Jorge Milchberg, the composer of the world-famous version of the song “El Condor Pasa”, is dead. Milchberg died last Saturday at the age of 93 in Paris, as his family and the Argentine Embassy in France announced on Friday.

Milchberg recorded his version of “El Condor Pasa,” the song with the Andean condor in the title, about man’s longing for freedom in 1963. The folk-rock duo Simon and Garfunkel later made it a pop music classic with English lyrics.

Born in Buenos Aires in 1928 as the son of Polish emigrants, Milchberg has lived in France since 1955. The trained classical pianist was also one of the best-known players of the charango, a plucked instrument typical of the Andes region.

In the 1950s he formed the Andean music band Los Incas, also known as Urubamba.