Charly garcia
Carlos Alberto García (Buenos Aires, October 23, 1951), known by his stage name Charly García, is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer and record producer. Argentine, considered one of the most important and avant-garde figures of Argentine and Latin American popular music. Named the father of national rock, García is widely acclaimed for his recording work, both in his multiple groups and as a soloist, due to the compositional complexity of his music, addressing multiple genres, from pop rock, funk rock, folk rock, jazz, synth pop and symphonic rock, and for his transgressive lyrics and criticism of modern Argentine society, especially during the era of the military dictatorship, in partly due to his rebellious, flamboyant and anti-establishment personality, which has garnered notorious attention in the media over the years.
As a teenager, García was one of the founders of Sui Generis, a folk rock band, in the late 1960s, where they would release three successful studio albums whose songs became hymns for generations of Argentines. After the separation of the group in 1975, García would play on the only album of the supergroup PorSuiGieco, together with Nito Mestre and other already established musicians such as León Gieco, his then partner, María Rosa Yorio, and Raúl Porchetto. Between 1976 and 1977, he was part of the progressive rock band, La Máquina de Hacer Pájaros, considered one of the most important bands of Latin American progressive rock. Later, between 1978 and 1982, he was part of the rock superband Serú Girán, one of the most important and revolutionary groups during the period of the Argentine military dictatorship, where they composed challenging songs such as Canción from Alice in Wonderland. After composing the soundtrack for the movie Pubis Angelical, and at the same time his own album, Yendo de la cama al living (1982), which would bring him excellent reviews, García would embark on a prolific career as soloist, where he would compose several generational songs of Latin music, at the same time that he would seek to expand the barriers of pop music, along with his role as a musician. His album Clics modernos (1983) was considered by Rolling Stone magazine as the second best in the history of Argentine rock. In addition, another seven of his albums were also included in that list: Life (1973), Small anecdotes about institutions (1974), BySuiGieco (1976), Movies (1977), La grasa de las capitales (1979), Bicycle (1980) and Piano bar (1984). His song "Rasguña las piedras" was considered in 2002 as the third best song of all time in Argentine rock, and the 53rd. of Spanish-American rock. The following songs of his authorship have also been considered among the 100 best Argentine rock: "Seminare", "Canción para mi muerte", "Demoliendo hoteles", "Los dinosinos", "I don't want to become so crazy", "Don't cry for me, Argentina", "Chipi chipi" and "Close to the revolution".
In 2009 he received the Grammy Award for Musical Excellence. In 1985 he was awarded the Konex de Platino Award, as the best rock instrumentalist in Argentina in the decade from 1975 to 1984. He won the Gardel de Oro Award three times (2002, 2003 and 2018), the most important in the country in terms of music. In 2010 he was declared an Illustrious Citizen of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires by the Buenos Aires Legislature, and in 2013 he received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the National University of General San Martin.
Biography
Childhood
Carlos Alberto García was born in the city of Buenos Aires, on October 23, 1951, into an upper-middle-class family, being the eldest son of Carmen Moreno and Carlos Jaime García Lange, a businessman who owned of the first formica factory in Argentina. The family was also made up of three brothers: Enrique, Daniel and Josi. Her mother was dedicated to the care and education of her children, with the help of professional nannies. Each son had his own room. The family home was a large apartment located on the fifth floor of Calle José María Moreno 63, in the heart of the Caballito neighborhood and ten blocks from Parque Centenario, where he used to go to draw dinosaurs. in the Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences. Dinosaurs, planets and Greek myths were the three topics that excited Charly when he was a boy. The family also had a country house for the weekend, with a pool, in the town of King's Pass.
In 1958, he began his primary studies at public school No. 3, "Primera Junta," located two blocks from his house, in front of Parque Rivadavia. In 1959 the economic situation of the family entered into a crisis, when the factory closed, which led to the subsequent loss of most of the family properties, including the house on José María Moreno street and the farmhouse in Paso del Rey The Garcías then had to move to a rented apartment, located on Darregueyra and Paraguay, in the then Palermo Viejo neighborhood.
His father then began working as a physics and mathematics teacher, and his mother began working as a producer of radio and later television programs dedicated to tango and Argentine folklore, who lived what came to be called " the folklore boom". Due to her work, it became common for her mother to invite prominent folklore musicians to the house, in which "Carlitos" he played the piano. The family's economic situation improved and they moved to an apartment located at Vidt 1955 9.º “B”, between Charcas and Güemes, in Palermo, where the musician lived until 1972 when he moved to live with María Rosa Yorio at a nearby pension. The photos included in the Life album were taken nearby. As both parents had to go out to work, Carlitos was sent to finish elementary school at the Aeronáutica Argentina school, at 400 Quilmes street, del Pompeii neighborhood, because he had double schooling.
Beginnings as a musician
Music began very early in García's life: at the age of two he learned to play a citarina by ear and then continued with a small toy piano that his maternal grandmother gave him as a gift.
When Garcia's parents embarked on a trip to Europe, the children were left under the care of nannies and a grandmother. The stress caused by the absence of his parents caused Charly a nervous breakdown, a disorder that caused his characteristic vitiligo. When his parents returned from the trip, his mother noticed that Charly had learned to play "Torna a Surriento" by ear. a famous Neapolitan melody that came in a family music box. Charly has said that he believes that the solo of "Seminare" derives from that melody.
When I heard him play that song, I took him to the apartment of a neighbor who lived on the top floor and had a big piano and he immediately got to play like nothing. The other day I went and bought one.Carmen Moreno, mother of Charly.
Warning about the innate conditions and perfect pitch of «Carlitos», his parents enrolled him in 1956 at the Thibaud Piazzini Conservatory, although his mother arranged for him to take piano and music classes at home. His teacher was Julieta Sandoval. Charly describes her as a very strict teacher, "super Catholic", who had a sadomasochistic conception for which one had to suffer and feel pain to be a good classical soloist:
I had been instilled in the Christian idea that through pain the sublimation was reached... I was self-flagging, cutting, hitting my arms... I believed in pain as a drug.Charly García
His first performance in public was on October 6, 1956, when he was still 4 years old, at the Conservatory, introduced in the program as "Carlitos Alberto García Moreno". He performed two classical-style pieces, one anonymous and the other authored by his teacher.
As a child, Charly loved classical music and hated popular music, just like his parents. He hardly slept – he felt it was a waste of time – and spent whole days playing Chopin and Mozart. he felt the urge to compose, something that his teacher systematically repressed. At the age of 9, in 1960, he composed his first song, "Corazón de concreto" (included in Kill Gil ), but he did not give it to know for fear of his teacher's reaction. In 2004 García paid tribute to his childhood piano teacher by appearing unexpectedly at the centenary party of the Thibaut Piazzini Conservatory to interpret two songs of his own on the piano, from the era of Serú Girán, "Sangra" and "Veinte trajes verdes", the latter dedicated to the composer Eric Satie.
