The new Peruvian 10 Soles banknote features Maria Isabel Granda Larco, better know as Chabuca Granda. The famous Peruvian singer and songwriter with the deep, smoky, and nostalgic voice was born on September 3, 1920, in the copper mining Cotabambas province in the Apurímac region. At the age of 12 she started singing in the school choir of Lima’s prestigious Colegio Sophianum in San Isidro. Later she wrote songs and here and there performed as part of various groups. During the final stages of her marriage – the divorce in 1952 caused a tremendous scandal in the back then conservative and Catholic Lima – she embarked on a successful solo career. Not only in her private life she broke with conventions but also in her musical style as songwriter and singer. She pushed the boundaries of older song forms such as the Peruvian waltz, marinera, zamacueca and landau and their lyrics, giving her songs a rhythmic and melodic freedom. Later in her career, she even incorporated Afro-Peruvian music into her work masterfully blending the colorful rhythms with Peruvian popular music.

To this day her song “La Flor de la Canela” (Cinnamon Flower) is considered the anthem of Lima. Other popular hits that are regarded as classics of Peruvian music include “Lima de veras” (Truly Lima), “José Antonio, “Fina estampa” (Good looks), and “Zeñó Manué”, to name just a few. While remaining quite unknown abroad, in Latin America Chabuca Granda was highly popular; in Peru she was and still is an icon of popular Peruvian music. She died on March 8, 1983 in Miami.

In 2017 Chabuca Granda’s work was declared a Cultural Heritage of the Nation. Two years later the Peruvian government posthumously awarded her the “Orden del Sol del Perú” (Peruvian Orden of the Sun).