The band was founded in 1999 in Villa
Allemana, a small town in central Chile , by members of the band
„Lafloripondio“ , as they returned home from a tour through
Germany , Holland , and Austria . Upon his return , Macha , alias
Aldo Asenjo , began meeting often with his friend Antonio Orellana ,
just to play guitar and try out ideas . Gradually , in these sessions
, tunes began to take shape such as , " Cabildo " , "Me
convertiste en santo" and "Dejame decirte algo" and
later , at the beginning of 2000 , "Tongoy" and "Maria
, ria" .
Later , Tuto Vargas and Jaunito
Gronemeyer , the bass player and percussionist from „Lafloripondio“
respectively , also joined the sessions . this formation developed
the foundation for further compositions . Eventually they invited
Chapa , on the percussion, and Tio Rodi, on drums . This was the
formation and it remained unchanged until 2001 when they added a horn
section, and Michael Magliocchetti on guitar. They recorded their
first album "Chico Trujillo y la Señora Imaginacion",
released in Germany as "Arriba las Nalgas". With this album
the band showed its ability to interpret traditional chilean songs in
a new and powerful way. These songs opened new horizons for the band
and the mixture of acoustic guitar , vocals , and strong emotion led
quickly to a growing circle of fans .
In live concerts, the mixture of
traditional cumbias like "El Tren", and "Pedacito de
mi vida", was expanded . The band performed primarily cumbias ,
boleros and ska filtered and renewed with inspired texts, emotion,
and energy .
Chico Trujillo perfomed concerts in the
chilean festival Huachaca , for the "Comite de Liberacion de los
Presos Politicos Mapuches" , as well as live television
performances as part of the "Festival del Huaso de Olmue",
the most important folk music festival in the counrty . They also
organized free open air concerts and self promoted shows in clubs
and bars all over Chile , including the legendary concerts at "La
Batuta" in Santiago. In 2002 they made their first tour in
Germany . This happened in part due to a collaboraion with the
chilean visual artist Rafael Insunza who was invited to show his
works at an exhibition at the „Kunsthaus Tacheles“ in Berlin , an
important cultural center symbolic of the reunification of Germany .
this idea came forth much earlier in Santiago during evening
conversations between Macha and Rafael and in may 2002 Chico Trujillo
made their first concerts for a german audience . they performed in
„Tacheles“ in „Cafe Zapata“ , in the presentation "No al
Plan Colombia" at „Humboldt University“ , in "Kunsthaus
Köpi" at the „Festival Liberacion de los Presos Politicos de
Chile " as well as numerous „fiestas latinas".
It was at this time that the band gave
their first performances in Spain , la Coruna , Ferrol and Oliera. As
they returned to Chile they were invited at yearsend to play at the
closing cerimonies of the „Carnival of the Cultures“ in
Valparaiso, together with "Blue Splendor", a band well
known in the harbour town. In Feburary 2003 they played once again at
the "Festival del Huaso de Olmue", a program followed by
more than 4 million television viewers in Chile alone. There they
performed with „Tommy Rey“ and „Gioloto y su Combo“ at
"Cumbre de los Sonoras", a meeting of Chile's best known
bands and their most beloved newcomer, „Chico Trujullio“.
In March and April the band paused in
order to allow Macha, Tuto and Juanito to pursue other plans: a
university tour with their other band, „Lafloripondio“.
Afterwards Chico Trujillo returned to Germany where they performed at
Cafe Zapata, in Tacheles , 36 times between June and September. There
they enjoyed positive resonance amongst the latin americans , but
also amongst the people of Turkey, Russia, Kurdistan, Slovenia,
Poland , and so on .
At the end of this year in Germany they
released the album "Fiesta de Reyes", a live album made up
of excerpts from four concerts in July. Visiting one of these
concerts was Rodrigo Gonzales, better known as „Rod“, the bass
player from the famous german punk band, "Die Ärtze".
Together with Macha he mixed the live album. Chico Trujillo ended the
year in Chile with concerts at the " Carnival of the Cultures "
in Valparaiso and, for the fourth year in a row , new years eve at
„La Batuta“, the most famous club for rock acts in Chile .
Their numerous concerts in Berlin awoke
the interest of concert promoters and club owners all over germany.
This enabled them, through the help of their independant label
„Hachazo“, to book concerts from May through October.
Particularly noteworthy amongst these were the already well known
concerts in „Cafe Zapata“, the 1st of May celebrations at the
„Treibsands Festival“ in Lübeck , at the „Karnival der
Kulturen“ in Berlin , at the „Latin American Festival“ in
Hamburg, the "Zytanien Festival" in Lehrte , as well as
three concerts opening for „Die Ärtze“ in Oldenburg , Minden ,
and Darmstadt, each before approximately 20, 000 people. They also
performed at the theater ensemble Panoptikum's spectacle "il
Corso" 16 nights in a row . As their final concert for the
season in Germany on they performed at "Popkomm" at the
„Kultur Brauerei“ in Berlin. As they returned to Chile they
performed once again at the „Carnival of the Cultures“ in
Valparaiso in "Stadion Playa Ancha". The year ended in the
south of Chile, in Concepcion, at the newyears eve party "Sur
Activo".
The year 2005 began with a trip to
Switzerland , to the cities of Montreaux and Jona. Later they
returned to their "home base" in Europe, Berlin, and
organized concerts around Germany, this time til the end of August.
In May they began to record their second studio CD. To begin the
season in Chile they played in September at the Independance day
festival in Quilpue. The following concerts were similar in kind to
those of the years previous.
To begin the academic year 2006 , which
in Chile begins in March , they played at different universities.
They also worked on additional material for the new CD. In May they
returned to Germany to play in Berlin . Memorable concerts included
three shows at the 2006 FIFA World Cup of soccer , at the "Fan
Fest" before the Brandenburger gate , as well as countless
concerts at „Cafe Zapata“.