In 1962, a musical television program called «El Club del Clan» was put on the air, in Buenos Aires, which achieved a large audience of young audiences due to the presence of very young singers, such as Palito Ortega, among others, who interpreted original songs of what was called "the new wave" (rock and roll, twist and beat music) in Spanish. At that moment, García began to break with the trajectory of a classical piano soloist that his family education was imposing on him. While watching the program and after being angry with his mother, he composed his first song, "Corazón de concreto", attributing the hardness of his heart to his mother. In 2010, almost fifty years later, García recorded the song with Palito Ortega and included it on the album Kill Gil. In his later songbook he would resume the theme of "the new wave"; in "While I watch the new waves".
In 1963, at the age of twelve, he graduated as a theory and music theory teacher, but the following year, in 1964, García, like tens of thousands of young Argentines, heard The Beatles for the first time, who caused a radical change in his life:
When I heard The Beatles I went crazy: I thought it was Martian music. Classic Mars music. I soon understood the message: 'we play our instruments, we do our songs and we are young.' For my time and my training, that was very rare. Young people weren't supposed to do songs and sing. The first thing I heard about them was "There's a Place." I realized what was going on with the fourths and a couple more interesting things. And there, kaboooom, my career as a classic musician ended.Charly García
With them came the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, The Byrds and The Who, among others. There he ended his career as a classical musician. He yelled to buy him an electric guitar, grew his hair long, and began fighting with his father, who hoped he would become a soloist or an engineer. This relationship would never be put together again.; Although they no longer had economic problems, he began to insist that she go out and find a job to finance his "vices." With his mother it was different:
I always knew where Carlitos was coming. After my other children and grandchildren were born, I realized that he was special. Sometimes I was even afraid because he said, "How could a three-year-old boy be able to play anything on the piano?" Charly was a special thing; I do wrong to say it, but it was.Carmen Moreno, mother of Charly
Among the anecdotes of his childhood as a child prodigy, Sergio Marchi recounts that, in the middle of the 1960s, Mercedes Sosa went to dinner at the García Moreno house. When listening to Carlitos play the piano, he commented to Ariel Ramírez: "This boy is like Chopin." Another anecdote tells that in a show by Eduardo Falú organized by his mother, he told the folklorist that the fifth string of his guitar was out of tune. guitar, when no one had noticed.
In 1965, Charly began his secondary studies at the Dr. Dámaso Centeno Social Military Institute, a school near his birthplace, which was attended by family members of the military, at a time when the Armed Forces had overthrown the constitutional government presided over by by Juan D. Perón, to impose a regime in which dictatorships alternated with unstable civilian governments under military tutelage, whose legitimacy was questioned due to the proscription of Peronism.
García had a Winco record player in his room where he listened to rock records that he exchanged at the Centro Cultural del Disco, in exchange for promotional albums that his mother received. García has recounted that among the records that he especially remembers having heard, is "Like a Rolling Stone" by Bob Dylan, in 1965, which gave him a paroxysmal attack.
In high school, I used to skip classes to play the piano in the auditorium.
There he was invited by Alberto "Beto" Rodríguez, the drummer, to form a band. It was called To Walk Spanish, a name that García gave it and which expresses the act of expelling or throwing a person, taking him by the collar of the jacket and belt. To Walk Spanish, was formed by Juan Bellia (guitar), Alejandro "Pipi" Correa (bass), Charly García (guitar) and Alberto "Beto" Rodriguez (drums). The band made their own songs in English, with music by García and lyrics by Correa, and a few covers, including "Feel A Whole Lot Better" by Los Byrds, which years later Charly would include on the album Cheap Philosophy and Rubber Shoes, with the title "I feel so much better" and a changed lyric ("I feel so much stronger without your love"), though without changing the meaning.
The first Sui Generis (1968-1971)
In 1967 he met Nito Mestre, also a student of Dámaso Centeno, who was part of the band The Century Indignation, along with Carlos "Piraña" Piegari. Towards the second half of 1968 both bands came together to form Sui Géneris, a name chosen by García to denote not only the musical originality he aspired for, but also a defense of the freak, of the strange, of the nerd and of one's own path, in the face of the pejorative remarks that he and his companions received in those years.
The initial formation was a sextet made up of Charly (singing, keyboards and guitar), Nito (singing and flute), Piegari (guitar), Beto Rodríguez (drums) and Juan Bellia (guitar), Alejandro Correa (bass). Later Correa left, who was replaced by Rolando Fortich and, in 1970, Rodríguez left, replaced by Francisco "Paco" Prati. Carlos "Lito" Lareu on guitar, Diego Monteverde, Hugo Alfredo Negri on bass, Diego Fraschetti and Daniel Bernareggi, who played bass on the 1970 album.
At that time, Charly was composing songs but not yet writing his lyrics, something that Piegari mainly contributed, but also Correa. Charly has said that he and Piegari were "the Lennon and McCartney of the school". In 1968 they composed a rock opera in Spanish, entitled Teo, about a son of the Moon and a cat. that bossa nova had to tango and rock. It had 16 different parts, in rock, blues and bossa nova rhythms. Some of the themes of that opera were "Teo" ("Teo was the son / of a fertilized moon / by a half-convict cat / on Saturday the 32nd"), "Marina" and "Juana" ("Wash the clothes, Juana / wash them without ceasing / because your husband / does not return from work…»). García has said that some of those melodies went into "Eiti Leda" and some riffs from La máquina de hacer pájaros.
From the beginning Sui Generis began working on voices. Charly, Nito and Piegari took singing lessons with a teacher who lived across the street from Piegari's family home, in Flores. Charly has said that his model, both for To Talk Spanish and for Sui Generis, was the American band Vanilla Fudge, from which it took the use of the organ, multi-part musical themes, psychedelia and symphonic rock in its early stages.
There are four Sui Generis recordings from that time, recorded on two Minisurco acetate single discs, made in 1969 and 1970. The first of the discs contains the songs "De las brumas regresare", composed by Charlie García and Alejandro Correa, and "Escuchando al juglar en silencio", by Correa. The second disc contains two songs belonging to the opera Teo: "Marina" and "Grita", both recorded as belonging to Charly García and Carlos Piegari.
Among the songs composed at that time, prior to the Sui Generis duo, are «Natalio Ruiz», later included in the album Vida (1973); «Your soul looks at you today», included in PorSuiGieco (1976) and «Monoblock», by the same authors, included in Symphonies for adolescents (2000). The three songs are co-authored by Charly and Carlos Piegari. Also from this period was the song "Gaby", composed by Carlos Piegari and Alejandro Correa, which Charly included on the album Música del alma (1980). Finally, Nito Mestre released publicly in 2010, an unpublished audio recorded around 1971 by the Sui Generis duo, on the Melopea label, entitled "La bicicleta oxidada", the work of Piegari/García.
In December 1969, when most of the members of the group finished high school, the Sui Generis sextet was invited to play at the graduation party in front of hundreds of people, which was held at the Santa Rosa Institute (Rosario 638).. Adolescence ended, the school ceased to be the area that brought them together and young people began their adult lives following their own paths.
1970 was a year of changes in the band. They first played at the Club Italiano, in Caballito, which García remembers as the band's debut, while Nito Mestre considers that the debut was the performance at the Santa Rosa Institute.
By then Pierre Bayona, a music producer and dealer in the world of rock, known as "fat Pierre" and immortalized with that name in the song "Pierre, the vitricidal» of the Redonditos de Ricota, discovered Sui Generis, when he was still a sextet. Bayona would tirelessly insist in music production circles on the extraordinary conditions that the group had, particularly Charly García.
