Jaime Cisternas

Appears in: Musicians


Poet of the Chino dance of Pucalán. Jaime Cisternas Cisternas was born in Maitencilo on June 10, l957, into a family of chino fishermen. His father, José Rogelio Manso, was a chino as well. He died in l996. Jaime studied first in Maeitencillo, then in Puchuncaví and Quintero. He began singing as an "alférez" (poet /flag bearer), improvising poems dedicated to the deity at 14 years of age. After a while he ceased to sing and took a job as a diver extracting shellfish all along the Chilean coast. He worked as a diver for 22 years, in the north, the center and the south of Chile. After returning to Quintero, he began working in the refinery LNG (Liquid Natural Gas). He was invited by his friend Juan Cisterna, the alferez of the Loncura Chino dance, to join the dance again. Since then he continues to sing as the alferez of the chino dance of Pucalán.