Juan Brito

Juan Daniel Brito was born in Santiago, Chile. He worked as a social worker there and was a composer and singer with the music group Apurimac until September 11, 1973, when the military junta prohibited the broadcasting or performance of folkloric music and the use of Andean instruments. He was blacklisted, along with many teachers, artists, journalists, and social workers, and forced to leave the country in 1975. He moved to the U.S. in 1975, gaining an MSW from the UConn School of Social Work and forming the music group Kataris with his wife, Rebecca. Juan provided the live music for the Hartford Ballet’s Murmurs of the Stream, and for the Judy Dworin Performance Ensemble’s 2001 production ¿dónde estás?, about the struggles of the Mothers of the Disappeared in Chile and Argentina. He is a popular local musician, school social worker, and journalist for La Voz Hispana.