in his home nation.

Mr Flores composed more than 200 songs and also appeared in seven films in Mexican cinema including “My Influential Woman” and “Under the Sky of Mexico”.

He passed away in 1987 aged 67 and a book titled “Stories of my neighbourhood: musical chronicle of Mexico City” describing his upbringing was released the following year.

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