Carlota Jaramillo

María Carlota Jaramillo was born in the highland village of Calacalí on July 9, 1904. Trained as a primary schoolteacher in Quito, Jaramillo entered musical theater, captivating audiences with her resonant, dramatically expressive vocal delivery.

In 1942, she recorded the immortal pasillo Sendas Distintas, composed for her by her husband Jorge Araújo Chiriboga; the record sold unprecedented thousands across the Andes. For half a century, dressed in her iconic black velvet gowns, she reigned as the undisputed queen of traditional Ecuadorian romantic song.