My friend Carlos Muñoz Villalobos, who has died of cancer aged 72, was the founder of the band Caliche, a music teacher, a customs officer, a trained opera singer, a restaurateur and a businessman.
Carlos was also a political refugee. He made his home in Birmingham in 1976 after the Chilean military coup of 1973, having spent 18 months “disappeared” in prison under General Augusto Pinochet’s regime. Despite his ordeal, Carlos maintained a light-hearted attitude to this dark chapter, never wishing to be defined by it.
Born in Viña del Mar, Chile, to Carlos, a shipping clerk, and Irma, who had trained in law, Carlos Jr attended the Escuela Normal in the city, embarking on a lifetime of learning and a strong appreciation for philosophy and human rights. While others were out at the disco, Carlos could be found reading. From a young age, he played the guitar and loved classical music.
Shortly before his arrest in 1975, he had qualified as a customs officer at the Universidad de Chile, Santiago. Having been a member of socialist groups, he was an inevitable target for the Dina, Chile’s secret police.
Released in 1976, he arrived in the UK and was offered a postgraduate management course at Aston University. A year later he met Anne (nee Britton), a teacher, in Birmingham through a Chilean friend who was also a refugee, and they married in 1982.
In the early 1980s a group of Chilean refugees joined the pair in establishing a much-loved restaurant on the Bristol Road called Los Andes. The restaurant became a hub for Latin American live music, parties, political and cultural exchange, often frequented by Simon Rattle and the nearby university community.
Carlos was resourceful, imperturbable and creative. He believed in the power of cooperatives and was instrumental in setting up many via the Co-operative Development Agency in Birmingham.
He brought Andean music to wider European audiences, sang with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra as a member of the CBSO choir and filled his home with instruments. He spoke of his “absolute biological need” to make music.
He founded Caliche, a four-piece Andean band – the word refers to mineral deposits found in the desert regions of northern Chile. The group performed at the Southbank Centre in London, the Midlands Arts Centre and Symphony Hall in Birmingham, for the BBC and toured nationally, playing at festivals such as Womad; they also gave workshops in hundreds of schools.
Later, Carlos gained a music teaching qualification at the University of Central England, now Birmingham City University. After performing at Birmingham Rep, Carlos received a call from Vanessa Redgrave, and was involved in her Planet Without a Visa theatrical project, which examined the theme of exile.
Carlos was a devoted father and grandfather and a gifted conversationalist. He was a man of great integrity, kindness and gentle humility.
He is survived by Anne, his children, Rosanna and Tomás, his grandchildren Benjamin, Isabella and Luca, and his siblings, Javiera and Alvaro.