In the summer of 1971, the band performed as the opening act for Huinca, a group led by Lito Nebbia, at the Teatro Diagonal in Mar del Plata and later at the Teatro de la Comedia, directed by Gregorio Nachman, as the opening act for Pedro and Pablo. But several members of the group could not go, so Sui Generis had to appear as a duo made up of Charly García and Nito Mestre. The performance occurred on February 5 or 6. "We were very surprised because people began to like our wave," says Nito. Two statues of Nito and Charly located in Rivadavia and Santa Fe, where the theater was, commemorate that event, although the recital was held when they were still a band.
We thought it was the end of a dream, but we were forced to go on stage. We had already spent the silver on beer and we couldn't return the cachet to the one who hired us. We put together courage and went out, Charly with the Creole guitar and me with my flute. I was scared to death, but Charly cheered me up. I don't know how, but people loved it.Nito Mestre
Meanwhile the band continued touring record labels, to no avail. León Gieco invited them to participate in a concert at the Teatro de Luz y Fuerza. They met, the admiration was mutual and from then on Gieco and García became "soul friends".
The group also began to play, assiduously, at the ABC Theater, located on Esmeralda street, almost on the corner of Lavalle, in the center of the city of Buenos Aires, which at that time was a rocker redoubt i>. They played on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays late at night to make themselves known. There he would meet the following year, when the band had already become a duo, María Rosa Yorio, a groupie and singer, who would become Charly's partner, backup singer of Sui Generis and one of the first rock singers in Latin America.
At the end of 1971, Charly was enlisted by the Army to complete a year of compulsory military service, an institution at the time that was traditional, but one that was rejected by a considerable part of the youth, among them those who had long hair a symbol of rebellion and change. Young people resorted to the most varied gadgets to "save themselves from the colimba." Charly García was no exception. After seeing his expectation of being saved by a "low number" frustrated (in the preliminary draw), Charly resorted to all possible tricks: resorting to "accommodations" with officials known to his parents (who at least managed to get him sent to the regiment of Campo de Mayo, in the suburbs of Buenos Aires); simulate illness and fainting, physical and mental; disobey orders; make life miserable for the military; etc As a result of these simulations, he was sent to the Military Hospital, where to make his "character" believable, he took a vial of amphetamines that his mother had brought to the hospital. The overdose produced an extreme state of excitement, which made him think that he was going to die. Under these conditions, he wrote in one fell swoop the song that would become his first massive hit just a few months later: "Song for my death." An additional incident happened more or less simultaneously: Charly was supposed to take a stretcher with a corpse to the morgue, but instead he took it to the Officers' Casino, causing a scandal. The military then sent him to his house and a few days later they discharged him for suffering from "hysterical neurosis, schizoid personality." Charly recounted that experience in detail in «Botas locas», which he would include in the album Little anecdotes about the institutions :
I was part of a crazy army.
I was 20 years old and short hair.
But my friend was confused.
Because for them the madman was me.« Crazy boots»
It was the summer of 1972: the sextet had been decanting and was about to become a duo made up of Charly and Nito. In any case, several of the original members of Sui Generis would continue to maintain some kind of musical contact with Sui Generis or Charly Garcia:
- Alejandro "Pipi" Correa participated as a bassist and in the albums Winter confessions and Small anecdotes on institutions. Sui Generis in some performances between 1972 and 1974, including the 1972 BA Rock III festival. His theme “Gaby” was included in the album Music of the soul (1980) by García. He continued his career as a musician and professional composer. In 1974 Correa recorded in Microphon his theme “Song to Choose”, with keyboards by Charly García, published in the LP Rock for my friends Vol.4 (1975).
- Carlos Piegari wrote the lyrics of several songs later played by some of the bands of Charly García, such as "Natalio Ruiz", (Life1973); “Your soul looks at you today” (BySuiGieco, 1976), “Monoblock”Adolescent symphonies2000). He also composed the song "Gaby", with music by Alejandro Correa, included in the album Music of the soul (1980). He continued his career as a musician and professional writer.
- Francisco “Paco” Prati remained as a drummer of Sui Generis, even when Charly and Nito were hired to record the first album. He participated in Sui Generis's albums, Life and Winter confessions and in the performances until the end of 1973, including the 1972 BA Rock III festival. Then he joined the band Nito Mestre and Los Desconocidos de Siempre. He received himself as an architect and devoted himself to his profession, without abandoning the music, dedicating himself to jazz.
At the end of 1971, the young Argentine rock movement was going through a moment of generational change, since Almendra, Los Gatos and Manal (its three founding groups) had just separated and their former members were trying to create new formations: Spinetta was founding Mad Fish; Pappo was starting to rehearse with Pappo's Blues and Billy Bond.
Musical career
Sui Géneris, duo and quartet (1972-1975)
After leaving the «colimba», already in 1972, Charly met María Rosa Yorio on ABC. They began to go out clandestinely because the musician had his official girlfriend named Maggie, who worked on the musical Hair, an emblematic work of the hippie movement. But one day María Rosa got tired and told him to choose between her or Maggie. He chose her. Due to the conflictive relationship that both had with their families, they soon moved to a boarding house in Aráoz y Soler (Palermo), and later to a slightly better one in the San Telmo neighborhood. Neither of them had a good economic income so times were difficult. Charly even had to sell his amplifier to be able to pay his pension. That moment is reflected in songs like "Winter Confessions" ("I run out of his room yelling at me, 'You don't have a profession'"), "Maybe why" ("Perhaps because I'm not anything like that, it's that you're here in my bed") and "When we began to be born" ("And you discover that love is more than one night and together see dawn"). Yorio, for her part, would be the recipient of a large number of Charly's songs, such as "Scratch the stones", "I need", "Seminare", "Bubulina", "Tell me who stole it from me", "Little delights of married life" and "Antes de gira (theme for María)". The book Who is the girl by Larrea and Balmaceda, dedicates nineteen pages to songs by Charly García related to María Rosa Yorio.
Towards the middle of 1972, after dabbling with all the recording companies and suffering the miseries of the recording industry, Pierre Bayona's insistent efforts to obtain an opportunity for the duo finally paid off. Billy Bond and Jorge Álvarez (founder of the legendary Mandioca label), agreed to an audition. They were both satisfied, even though the adolescent lyrics and acoustic sound didn't quite convince them, but Charly's performance and his mastery of the piano overcame any reluctance they might have. They agreed to record a single album, with the song "Song for my death", which left them amazed and an album. The duo's good performance allowed Bayona to get Charly hired to accompany Raúl Porchetto on keyboards on his debut album, Cristo Rock, which in turn convinced Billy Bond to hire him to join his band. band, La Pesada del Rock and Roll, on a tour of the country.
