Argentinian rock

Rock and roll , which came to Argentina from the United States with Elvis Presley and Bill Haley (who gave concerts in the country in 1958), awakened the desire of local musicians to reproduce their sound. Several television shows, such as “Ritmo y Juventud” and “El Club del Clan”, featuring Palito Ortega, Violeta Rivas, Chico Navarro and other performers representing the Sanni-Pop style that combined the Argentine romantic and the Argentinean pop music The first local beat bands appeared at the dawn of rock and roll. The most notable among them were Sandro y Los de Fuegos, who recorded a whole series of Spanish-language versions of rock and roll hits of the time, and reached commercial popularity. Sandro, the lead singer of the group, soon began writing his pop hits, which made him popular internationally.

The reasons for the development of rock in Argentina, historians of rock are found in the parallels between the development of this style here and in the United States. Both countries were the immigration sites of millions of Europeans, and their musical heritage was heavily influenced by the common European - both classical and folk. These musical influences gave similar results: bluegrass and country music in the USA, Gaucho folklore and pampas music in Argentina. Here, folklore (the so-called nueva canción ) increasingly intersects with popular musical trends in the late 1950s.

By 1965, rock music in the country developed rapidly. When in most countries of the world national rock was under the surface of American pop music and the “British invasion” , in Argentina it was not only preserved, but also evolved in its own direction, independent of the British-American one. Since the mid-60s, Argentine rock has become the locomotive of rock movement in the Spanish-speaking world. On the underground scene appear the most significant figures of the early Argentine rock. In the jazz bars La Cueva and La Perla del Once , local bohemians gather to exchange ideas. Among them are Maurice, Pajarito Zaguri, Miguel Abuelo, Tanguito and Javier Martínez - drummer and vocalist of the then most famous Argentine blues band “Manal”. "Los Beatnicks", whose members were Maurice and Martinez, began a movement that gradually led Argentine rock from imitation to their own creativity (although following mainly British tendencies). Formed on the quiet beaches of Villa Gesell, the band recorded the first Argentinean Spanish-language single, “Rebelde”, in 1966. The video recording, in which the band members are driving around the streets of Buenos Aires , was the first ever video clip in Argentina ^[1] .

The breakthrough of the Spanish-language, original rock material was made by the band "Los Gatos". After playing for several months at La Cueva, where musicians were regularly arrested for political reasons, the band released two singles in 1967. La Balsa, a song remotely resembling the work of The Doors , was composed by Tanguito and sold 200,000 copies. The following year, the first Argentine rock magazine Pinap appeared, and the first national rock label Mandioca was founded. In 1969, four large concerts took place: "June Sunday concerts", "Festival Nacional de Música Beat", "Festival Pinap" and "Festival de Música Joven". In the wake of "Los Gatos" went a number of groups, among which were the most influential rock band of the late 60s "Almendra" and "Manal", the first successful Hispanic blues group. These groups formed the triumvirate of the founders of the Argentine rock movement, although none of them had a long history. The early rock scene of Argentina was characterized by a large number of changes in the composition of groups - the participants migrated between bands or musicians from different gangs met and organized new ones. Naturally, with such a movement there was a wide field for experiments. So after the collapse of the group “Almendra”, three new teams “Pescado Rabioso”, “Color Humano” and “Aquelarre” are formed. In 1970, "Vox Dei" with its unique blend of hard rock and pastoral melodies brings a fresh stream into the movement. Their album “La Biblia” is considered one of the founding works of the early 70s, and even receives unexpected approval from the Catholic Church.

In the same 1970, the BA Rock festival was first held, which became a platform for new influences that would dominate the Argentinean rock of the first half of the 1970s. At the turn of the decades, there has been a diversification of Argentine rock, when the world entered the era of hard rock and some of the groups began to play heavier music. Pappo's Blues became the most influential hard-core and blues group of this time, which became famous even in the USA. Pappo not only laid the foundations of Argentine blues and hard, but also became the founding father of local heavy metal, having organized in 1980 the country's first metal band Riff. El Reloj became another important, but underrated rock act of this time.

However, the first BA Rock festival showed a large number of acoustic rock movement groups: Arco Iris, Sui Generis, Raul Porchetto and Pedro y Pablo. These musicians not only drew inspiration from Argentinian folk, they began to experiment with all South American styles, and their lyrics are becoming more and more poetic, and the character and position of a person are becoming more and more song themes ^[2] . The spread of these groups and their growing popularity in the early 70s became the pinnacle of the hippie movement in Argentina, the apogee of which was the 1972 Acusticazo festival. Several acoustic rock bands after it became especially popular, including Vivencia, Pastoral, and Alma y Vida. These and some other groups dominated the charts of the first half of the 70s. At the same time, Argentine rock, for the first time in its history, became popular abroad. “Sui Generis” and “Pastoral” became favorite hippie groups in Latin America and even beyond its borders, particularly in Japan.

