Herminio Giménez

Herminio Giménez (General Caballero, February 20, 1905 – Asunción, June 6, 1991) was a famous Paraguayan composer and orchestra director. He was part of the Orquesta del Dr. Atilio Valentino, the first group to record an album entirely dedicated to Paraguayan music in 1927, hired for the purpose by the music store Viladesau in Asunción. In 1916, showing signs of a child prodigy, he created his first composition: a polka titled "Canción del bohemio." The following year, he would follow with the polka "Poncho jhovy," and in 1919 the polkas "Yasy morotí" and "Corazó Rasy," the waltzes "Remember" and "Jamás," and "the song of the soldier." During the Chaco War, he was assigned as the director of the military band, and after the war ended, he received several decorations from the government.

During the 1936 revolution, he was exiled for the first time to the city of Corrientes, later settling in Buenos Aires where he formed his "Típica de tango" orchestra, which included (among others) Orlando Goñi, Alfredo Gobbi, and Aníbal Troilo. When the dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner began, Giménez was forced into exile in Argentina, with Corrientes being the place where he spent the most time. In the 1930s and 1940s, he directed orchestras in the main cities of America, such as Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), and New York (USA). In the 1950s and early 1960s, he spread his most remembered performances, works such as "Che trompo arasá," "Lejanía," "Cerro Corá," "Canción del arpa dormida," and "Alto Paraná" (with lyrics by Marilí Morales Segovia) and mainly "Malvita," a work recreated by prominent artists in our genre such as Ernesto Montiel, Rubén Miño, Damasio Esquivel, Blas Martínez Riera, among others.