Julia Elena Fortún

Julia Elena Fortún Melgarejo (9 October 1929 – 5 December 2016) was a Bolivian historian, anthropologist, folklorist, and ethnomusicologist, pioneer in this last field in her country. She was born in the city of Sucre but lived in La Paz for most of her life.

She obtained an anthropology degree in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and her doctorate in history in the Universidad Central de Madrid in Spain. Back in Bolivia, Fortún studied music in the Academia Eduardo Berdecio and subsequently in the Conservatorio Nacional de Música in the city of La Paz. She died on 5 December 2016 at the age of 87.

In June 1973 she participated in the Primer Congreso del Hombre Andino held in northern Chile. There she coordinated alongside Oreste Plath the symposium on "Basic problems of the study of Andean folklore". However, the 1973 Chilean coup d'état on September 11 hindered the publication of the conference proceedings. Provided by Wikipedia