"Sui Generis" began to move from classical acoustic rock to a more electric sound. In addition, in the Argentine underground, new groups have appeared with a completely different sound. They were repelled by experimental acoustic works, tango, as well as British progressive rock and jazz. The pinnacle of this was “Arco Iris” with their first Latin American rock opera “Sudamerica o El Regreso al Aurora” (1972) and the phenomenal epic counterpart “Agitor Lucens V” (1974), in which art rock , jazz-fusion and world music . For long improvisational compositions, sometimes lasting 15–20 minutes each, the group lacked the format of a single vinyl, and both of the aforementioned albums were released as a double album. Few people could have foreseen that the mid-70s would be a turning point not only for Argentine rock, but also for the whole country. Acoustic rock went down in history, groups broke up, changed sound. Progressive came to replace them. The classic era of Argentine acoustics-rock ended in 1976. After that, only a few acoustic compositions had moderate success, for example, “Nito Mestre y Los Desconocidos de Siempre”. During this period, symphonic and progressive rock begins to dominate.

The first at the beginning of 1973 to combine rock with progressive and folk became the group "Contraluz". At the initial stage, their music style was greatly influenced by the music of “Jethro Tull”. But in the early 1970s, they began to work on merging rock with national musical motifs and folk rhythm. Their first album “Americanos” appeared in 1973. The songs for him were carefully selected, so that the high social intensity of the lyrics (expressed even in the names - "Without work", "Do not stoop to begging", "Prisons without Indians", "Itchy wind" and others) was emphasized by a powerful voice Alvaro Canada. After great success in Argentina and being active at various concerts, radio and television performances, the group unexpectedly for many in 1974 suspended its activities. As it turned out later, the Argentine censorship of the time did not allow the group to act and record more. It was only 27 years after the release of their first album, in 2000, the group gathered and recorded three more albums.

A whole series of groups at this time are developing Argentine progressive. The first album of the group "Espíritu", formed in 1973, was called "Crisalida" and is considered their best work. It is distinguished by beautiful and diverse compositions with a changing atmosphere (from soft acoustic things to tempo heavy riffs), richly arranged keyboard and vocal harmonies. Hard rockers "El Reloj" on the second album in 1975 also turned to a mystical progressive, in the style of " Uriah Heep ". The Argentine group "Relax" was formed in 1976 by the brothers Daniel and Hector Grasso. Both were ardent fans of Black Sabbath , Led Zeppelin , Deep Purple and other classic bands. In 1977 they recorded the album “Padre”. In terms of style, they paid tribute to their favorite teams and on the album there are such genres as progressive , hard , blues, etc., performed at the highest level. But due to changes in the music market, the album did not receive due attention. The group in the future plans was writing a rock opera based on the life story of Christ (as Vox Dei did), but economic problems did not allow this idea to be implemented. The one who gave, but did not realize high hopes, was the group “Reino de Munt”. The magnificent album “Nin tiempo ni espacio” was recorded in 1972 by “Los Barrocos”, but it was released only two years later. It's an intriguing mix of progressive rock, psychedelics and chamber music, somewhat reminiscent of the work of the English. It's a Beautiful Day .

In 1976, a great success fell on the “ALAS” symphonic rockers, whose music was even more intellectual and unconventional. Luis Alberto Spinetta organizes a new group “Invisible” in the same year. Their symphonic sound, combined with the rhythms of tango, gained success with the critics. Charlie Garcia forms a new group, La Máquina de Hacer Pájaros, in which his interest in symphonic and progressive rock begins to emerge. A few more symphonic-progressive groups worth mentioning are Torax, Ave Rock, Anacrusa and Materia Gris.

But perhaps the most significant in the sympho-prog movement were Crucis. Their work began to attract attention in the early 70s in the underground. When in 1975, Argentine rock was overwhelmed by changes, their music turned out to be extremely popular and sought after by listeners. The Crucis compositions were powerful and dynamic, somewhat resembling the classics of English art rock Yes , but in general very original, with unexpected rhythm changes and duels between the Pino Marrone guitar, which often uses a woo, and the virtuoso Aníbaa Kerpela keys. No less impressive was the rhythm section of Gonzalo Farrugia - the drums and José Luis Fernández - bass, who was the main composer.

On March 24, 1976, the democratic government was overthrown by a military junta. Opened one of the darkest pages in the political history of Argentina, full of repression, fear and missing people. Argentine rockers began to be subjected to censorship and political persecution among the first. In 1976, in his speech, Admiral Emilio Masser condemned rock musicians and their fans as “potentially disruptive elements”, and the following year they were subjected to repression. Until the end of the decade, almost all rock musicians went underground or went abroad.