Finally, in February 1973, Sui Generis released its first album, Vida, under the Talent Microfón label and produced by Jorge Álvarez. Álvarez was not convinced of the value of recording the album and it was Billy Bond who had a decisive influence, making the recording in a quasi-secret manner. The duo was accompanied by ex-Manal, Claudio Gabis (electric guitar and harmonica) and Alejandro Medina (bass), Carlos "Lito" Lareu (guitar), Jorge Pinchevsky (violin) and Francisco Prati (drums), who came from the Sui Generis band, prior to the formation of the duo. Among the main songs are "Canción para mi muerte" (also released as a single), "Tell me who stole it from me" (about his religious crisis), "Necesito", "Perhaps why", "Natalio Ruiz" (lyrics by Carlos Piegari), «Mariel and the Captain», «Station» and «When we began to be born». A whole series of songs that would remain in the popular songbook for decades, especially "Canción para mi muerte", which was chosen by Rolling Stone magazine (Argentine edition) and MTV as the song #11 among the 100 most outstanding songs of Argentine rock.
Charly García's biographer, Sergio Marchi, recounts the impact of the album's release in this way:
Sui Generis was very successful. Vida, his first album, had simple, accessible songs and letters that spoke the language of adolescence. Charly came to it without proposing: Sui Generis taught them to sing to those teenagers, from the doubts made songs. In addition, these could be played with a criolla guitar, so the repertoire of Life began to animate mogons of camp, increasing the happiness of many young people who achieved their first success with rape from a Sui Generis song. But, at a distance, what perhaps has constituted the great strength of the duo was its ease to denounce the hypocrisy, the double moral and the double discourse of Argentine society, in a language that any teenager could understand. It was like a clarification of the hermetic codes that until then managed the rock, but without falling into the broken protest or a panfleet thing.Sergio Marchi
Fito Páez, who was 9 years old at the time, reflects as follows:
Charly invents a new way of telling the pop world, renewing it, refreshing it and giving it gravity and grace. They used to be Manal, The Cats, Almond, but it's Charly who installs the pop idea on people. This is undeniable. He has done it with a very divine grace and a unique originality.Fito Páez
At the same time, some historic rockers came out to criticize these two gangly-looking teenagers for being "soft." Pappo said that Sui Géneris “softened the milanesa.” Spinetta also stated that he didn't like Sui Generis, because it seemed like a children's theme (he assimilated it to the songs of María Elena Walsh).
Argentina was going through the moments before a brief reconquest of democracy without proscriptions, with the elections of March 1973, in a context of almost three decades of dictatorships. That generation has been known as "the seventies generation", characterized by a strong youthful idealism, with banners such as "liberation", Che Guevara, political militancy and the sexual revolution. Long hair for men was a generational flag. Charly did not have any defined political commitment at that time, beyond a strong rebellion against the hypocrisy of "adults", social prejudices or the rigidities of the educational system, but the same did not happen with María Rosa Yorio, or with Jorge Álvarez, who had a clearly left-wing position, which included sympathy for the currents of revolutionary Peronism.
Musically, since 1967, an original current of «national rock» had developed, mainly in Buenos Aires, as it was then called, with lyrics in Spanish, which had as its maximum exponent up to that moment to Los Gatos led by Lito Nebbia, Manal (Medina-Gabis-Martínez) and Almendra, led by Luis Alberto Spinetta, without ignoring the importance of other decisive bands, such as Vox Dei and their historic opera La Biblia, Arco Iris, led by Gustavo Santaolalla and the "blues" line headed by Pappo. Sui Generis began the path to settle at the same level, and Charly García to rise as the maximum exponent of the movement, along with Spinetta.
On December 16, 1972, Sui Generis played as a trio (Charly, Nito and "Paco" Prati) in the third edition of the 1972 BA Rock Festival (B.A. Rock III), held in Campo Las Malvinas from the Argentinos Juniors club. They performed "Canción para mi muerte". It was the first time they performed for a mass audience. The trio's performance was filmed and included in the film Rock until the sun goes down, by Aníbal Uset, released on February 8, 1973.
Between November 1972 and April 1973 Sui Generis became the most popular rock band in Argentina, especially among the youngest and especially among women. In February 1973 the film Until the sun goes down was released and simultaneously the version of "Canción para mi muerte" performed live in the film was released as a single. In March they gave a recital at the Lasalle College (of which there is a recorded version) and in April, Sui Generis surprised locals and strangers with a massive gathering of teenagers when they performed their first solo recital at the Astral theater, one of the most important of Buenos Aires, located on Corrientes avenue. An article from that time, from the magazine Pelo, highlights the presence of "girls who are not the usual ones in recitals, they had attended in clusters of four or five", summoned by songs in which "true love is intermingled, tenderness as an authentic gesture of dedication". The overwhelming success of "Canción para mi muerte" generated at that time a kind of thematic and musical misunderstanding, which tended to pigeonhole the duo outside rock , within the romantic pop genre. Nito Mestre recognized this situation in a 1973 report:
Many girls who come to report to us for school magazines are astonished that we have political ideas and other things; many believe that we are romantic characters, suffered readers of poetry or intellectual pawns. The general public when he listens to our show is amazed at not finding what he expected but is not disappointed.Nito Mestre
Musically, since 1967, an original current of «national rock» had developed, mainly in Buenos Aires, as it was then called, with lyrics in Spanish, which had as its maximum exponent up to that moment to Los Gatos led by Lito Nebbia, Manal (Medina-Gabis-Martínez) and Almendra, led by Luis Alberto Spinetta, without ignoring the importance of other decisive bands, such as Vox Dei and their historic opera La Biblia, Arco Iris, led by Gustavo Santaolalla and the "blues" line headed by Pappo. Sui Generis began the path to settle at the same level, and Charly García to rise as the maximum exponent of the movement, along with Spinetta.
In October 1973, Sui Generis released their second album: Winter Confessions. The intention of the album was to make it clear to their audience that Sui Generis was a rock band and to correct any misunderstandings about the band's profile. "We don't want to disappoint the public", Charly synthesized when they explained at that moment what the album was about.
This is a much more careful album than the first, which must have been recorded "in secret", when the label did not believe that Sui Generis could be successful. "It was a much more polished record," says Mestre. In that year both musicians had grown, gained experience and adopted a more professional conduct. The album is recorded on eight channels, in RCA studios. They hired Eduardo Zvetelman to make orchestra arrangements and Juan José Mossalini to play the bandoneon in «Cuando ya me empieza a quedar solo».
The title of the album bears the name of the «song of the same title», an intimate song that Charly asked Nito to perform alone, and which reflects the fears and sacrifices involved in launching himself into the life of an artist, against the opinion of his family:
He threw me out of his room, yelling at me
"You have no profession"
I had to face my condition
In winter there is no sun.
And even if they say it's gonna be easy.
It's very hard to get better.
It's cold and I need a coat.
And I'm so hungry to wait.Winter confessions
As in Vida, once again the album is made up of songs that almost entirely made their way into the popular songbook. In the first place, "Rasguña las piedras", a heartbreaking song of freedom that Rolling Stone magazine and MTV considered the third best Argentine rock song. It is accompanied by other classic songs from Charly García's songbook, such as "When I start to stay alone", "Welcome to the train", "Monday again", "Learning" and "Tribulations, regrets and sunset of a silly imaginary king, or not".
The album had an exceptional sale and confirmed that the explosive massiveness of Sui Generis last year was not due to a misunderstanding, nor to an occasional hit. The success of the album dispelled fears and Charly's insecurities, about the real possibility of making a living from music, reflected in the song that gave the album its title.
