Carlos Núñez Cortés

Carlos Núñez Cortés (Buenos Aires, October 15, 1942) is a comedian, pianist, composer and chemist. He was a member of the comedy/musical ensemble Les Luthiers from before its founding until the group's 50th anniversary.

Childhood and adolescence

Núñez Cortés is the first child of the couple Anselmo Núñez Cortés (watchmaker) and Julia Alazdraqui. Later two brothers would be born, Eduardo Enrique and Mónica. According to his own account:

My grandparents were Spanish on the paternal and Turkish side on the mother's side. My father, Anselmo, was a watchmaker. He had inherited the profession of his father (my grandfather), who had exercised as a watchmaker in Cieza, a town of Murcia.

My mother, Julia Alazdraqui, wears music in the soul. Although he never did any study on it, he has an exceptional ear. He sang like a light soprano. We were singing Sephardic songs in ancient Judeo-Spanish.

At the age of 6 he moved with his family to the city of Posadas (province of Misiones) in the northeast of Argentina, where he would live until the age of 13. Those years of life close to wild environments would awaken in the boy Carlos his taste for natural environments and his interest in all types of fauna. Near his house in Misiones, there lived a schoolmate whose family had a piano:

Every time I was going to visit him, I loved sitting in front of that instrument and improvising fashion songs.

One day, at a meeting, my parents saw me playing the piano with some sunnyness and they fell out. They weren't aware or imagined, I was six.

At the age of 6 he began his piano studies in Posadas. Returning to Buenos Aires, he continues his studies with Roberto Saccente. At 14 he gave his first concerts, and later studied composition and harmony on a self-taught basis. The piano, his interest in nature and chemistry experiments will be the teenager's main activities, until he enters the Faculty of Exact Sciences of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA).

The University of Buenos Aires

Carlos Núñez Cortés studied at the UBA with excellent grades, graduating in 1967 with the title of “Bachelor in Chemistry”, with a focus on Biological Chemistry. He worked in his profession in various laboratories until in 1972 he resigned definitively to dedicate himself fully to Les Luthiers.

During his student years he actively participated in activities parallel to his study. In particular, he was part of the Exact Sciences choir first, and the Faculty of Engineering choir later. It is in this choir where she would meet other students from different faculties who had fun making humorous music. This group, after successful presentations within the student environment, would consolidate, taking the name I Musicisti and would begin to perform works in small venues.

In September 1967, after a performance of I Musicisti and the historical operas, the group of ten students separated due to internal disagreements and was split into two: the one that would be called Les Luthiers (with Gerardo Masana, Jorge Maronna, Marcos Mundstock and Daniel Rabinovich) and the one that kept the name of I Musicisti (with Carlos Núñez Cortés, Daniel Durán, Horacio López, Guillermo Marín, Raúl Puig and Jorge Schussheim). Towards the end of 1968, Les Luthiers convinced Carlos Núñez Cortés to join them. Shortly afterward I Musicisti would dissolve.

Les Luthiers

It could be said that Carlos Núñez Cortés was, within the group, a very complete luthier since he combined musical, acting and composition qualities, and also participated in the construction of the informal instruments that give the group its name.

Works of his authorship

From the beginning of I Musicisti Núñez Cortés stood out in the composition of works, writing music and lyrics in several of them, although later he would dedicate himself almost exclusively to musical composition. Some of the group's first hits bear his signature, such as “Thales Teorema”, “Calypso of the Pills” and “Concerto grosso alla rustica” . Many famous Les Luthiers scores are their authorship, such as "Kathy, the queen of the saloon", "Las majas del brigantín", "Makanoa", “The Agrarian Aria”, “Saint Fish of the Fishes”, "The Tsar and a Handful of Aristocrats...", "Tom McCoffee", "Selection of Dancers" #34;, "Praise to the bathroom" and "Dilemma of love", among others.

Participation on stage

Carlitos (as he is known within the group and as his admirers call him) is a ductile comic actor. He recognizes Charles Chaplin as one of his guides in the art of mimicry, both corporal and gestural, an art in which he undoubtedly surpasses the rest of the group. Carlos Núñez Cortés was also the virtuoso of the piano and several informal instruments on stage. When singing he was often the soloist, and in choral works he is usually the voice that carries the melody since he has the highest register among Les Luthiers.

Instruments played

Carlos Núñez Cortés mainly (but not exclusively) masters keyboard or wind instruments.

Among the formal keyboard instruments we can mention, in addition to the piano, all types of electronic keyboard and the piano accordion. Many of the informal instruments that he has performed also use keyboards (such as the mandocleta, the ferrocaliope or the dactylophone).

Among the formal or folkloric wind instruments that he uses we can mention the recorder and the quena, but also many informal wind instruments, such as the glamocot, the tubephone, the nargillophone and the pneumatic glysophone, among others.

He also plays various percussion instruments, both formal and informal. We can mention the coconut marimba, washboards and Hindu boards, among others. Finally, the informality of Les Luthiers' instruments has led him to learn to play instruments that are difficult to classify, among which we can name the enchanting alembic and the exorcitara.