However, the music continued to evolve. In parallel with a number of symphonic progressive projects, hard rockers Vox Dei and Pappo's Blues continued to hold on to popularity. Hard rock bands continued to form, such as Plus, which debuted in 1976 and became one of the most successful until the end of the decade. 1977 was a year of decays and endings: Crucis fell apart at the end of the year, Pappo's blues also completed a seven-year career. Aquelarre returned from his Spanish emigration, but after the tour they also went their separate ways. But there were also hopes for the future: a team from La Plata called “Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota” amazed the public with comic costumes and nervous rhythms. There were several bright single-album projects, such as the electrofolk “Soluna” (the new group Gustavo Santaolalla) and “Bubu” with the album “Anabelas”. In 1977, the brothers Adrian and Ronan Bars reached the peak of success at Orion's Beethoven. On the first album “Superangel” of 1973, they presented an absolutely uncharacteristic for Latin America krautrok in the style of Ash Ra Temple , but the public did not perceive it. And with the second disc “Tercer Milenio”, where they leaned toward a hard space rock , somewhat reminiscent of German one. group Eloy , they unexpectedly achieved wide popularity.

The period of the late 70s was not the most fruitful for rock, and the sympho-prog gradually went to a more commercial side. Like the rest of the world, disco fever rattled in the country. But it was at this time that the first real supergroup appeared in Argentina - Seru Giran .

In 1977, Charlie Garcia teams up with David Lebon, ex-member of Pescado Rabioso, to record songs in Brazil. There they recruit Oscar Moreau, the drummer of the legendary "Los Gatos" and "La Máquina De Hacer Pájaros". Soon the trio decides that instead of selling the songs, as previously thought, they will play it themselves. But for this you need a bass player. They became Pedro Aznar, a friend of Moreau, who at one time played in the "ALAS". García, Moro, Lebon and Aznar did two major things with Serú Girán: they developed sound that was fundamentally different from English-language rock and gained widespread popularity among both the higher and lower strata of Argentina. Serú Girán played music for both smart and simple people. The first album of the band presented a mix of Brazilian music with symphonic rock and jazz, but the concert tour failed: people demanded old songs by Sui Generis. But the second disc “La Grasa de las Capitales” was warmly received by the press and strengthened their status as one of the most popular groups of their time. The third album Bicicleta (1980) was initially perceived sluggishly, but over time, recognized as the best work of Serú Girán. Both of these discs are simpler and more sparingly arranged than the first, in the tradition of punk and heavy metal that came into force. The musicians release the fourth release of Peperina in 1981, but at the end of the year Aznar leaves the band to study at Berkeley. The completion of the career were concerts in March 1982 at Arena Obras Sanitarias. Their highest point was the song "No llores por mi Argentina" (not related to the theme of the same name from the musical " Evita" ), a song full of symbolism and became prophetic.

Less than a month later, on April 2, Argentines woke up and learned that a war had begun, which their government had declared to Great Britain. Jorge Luis Borges wrote a poem in memory of British and Argentine soldiers and called the war "a quarrel between two bald men because of a comb." After three months of fighting in the South Atlantic, Britain regained control of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas). The popularity of the Argentine military government, which brought the country to the most severe economic crisis, reached its bottom, and soon it fell. Democratic elections were held, and this was a new page in the history of Argentina and Argentine rock.

This time is the heyday of heavy Argentine music. The first hard rock in the style of Black Sabbath in Argentina began to play in the second half of the 70s, for example El Reloj, but finally the heavy metal band switched to its third album La Esencia Es La Misma (1983). However, the founders of the Argentine metal are considered to be the Riff group, which Pappo created upon returning from Europe under the impression of New wave of British heavy metal . Their first two albums, Macadam 3 ... 2..1.0 and Ruedas de Metal (both 1981), strengthened the band in this status. Although in fairness it should be noted that it was not a classic heavy metal band that played Iron Maiden in England and Metallica in the US, but rather heavy rock and roll, more similar to the Judas Priest style. In 1982, one of the most influential Latin American groups, Soda Stereo , was formed, which was also successful outside of Argentina in the 1980-1990s ^{[3] [4]} .

In the 1990s, groups like Babasónicos, Iguana Lovers, ANIMAL appeared on the Argentine scene.

On February 25, 2005, Roberto "Pappo" Napolitano died in Luhan as a result of a traffic accident at 71 km of Route 5, a few miles from home in Barrio San Antonio, which the musician took off for the summer. According to police sources, the guitarist, having dined and drunk in a restaurant, followed his other motorcycle on his Harley Davidson, on which his son Luciano and his daughter rode. Near the town of Estancia La Blanqueada, the motorcycles touched each other, Pappo lost control of his motorcycle, taking off towards the sidewalk. He was still alive, but the blow of another car from the opposite side killed him.

The farewell with the bluesman was held the next day in the pantheon of SADAIC musicians at Chacarita Cemetery (Capital Federal, Argentina) for loved ones and many fans who sang his songs during the funeral ceremony. A monument in his honor was erected in Buenos Aires on Roque Sáenz Peña Square (authors Juan B. Justo, Boyacá, Remedios de Escalada de San Martín y Andrés Lamas).

A noticeable phenomenon in Argentina’s rock life of the new millennium was the revival after three decades of disintegration and emigration of the pro-rockers Contraluz. Having released three amazing albums El Pasaje (2000) , Ramos Generales (2003 ) and Novus Orbis (2011) , in which the group in addition to the intelligent art-prog introduced noticeable elements of Latin American folk, Contralus once again showed the originality of the ways of rock music development in the Republic of Argentina .