On July 1, 1974, President Juan D. Perón died and the country entered a spiral of political violence. The Argentine Anti-Communist Alliance (Triple A), financed by the CIA and the Italian lodge Propaganda Due and led by Minister José López Rega, known as "el brujo" (Charly will allude to him in "Canción de Alicia en el país") launched a campaign of persecution and extermination of militants, artists and intellectuals designated as "left-handed". But Charly, influenced by Yorio, Álvarez and above all by the writer David Viñas, had become politically committed to the ideas of the Revolutionary Communist Party, a detachment of the Communist Party that had adopted a Maoist position, which would be noted in his themes.
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Around the end of the year, Sui Generis released its third album, Small anecdotes about institutions. The band had ceased to be a duo and was once again a quartet, now also made up of Rinaldo Rafanelli on bass and guitars and Juan Rodríguez on drums.
The album surprised critics and fans, with a symphonic rock style, including new electronic instruments for the time and a marked theme of political criticism, about the basic "institutions" of society. society: the family, the military, police repression, censorship, political assassinations. García has specified that the institutions "were the Power, the military, bah, who had appropriated the institutions". Songs such as "Institutions", "El tuerto y los ciegos", "For whom I sing then" and "The Incredible Adventures of Mr. Scissors".
"Hey son things are this way,
A radio in my room tells me everything."
Don't ask any more!
"You have Saturdays, females and televisions,
You have days to give even without your pants. "
Don't ask any more!«Institutions»
The original project of the album had a political front that was moderated at the request of Jorge Álvarez (director of the Talent label), for security, to prevent Sui Generis from entering the Triple A list of death threats. Lyrics were modified and two themes were excluded, "Botas locas" and "Juan Represión". The following year Sui Generis gave a recital in Uruguay, which was governed by a civil-military dictatorship, with the original songs and lyrics. Charly and Nito and the rest of the gang were illegally detained in Uruguay, then governed by a dictatorship, beaten and interrogated by the intelligence services, without allowing them to have legal advice or communicate with the Argentine embassy. Twenty years later, when the album was reissued by Microfón in digital format, the two songs deleted in 1974 were included as bonus tracks.
Musically, the album showed a stylistic change in the background, more complex, conceptual and symphonic rock oriented. Somehow "Instituciones" meant going back to the original style of Sui Generis, before the duo, when it followed the Vanilla Fudge model. It also had the choirs of María Rosa Yorio, and contributions from guest musicians such as Alejandro Correa (bass), Carlos Cutaia (Hammond organ), León Gieco (harmonica), David Lebón, Oscar Moro (drums), Jorge Pinchevsky (violin) and Billy Bond (choirs). On his side, Charly began to play complex keyboards, recently acquired Yamaha Strings, Rhodes piano, mini Moog, Hohner clavinet, mellotron, ARP strings and string ensemble.
The record was highly praised although it did not sell as expected. It was difficult for the public and the producers to understand Charly's musical evolution and it required them to return to the acoustic and simple style of the first two albums. On the other hand, both García and Mestre and the rest of the band had begun to consume lysergic acid. Charly then decided to make a new concept album around psychedelia and thought of a name: It has been. The band went so far as to record the entire album, but the managers and producers refused to release it, pressing for the group to return to the initial ballads that had ensured commercial success. Finally they had to resign themselves to releasing an EP, with only one of the songs from the new album ("Alto en la torre") and three songs from the previous albums. The complete content and recordings of the frustrated album Has been have never been publicly released. It is known that at least it was made up of «Entra eléctrico», «Nena (Eiti Leda)», «Bubulina», «Fabrador de mentiras» and probably also, «La fuga del paralítico», an instrumental by Rinaldo Rafanelli. Rafanelli himself said about it:
I never understood why It was. it was not edited; because we recorded it and everything. It was a very crazy thing, with Charly letters that talked about the worms of people's mind. That's right: it wasn't Sui Generis as he met him.Rinaldo Rafanelli.
Charly's frustration at not being able to release the fourth album was decisive in making the decision to leave Sui Generis, which of course meant dissolving the group. The cycle was complete and it was also evident for Nito. For the fans and the world of rock it was a bucket of cold water. The businessmen raised a cry to heaven and came to reproach him for being an "asshole" who was "killing the goose that laid the golden eggs". As a compromise, the company proposed to García to do a farewell recital at Luna Park, the largest indoor stadium in the country, something that no Argentine rock artist even dreamed of. The proposal was completed with the proposal to film the recital live and make a movie.
The city was papered with advertising posters with the legend "Goodbye Sui Géneris" on which a multitude of young people full of disbelief and pain, wrote "Why are you separating?" The call exceeded all expectations and was resolved perform a second recital, immediately after the first. Adiós Sui Géneris was a show that brought together more than twenty-five thousand people and set an audience record for national rock that would take a long time to be surpassed. In the recital several of the songs from Ha sido were played, such as «Nena (Eiti Leda)», «Bubulina», «Maker of lies», and «censored» songs like «Botas locas» and "The Canterville Ghost". Before the end of the year, Talent released the recording of the recital, in a double album with the title Adiós Sui Géneris, parte I & part II. In 1996, a third part was released, Goodbye Sui Géneris volume III.
Nito Mestre says that after the recital he went to live with Charly and María Rosa, to prepare his next projects:
We went to live in a hotel that still exists and is the same: the Impala, in Arenales and Libertad. There we were two and a half months, on the second floor, each in his room. Charly assembled the Bird Making Machine and I the Always Dissociated. I showed Charly my things as he crossed the room to record "How the North Wind Kills" on the Machine's first album.Nito Mestre
On March 24, 1976, a coup d'état installed a civil-military dictatorship in power, which imposed a regime of State terrorism that caused thousands of disappearances, murders, kidnappings, torture, rapes, theft of babies, and exiles, with a network of clandestine detention centers and task forces, in what is remembered as "the greatest and most savage tragedy in our history" (Preface to the report Nunca más). On September 2, 1976, Adiós Sui Géneris, the film, directed by Bebe Kamin, produced and supervised by Leopoldo Torre Nilsson, was released, with the qualification "forbidden for those under 18 years of age".
By SuiGieco (1974-1975)
In 1974, when Charly García had achieved widespread recognition in the world of rock and was enjoying the massive popularity achieved with Sui Generis, the proposal arose to form a superband of musicians called « acoustic rock” to tour without a formal musical project, but to “share good times, have fun playing and singing”. Charly García, Raúl Porchetto, Nito Mestre, León Gieco and María Rosa Yorio formed PorSuiGieco and his Tamed Ostrich Band. The name brings together the men but omits the only woman, one of the few who was performing at that time in Argentine rock. The band took as a reference what artists such as David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and Neil Young were doing in North America, with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, one of Charly García's musical/choral models, since his days as a school musician.
In the month of May, PorSuiGieco began its activity as a group with a recital at the Kraft Auditorium, located on Florida street. In July 1974, it toured the province of Buenos Aires, performing in Bahía Blanca, Tandil and Mar del Plata. On July 5, 1975 they performed again in Tandil.
In 1976, when Sui Generis had already separated and after several delays and problems, they recorded an album with the name of the group, PorSuiGieco. The record suffered from the pressure of self-censorship imposed by the action of the Argentine Anti-Communist Alliance (Triple A) and the coup task forces that were preparing the overthrow of the constitutional government. It should have been released without the song "The Canterville Ghost", which was included unannounced in the inner envelope anyway. Years later, in 2002, a reissue of the album in CD format would put things in their place. The acoustic folk of the original proposal led to a more electric and elaborate style, although without losing the freshness that characterized the group.