The complete list of informal instruments he has played on stage is as follows:

Lovely Alambique, Batería de cocina, Bass-pipe, Dactilófono, Desafinaducha, Exorcítara, Gaita de cámara, Glamocot, Glisófono pneumatic, Gom-horn, Latin, Mandocleta, Manguelodica pneumatic, Marimba de cocos, Narguilófono, OMNI (Mussual Observatory).

Luthier from Les Luthiers

Les Luthiers has a luthiery workshop where the informal instruments they use are designed and manufactured. Among the members of Les Luthiers, Carlos Núñez Cortés is the only one (besides the late Gerardo Masana) who has always participated in their design and production. From his inventiveness or in his joint work with Carlos Iraldi, the chromatic paraffin tubephone, the glamocot, the coconut marimba, the mandocleta, the nargillophone and others have emerged.

Les Luthiers for posterity

Núñez Cortés is the member of Les Luthiers who is most involved in the group's off-stage activities.

He is the one who has coordinated and promoted the video and DVD recording of most of Les Luthiers' shows, as well as one of the promoters of the group's official discography.

Les Luthiers has a very complete archive, where the original scripts, the programs given to the public, the plans of the instruments, the recordings of the rehearsals and everything related to the group are stored. This archive was established and is in charge of Carlos Núñez Cortés.

In addition, he dedicated himself to analyzing the work of Les Luthiers from the perspective of ludolingualism. In this regard he wrote a book called Mastropiero's Games that explains in detail word games and other linguistic devices used in Les Luthiers. It is characterized by the fluidity with which it can be read and the humor with which it is written.

Finally, among the members of Les Luthiers, Carlitos is the one who maintains the most fluid relationship with the public and fans. He has participated in some discussion forums about Les Luthiers, and is the one who has provided material and data to the builders of numerous web pages dedicated to the group.

The retirement of Les Luthiers

Towards the end of 2014, Núñez Cortés announced his intention to leave the group when Les Luthiers turned 50 as a group. That decision was upheld and the pianist left the group at the end of September 2017. The reason for leaving is due to his desire to rest and enjoy a well-deserved retirement while he is still in good health. In his book Memories of a luthier Núñez Cortés clarifies it:

In September 2017 I'll say goodbye to Les Luthiers, which means I'm not on stage anymore. I have chosen that date because that day, and because of that strange fascination that we humans have for the round numbers, they will have reached 50 years of the foundation of the group. I will continue to treasure paperwork and programs, as the number one fan post does not take it from me. If my colleagues ask me, I will come to your help for whatever. And, while I'm getting a certain apprehension to mention the common place, I'll be devoted to it. dolce far niente, this is to do all those things that I once postponed for lack of free time: asaditos, trips, concerts, birds, snails...

The artistic work parallel to Les Luthiers

In the early years of Les Luthiers Núñez Cortés shared his time with his work in chemistry and also with the musicalization of several plays. Among others we can name “Juan de los Caminos”, “Juan Moreira super show”, and “Corazón de bizcochuelo” by the actor and playwright Enrique Pinti (the list complete works can be consulted below). In addition to this, he also directed the children's choir of the “Collegium Musicum” of Buenos Aires for several years.

Later, the growing activity at Les Luthiers occupied all of his time and he had to discontinue this facet of his work, although he sporadically participated in the musicalization of some works, such as “Three Women with Luggage”, in 2007.

Other passions

In his free time Núñez Cortés likes nature. He enjoys climbing mountains, diving, exploring virgin places, watching birds and all kinds of fauna. His interest in sea snails made him a malacologist scholar and collector. He currently has a personal collection that is made up of approximately 9,000 snails of 3,000 different species, including marine, freshwater and terrestrial. He has published a book on this topic: 100 Argentine snails , in collaboration with Tito Narosky.

Since 2020, he has participated as a columnist in the Podcast 'La Hora de la Nostalgia', the Podcast where Les Luthiers is discussed.

Distinctions and awards obtained

Núñez Cortés has been distinguished individually and also collectively (as a member of Les Luthiers).

Individually he was awarded several times for the musicalization of various theatrical works. Furthermore, and in recognition of his contributions to malacology, in 2004 a small mollusk from the Canary Islands (a new species for science) was named after him: Onoba nunezi .

Among the most notable distinctions received for his performance as a member of Les Luthiers we can mention:

• Encomienda de Número de la Orden de Isabel la Católica

Spanish Government - Buenos Aires, August 2007

• Ilustre de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires

Government of the City of Buenos Aires, September 2007

• Mention of Honor John the Baptist Alberdi

Chamber of Deputies of the Nation - Congress of the Nation, Buenos Aires, August 2017

• Mention of Honor Sunday Faustino Sarmiento

Chamber of Senators of the Nation - Congress of the Nation, Buenos Aires, August 2017

• Princess of Asturias Award

Communication and Humanities Category - Princess of Asturias Foundation, Oviedo, Spain, October 2017

• Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Buenos Aires

Superior Council of the University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, November 2017

Books

Plays with music by Núñez Cortés

References cited