Salvador, "Chava", Flores was born in Soledad street in iconic market neighborhood of La Merced, Mexico City, on January 14, 1920. He is believed to have been raised in Tacuba’s neighborhood and to have lived in different traditional neighborhoods located mainly in the downtown and south areas of Mexico City, such as La Romita, Santa María la Rivera, Condesa, San Rafael, Peralvillo and Coyoacán, among others.

Flores was himself a jack of all trades by working as a tailor, night-shift guard, door-to-door salesman, debt collector, hardware store administrator, warehouse clerk, pressman and owner to a shirt store and a deli. He was also an editor and reporter for musical magazine The Song Gold Album, where he had his first contact with the Mexican musical scene of that time.

A unique character in his own right, “Chava Flores” captured the many faces of an urban and busy Mexico City that welcomed more “chilangos”, or natives from the countryside, than the city’s own infrastructure would allow.

Songs like Peso a peso (La Bartola) -Peso to peso-, La tertulia -The Gathering-, Sábado, Distrito Federal- Saturday in Mexico City-, Boda de Vecindad -Neighborhood Wedding- , or classic theme ¿A qué le tiras cuando sueñas mexicano?- What do you aim at when you dream Mexican? remain current to this day.

His keen observations on the social environment that surrounded him range from sharp depictions of people in celebratory traditional and impoverished "vecindades" or neighborhoods, to the tension between the encounter of upper and lower classes in shared public spaces. Themes like the perennial housewives dilemma of managing the budget for the purchase of staple goods or unrequited love are also among the lyrics of Mexico City’s chronicler per excellence.

At some point in his career, his songs were sung by top Mexican Golden Age Cinema actors, such as Pedro Infante and Germán Valdés, Tin Tan. In the late seventies he was owner of his own record label Ageleste and had participated in seven films before his death on August 5th, 1987.

Today, Google’s Doodle of the Day pays homage to “Chava Flores” in the ocassion of his 97th birth anniversary.

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