On March 24, 1976, a civilian-military dictatorship took power that imposed a regime of State terrorism, with clandestine detention centers and task forces, which kidnapped, murdered, forced disappearances, raped, confiscated, robbed of babies, identity theft and forced thousands of people into exile. Argentina was entering its darkest hour, with external debt, very high inflation and massive impoverishment from which it will not be able to recover in the following decades.
Sui Géneris was already a thing of the past and Charly had begun to venture into other paths of music. At the same time, he began to go to the psychoanalyst because he continued to feel very anxious. He spent all day locked in his apartment, playing and composing, practically without talking to anyone.
The Bird Making Machine (1976-1977)
After recording the album PorSuiGieco, García's next project was La Máquina de Hacer Pájaros (the name he took from a cartoon by cartoonist Crist), with Carlos Cutaia (keyboards), Gustavo Bazterrica (guitar and backing vocals), José Luis Fernández (bass and backing vocals) and Oscar Moro (drums and percussion).
La Máquina was the most complex and profound attempt at symphonic rock in Argentina, and in it, García introduced the novelty of two simultaneous keyboardists. This band was one of the most worked Argentine bands in terms of its sound, the group was not well received by critics and the public, but its sound was several years ahead of time.
The dictatorship installed on March 24, 1976 had installed a regime of terror in which no one was safe. Charly was afraid and went out as little as possible, he believed that at any moment his name would join the black lists.
They debuted in Cosquín, where they premiered some songs that would later make up the album that bore the same name as the band, for several months, from Thursday to Sunday, they performed at La Bola Loca, Atilio Stampone's nightclub that hosts every night to more than two hundred people to be able to see them play live.
In July 1976 María Rosa became pregnant and in March 1977 she gave birth to Miguel Ángel García. Despite the arrival of the baby, things in the marriage were not going well at all. Charly García was very wrapped up in his projects, he only paid attention to her music and she felt alone. After a few months they decided to separate. It didn't take long for María Rosa to find a new company, no less than the best friend of her ex-husband, Nito Mestre. During that winter, La Máquina met in a basement that flooded every time it rained, to give shape to a second album: Películas. At the time they had a strange record, their first album had been the most expensive in the history of Argentina, because it had cost more than double the production of a common album.[citation required]
In 1977 he attended an interview in the newspaper La Opinión, which brought together Argentine personalities of various genres. There García was accused of making music "foreign" and "that had nothing to do with national sentiment", apart from not having "the quality of the old tangos" and that "in 20 years nobody would remember it". This experience would make García compose «Los sobrevivientes» and «A los jóvenes de ayer».
The last performance of La Máquina was at the Festival of Love, in a Luna Park grocery store, on November 11, 1977, where they shared the stage with Nito Mestre, León Gieco, Raúl Porchetto, Gustavo Santaolalla, the Makaroff brothers, among others. García had a hard time getting used to this new life as a father, away from María Rosa. In that difficult moment he met Marisa Zoca Pederneiras, a Brazilian dancer from Oscar Araiz's ballet. Zoca would be his wife until the late eighties and the inspiration for several of his songs, such as "Zocacola" and "Ella adivinó".
Serú Girán (1978-1982)
The friction between Charly and the rest of the group in La Máquina (especially with the younger ones), gradually worsened. The concerts followed one another and with them the questions, now to García (mainly because of his behavior on stage). After the fights, Charly García made the decision to leave the band in 1977 and travel to Brazil with David Lebón, his friend since the days of Sui Géneris. With the money raised at the Festival of Love (Luna Park, November 11, 1977) they rented a house for three months in Búzios, north of Rio de Janeiro. The choice of the place was due to García's need to be close to his girlfriend Zoca Pederneira and, incidentally, to escape the repressive night of the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina. In San Pablo, Charly met Zoca's parents. The Pederneiras were a family of artists, and they were fascinated with Charly. Artistically speaking, García was influenced by certain Brazilian artists, especially Milton Nascimento.
Despite the commercial successes of Sui Géneris, Charly was destitute. In 1978 he lived with Zoca in Brazil, a life centered on nature, fishing and fruit gathering. Charly was now determined to start a new band, but he was still broke. Making his way back to Buenos Aires, he began a new search for bandmates. Charly needed a bassist and a drummer, and they meet at a Pastoral concert. A talented 19-year-old bassist, Pedro Aznar, was recruited there, as well as his former La Máquina partner, drummer Oscar Moro. The band was made up of Charly García (vocals, keyboards), David Lebón (vocals, guitars), Pedro Aznar (bass, vocals), and Oscar Moro (drums). Charly and David were the main songwriters.
Charly García now had a full band, but he was still short of money. In 1978, Billy Bond met up again in São Paulo with García and Lebón, who were shaping Serú Girán. Billy produced the album of that name for them, making them sign a leonine contract. Not satisfied with this, Bond took some tracks recorded by the band and discarded for Serú Girán, added his voice on top and used them for Billy Bond and the Jets , an album released in 1979 that went unnoticed. at that time. On this album are the songs "Loco (no te sobra una moneda)", the ironic disco song "Discoshock" (both by García) and a funky new version of "Thirty-two pots", from David's famous first solo work Lebón, here renamed "All the people". Later, said formation was dismantled and Serú Girán was formed, with virtuous melodies and lyrics that between irony and anguish portrayed the situation under the Argentine dictatorship. The popularity of this group was also reflected in the now traditional polls of the Pelo magazine. Serú Girán won the categories of best guitarist, best keyboardist, best bassist, best drummer, best composer (García) and best live group in the years 1978, 1979, 1980 and 1981. To this is added revelation group 1978; best singer (Lebón) 1980 and 1981; best song 1978 (Seminare) and 1981 (Peperina) and best album 1978 (Serú Giran).
Although the band returned to Buenos Aires with great expectations for Charly García's new project, the beginnings were difficult, it was 1978 and the first album did not convince a skeptical public. The band's first concert was poorly received, as the public expected a new incarnation of Sui Generis. The following day, the specialized press OP called Serú Girán the worst band in Argentina and accused David Lebón that his voice in his songs sounded homosexual, the band's relationship with some media was not cordial. An issue of the popular Argentine magazine called Gente published a derogatory article titled "Charly García: idol or what?" Despite the cold reception, the members of Serú Girán were convinced that they had a good project and they persisted.
Serú Girán continued during 1979 and evolved remarkably. His new album was titled La grasa de las capitales and its cover was a parody of Gente magazine. The public gave the album an enthusiastic reception. The band's performances got better and better, eventually taking place in larger venues.
Expectations were high in 1980 for the new full-length record, to be called Bicicleta, a name that Charly had favored for the band, but which was rejected by the other members. The band sounded more mature on this record. “Canción de Alicia en el país” established a strange analogy between the story of Lewis Carroll and the Argentine military government, overcoming PRN censorship for its cryptic symbolism that few deciphered.
