Biography
Osmán Pérez Freire was a Chilean composer and pianist. Born in Santiago, he spent much of his career in Argentina and later Spain, where he composed popular songs and instrumental pieces that incorporated traditional Latin American forms and contemporary rhythms such as the shimmy and tango.
He is credited with the music for Fritz Lang’s silent film Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922), in which a shimmy of his, also known as “Ay, ay, ay”, served as the central theme. His song of the same title achieved wide international recognition and was recorded by numerous artists. Freire was president of the Sociedad Argentina de Autores y Compositores and served as Chilean consul in Spain; he was a grandson of former Chilean president Ramón Freire Serrano.
He died in Madrid in 1930.
