Gilbert Favre was a flautist

Flautist

A flautist or flutist is a musician who plays an instrument in the flute family. See List of flautists.The choice of "flautist" versus "flutist" is the source of dispute among players of the instrument...

 of Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 descent. He also played the quena

Quena

The quena is the traditional flute of the Andes. Usually made of bamboo or wood, it has 6 finger holes and one thumb hole and is open on both ends. To produce sound, the player closes the top end of the pipe with the flesh between his chin and lower lip, and blows a stream of air downward, along...

 as a founding member of the popular Bolivia

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

n folk group Los Jairas

Los Jairas

Los Jairas are a folk music band from Bolivia. They have worked with Los Condores. Their work features the charango, a stringed instrument from Bolivia.They were formed in 1965 by [Gilbert Favre, founder of the folklore cabaret La Pena Naira in La Paz]....

. Favre was commonly referred to as "El Gringo" by the Bolivian public. Allegedly, while living in Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

, as an assistant to the Swiss anthropologist Jean Christian Spahni, Favre and Violeta Parra

Violeta Parra

Violeta del Carmen Parra Sandoval was a notable Chilean composer, songwriter, folklorist, ethnomusicologist and visual artist...

 met and they fell in love, provoking Parra's divorce. Favre eventually left for Bolivia and started playing and experimenting with Andean music with virtuoso guitar player Alfredo Dominguez and renowned Ernesto Cavour, but Violeta would follow and be part of the scene of La Paz for a while. Gilbert moved back to Geneva in the early 1960s together with Violeta Parra. After a few years in Europe, they returned to South America.
However, as Favre, Dominguez and Cavour started having resonance in the media and becoming popular he decided that he was not going back to Chile and left Violeta for good; she would later write Run Run Se Fue Pa'l Norte, dedicated to Gilbert, and commit suicide.

Favre met Indiana whilst in Bolivia, they married and returned to Europe to settle in the Dordogne

Dordogne

Dordogne is a départment in south-west France. The départment is located in the region of Aquitaine, between the Loire valley and the High Pyrénées named after the great river Dordogne that runs through it...

area of France. They had two sons, Patrick and Christian. Christian died in a motorcar accident whilst holidaying in France. Favre and Indiana divorced and while in Paris, he met Barbara Erskine who at the time was working for the New York Times. They moved to Russin in Geneva where they married.