Patricia Perea, an 18-year-old student who worked as a correspondent for the magazine El Expreso Imaginario, covered a Serú Girán concert and strongly criticized them after they played in Córdoba, alleging that their performances in the interior were inferior to those offered in the Federal Capital. Serú Girán took revenge on Perea through her fourth LP: Peperina, which was her nickname, with a song about her, which was also called "Peperina". The story was later fictionalized in a homonymous film starring Andrea del Boca. The album carried a political message. The song "José Mercado" was a clear reference to José Martínez de Hoz, Minister of Economy.
In January 1981 Aznar was summoned by the American guitarist Pat Metheny to join his band. They agreed to meet in the United States, since Pedro would travel the following year to study at the Berklee College of Music. This fact would mark the end of the band. On March 5 and 6, 1982, two recitals were given to bid farewell to Pedro Aznar, without knowing that it would be Serú Girán's farewell until ten years later. The emotional recitals were recorded and the result was the fifth album by the band Don't cry for me, Argentina. That year, García began his solo career.
In 2019, in a video filmed together with Pedro Aznar and David Lebón, the living members of Serú announced the remastering of the album La grasa de las capitales.
Solo career
Consecration Trilogy
In 1982, Argentina was in a process of political change. After the Falklands War in June, social chaos erupted and the military government lost some of its power. That year García made his debut as a soloist, he made the soundtrack for Pubis angelic, a film by Raúl de la Torre, adapted from the novel by Manuel Puig, also a screenwriter. The material was released that year in a double album together with Going from bed to living room. Helped by the diffusion that national rock was given at that time through the media (during the Malvinas War it was forbidden to broadcast music in English), the album had a great reception in the public. In it came anthological songs, such as "Don't bombard Buenos Aires" (which reflected the time of the Malvinas war), "Inconsciente colectivo", "I don't want to get so crazy" or "Going from bed to living room". For this work, the band was made up of Willy Iturri on drums, Gustavo Bazterrica on guitar, Cachorro López on bass and Andrés Calamaro on keyboards (these last three members of Los Abuelos de la Nada). This material was presented in an impressive recital (before 25,000 people) at the Ferrocarril Oeste stadium, on December 26, 1982, where he also performed what would be another of his critical hits, "Los Dinosaurios", metaphor of the PRN and the thousands of missing persons. In those months, in addition to recording his first solo album, Charly artistically produced Los Abuelos de la Nada, who "opened" Ferro's recital together with the incipient Suéter, the latter very poorly received, with insults and objects thrown on stage.
In 1983, Charly García left Buenos Aires with a small suitcase. Returning to Buenos Aires from New York, he brought a new quality. That year Clics modernos appeared, recorded and mixed in New York. This new work presents a turn in García's music, with the introduction of danceable rhythms, shorter songs and at times more irreverent, in keeping with the air of renewal that began to arrive with the democratic opening. Songs like "Los dinosinos" (now in democracy), "Nos seguien pegando abajo (Mortal Sin)" and "They won't let me out" became enduring hits in Charly's career. This material was presented on December 15, 16, 17 and 18 at the Luna Park stadium, accompanied by Pablo Guyot (guitar), Alfredo Toth (bass), Willy Iturri (drums), Daniel Melingo (sax), Fabiana Cantilo (choirs) and a young man from Rosario on keyboards: Fito Páez. This album was not well understood by the public, as it included (for the first in García's career) "danceable" songs, that is to say: the rhythm took on another dimension, cutting out the lyrics, until then a primordial concept of rock national. He had a later recognition.
On December 10, the course of Argentine history took a turn when the government was able to be democratically elected by the people. In 1984, Charly García put on many well-received shows, recording another album during the last few months. García's essential trilogy is completed with Piano bar , a rock album that has in "Demoliendo hoteles" and "Cerca de la revolución" his greatest achievements. He also released Intensive Therapy, a maxi-simple composed, produced and arranged by García for Antonio Gasalla's play of the same name.
Tango and Part of Religion
After 1984 he did not record any albums (a compilation was released, Greatest Hits). He did not complete a project with Luis Alberto Spinetta (Spinetta / García) , of which some recitals survived and the song "Rezo por vos" (included on said album). That same year he was the protagonist of the Rock and Pop Festival, organized by businessman Daniel Grinbank, where he shared the stage with Nina Hagen, INXS and Los Abuelos de la Nada, among others, which took place at early November at the Vélez stadium.
After the success of Piano bar, which was García's consecration as a soloist, 1985 was a year to slow down. Charly met Pedro Aznar again in New York and recorded Tango (1986) with him. Its diffusion was very scarce, despite the fact that it gave the impression that the project gave for more. The Tango project ended when incidents occurred at a performance in San Miguel de Tucumán, which led to the cancellation of two shows that Tango had scheduled at Obras in May 1986. At the same time, he renewed his band, then made up of Richard Coleman (guitar), Christian Basso (bass), Fernando Samalea (drums), the return of Andrés Calamaro and Melingo. With them I tour Chile, Brazil and Spain. This group was called Las Ligas. In that period, he would begin to produce various bands and artists, such as Andrés Calamaro, Suéter and Los Abuelos de la Nada.
In 1987 came Parte de la religión, considered by many to be García's best solo album. This material, along with Piano bar, would end up confirming him as one of the best composers of Argentine rock and an internationally recognized artist. The album was recorded and performed almost entirely by him, and alternates strong rock with melodic choruses. It is, surely, one of his most neat and compact albums, from the cover to the content of the lyrics. Already for the live performances, in July, the band that accompanied him was new: Carlos García López on guitar, Fernando Lupano on bass, Fernando Samalea on drums, Fabián Quintiero and Alfi Martins on keyboards and again Fabiana Cantilo in choirs.
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García was offered a supporting role (in which he played a nurse) in a film for which he would also compose the soundtrack. What will come of it, an attempt at a futuristic novel by Gustavo Mosquera, featured the participation of Hugo Soto and Juan Leyrado. Curiously, García would win an award in New York for best supporting actor. Throughout the film, Charly García was driving a vehicle, something he could never do in real life. After composing the film's soundtrack, he worked on his next solo album, How to Get Girls (1989), essentially a compilation of single songs, which García, for various reasons, had never heard of before. Recorded. It included guests such as the Brazilian Herbert Vianna (from Os Paralamas do Sucesso) and the Indian violinist L. Shankar. The LP includes a song titled "Shisyastawuman" (a deliberately direct transliteration of she is just a woman: 'she is just a woman'), the first song recorded by Garcia in English that was written for a women. The woman left him after hearing the song, just as Lebón had warned him years before. A song called "Zocacola" that Charly had dedicated to Zoca was also included on this LP. A couple of months after the record was released, Zoca called it quits.
Garcia had changed. Physically, he seemed older. His music was dark, and the Garcia from before had disappeared. Now his sound was closer to punk rock , with violent themes, like "Don't touch", or a depressive and dark style, as shown in "No me verás en el subte". Different times and adverse that was coming.
