Biography:

Luis Millares Sall ( Las Palmas de Gran Canaria , July 13 , 1935 – May 1 , 2022 ) ¹ , better known as Totoyo Millares , was a Spanish musician and composer . He is considered one of the most important interpreters and popularizers of the contemporary timple, being recognized as the innovator of the interpretation of the instrument and creator of the modern timple style. Through his school, he has taught timple playing to thousands of students since its inception in 1954.

He was born into an important family of Canarian intellectuals. ² His parents were the poet and cartoonist Juan Millares Carló and the pianist Dolores Sall y Bravo de Laguna. ³ His eight brothers are also artists and poets, like the painter and engraver Manolo , the poets Agustín and José María , the graphic humorist Eduardo or the painter Jane . He passed away on May 1, 2022. 4

Teaching and artistic career 

His early years were spent between Las Canteras beach, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Lanzarote. Already from his early childhood he showed signs of an early talent for music and inspired by his brothers he began to learn guitar and timple in a self-taught way, at only five years old. According to his words, his interest in the timple came from listening to a municipal guard who used to play it on Las Canteras beach, so that he ended up buying one for fifteen pesetas. ⁵ Also during his childhood he also learned violin, piano and singing. He made his first compositions when he was only seven years old with Mazurca and Polka majorera, inspired by popular Canarian themes. In 1945, when he was only ten years old, he began to teach the rudiments of the timple to people around him with a teaching method based on music and figures, of his own creation and which is considered the first method of teaching the timple.

Since 1950, when he was fifteen years old, he began a more systematic teaching activity, teaching in more than 42 schools in Gran Canaria, and later in 1954 he created his timple school. Throughout the years, his school taught the practice of the timple to more than 45,000 students, including some of the stature of José Antonio Ramos .

His interest in Canarian folklore developed after meeting the journalist Nanino Díaz Cutillas , so that in October 1969 he created the band Los Gofiones , ⁶ one of the benchmarks of Canarian folklore. With this band he set out to rescue the purest and most traditional Canarian folklore, for which he toured the islands in search of traditional melodies and interpretations. Totoyo left the band a few months later due to differences with some of his members, but the formation, with different members, has lasted until today, counting at present with 38 performers of different instruments. In 1983 he created the first Popular Timple Orchestra . He was also the creator of the now defunct Timples Orchestra.

He renewed the interpretation of the timple, demonstrating the enormous possibilities and versatility of an instrument that previously was limited to the accompaniment of traditional Canarian songs. With Millares, the timple was introduced in its own right in orchestras as an instrument of cultured music and great expressiveness. Previously the timple was never plucked. Totoyo introduced picking and strumming techniques for performances as a solo instrument and accompanying other instruments.

Over the years he has released more than 80 albums, among which the Timple Anthology in three volumes stands out. He collaborated on numerous works with important musicians from various fields, being the first performer to play timple with the Las Palmas Philharmonic Orchestra .

Honors and distinctions 

In 2015 he was awarded the Canarias Award in the Popular Culture modality. 7

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