Octavio Corvalán was born in Santiago del Estero, Argentina, in 1923. After secondary school in Santiago he went to Tucumán to study Philosophy and Letters graduating in 1944. His great interest in folklore stems from the rural life he lived as a child. He learned to play the guitar while still in secondary school and later studied linguistics in order to track down the influence of indigenous languages on the Spanish mother tongue. These studies led to a fellowship at the University of Washington. He has been performing as a folk singer in personal appearances and on the radio for many years in many cities of his country and has lectured and written essays and articles on folk poetry and music.