The days of excess
In 1990, Charly had many ideas, but the band did not. Another important member of the gang, Fabián Zorrito Von Quintiero, had left to join another gang, Los Ratones Paranoicos. Hilda Lizarazu (former vocalist for Suéter who had joined the band for the international tour in 1989/1990) and Carlos García López started a group called Man Ray. Charlie was now alone. For his new album, Cheap Philosophy and Rubber Shoes, he called in many of his old friends, who helped record most of the songs. Among others, Andrés Calamaro, Rinaldo Rafanelli, Fabiana Cantilo, Nito Mestre, Pedro Aznar, Fabián von Quintiero and even Hilda Lizarazu helped. In order to release the album, García had to face a trial for "offending the national symbols" since that LP included a version of the Argentine national anthem, which ended up being authorized by the courts. A lot of people liked it, seeing it as a fresh, sincere, respectful and strong version of the old song.
In 1991 he released Radio Pinti, an album composed by Charly García and Pedro Aznar together with Enrique Pinti, who was in charge of the raps and the locution. It featured the participation of Illya Kuryaki and the Valderramas.
Charly proposed to Gustavo Cerati to record an album entitled Tango 3 as a trio together with Pedro Aznar, but it was never completed. Some time later, Charly confessed after Cerati's death that they had come to play, but it did not materialize because they admitted him. /i>) and continued with «Vampiro» (from Tango 4).
In 1993 Charly García was hired to compose the soundtrack for the film Funes, a great love. In this album there are songs like "Fifteen forever" and the tango "Naranjo en flor" (sung by Jairo).
In July 1994 his highly publicized rock opera La hija de la lágrima was released. As such, this work includes many instrumental and virtuosic passages. "La sal no sala" (along with Juanse) and "Fax U" are the hits that stand out. That same year, Kurt Cobain, leader of Nirvana, tragically ended his own life. Being a fan of his, Garcia dyed his hair blonde.
Also during 1994, the Soccer World Cup was played in the United States. Legendary soccer player Diego Armando Maradona was involved in a dispute with FIFA regarding a failed drug test for the doping ephedrine, preventing him from playing. After Diego was sent home, Argentina lost two important games and was eliminated from the World Cup. When the last game was about to end, Charly called Diego on his cell phone and sang the "Maradona blues" for him live, a song he composed for him. Diego cried when he listened. In September, García presented the album at ten sold-out performances at the Gran Rex. In November of the same year, Charly was forcibly admitted to a psychiatric clinic. He was very upset, but his state of mind did not change when he left the establishment. When he was discharged, he spent a week in Buenos Aires and then went on vacation to Rio de Janeiro. His motto was to improve himself. He was delighted with a hang gliding ride, with which he flew over the hills.
The Say no More era
In 1996 he released Say no More, an album that brings together songs by the author with instrumental works that had been written for the film Geisha, but were not included in the soundtrack due to differences with the director. This work marked a new concept for García, with which he would attract a new type of public but would end up alienating several of his most veteran followers. Over the years it became a cult album, and even García considers it his favorite album of the ones he has recorded.
In 1997, together with Mercedes Sosa, he recorded an album of his own songs performed by La Negra, entitled Alta fidelidad. Both had known each other since childhood, so they decided to publish a collaborative work in which Mercedes was going to sing her favorite songs by García.
In 1998 he presented the album El aguante in Buenos Aires. The album features "Kill my mother", a song dedicated to Charly's mother, Carmen Moreno. This production featured many versions translated into Spanish by García, such as "Tin Soldier" (by Small Faces), or "Roll Over Beethoven" (by Chuck Berry). One significant song not included was "A whiter shade of pale", originally released by Procol Harum, a band Charly had always admired.
Sui Generis Meeting and Wondering
In 2000, Charly and Nito Mestre decided to reunite Sui Géneris. For this special occasion, both compose new songs for a new album, Sinfonías para adolescentes. Of course, things were very different at 25 years old, but fans young and old were excited about the return of the Sui Géneris. This new stage will be marked by Garcia's new "sound concept" of Maravillización or "do something wonderful", replacing the old and dark style "Say no More". Despite this, the concept "Say no More" and its logo would continue to be present in Charly's music until Kill Gil, from 2010.
After this interruption in his solo career, in 2002, Charly released Influencia, Charly's first work as an artist for the EMI label and the last one on which Charly put his name, since he would later identify with the "Say no More" logo. It has 13 songs, most of it by García himself, counting two versions and one instrumental. He also plays almost all the instruments, except for collaborations by some of his band members and two stellar appearances, including guitarist Tony Sheridan. This album contains interesting songs that had an impact on Latin American rock, such as «Tu vicio», «Influencia» (by Todd Rundgren) and «I'm not in love» (with Tony Sheridan). Even though it included old songs like "Happy & Real» (from Tango 4) or «One to one» (from El aguante), was very well received by critics. However, for this album a slight deterioration in Charly's voice was noticeable, defining a new sound that would be accentuated over the years in the following albums.
In 2003 he presented Rock and Roll YO. The main cut of diffusion is "Asesíname", accompanied by the actress Celeste Cid in the video. The album was dedicated to the ex-guitarist and friend of hers, María Gabriela Epumer, who had died in June of that same year, the product of a cardiorespiratory arrest. The songs weren't as good as those on Influence, the vocals are often out of tune (as in "Dileando con un alma"), and once again, the album also contains many covers such as " Linda ballerina» («Pretty ballerina», by Michael Brown) or «Wonder (Love's in need of love)» (by Stevie Wonder). This time, her performances weren't as convincing, and Epumer's absence could be felt by the fans.
Hiatus and Kill Gil
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From Rock and Roll YO Charly García would not publish new music for six years, although he would continue to be very active performing concerts in Argentina and its neighboring countries.
On June 14, 2008, Charly García was transferred to a hospital in the city of Mendoza, due to a violent episode that took place in a hotel in that city (the hotel employees called the police to control the a García out of his mind, they had to force him onto a stretcher, on which they took him tied to the Central Hospital guard). News sources linked the incident to a drug and alcohol overdose. After the long recovery, a recovered Charly returned in August 2009 with a new song called "I Should Know Why". The song became a hit and Charly soon embarked on a tour of Chile and Peru to promote his return.
At the end of 2006, the demo of the album that Charly was recording, Kill Gil, began to circulate on the internet. EMI refused to officially publish the material, stating that "it has already been downloaded by everyone".[citation needed] García himself denounced that he was betrayed and even suggests that it was an "evil" of his own son, Migue García.[citation needed] Finally, after four years of "overproduction", in December 2010 they announced the edition by Kill Gil with 11 songs and a DVD with animations of Charly's handpaintings during the album process. After the high points of Influence and Rock and Roll ME, Kill Gil is considered[by whom?] one of Charly's worst albums, due to the small number of original songs it includes and the lack of memorable songs, standing out "No importa" and "Heart of Concrete" (in a duet with Palito Ortega) over the rest.
Palito Ortega saves his life
On March 30, 2009, he gave a surprise recital in Plaza Belgrano, in front of the Basilica of Luján. The retaining fences gave way to the euphoria of the people. He played 7 songs in 35 minutes and then left in a van, heading to Palito Ortega's farm, who took him to his house and helped him detoxify.
"... I was the last person in the world who thought I was going to do that. He gave me a home, a studio and his family. He fought her like crazy. For her to appear, for her to come with the judge... If she didn't, they were going to put me in a worse place. She did the paperwork. [Palito] saved my life. He is an amazing guy. I didn't come out of any hell. I was a victim of the ignorance and prejudice of those close to me, and that was not the way".
In 2010, he returned to Uruguay to settle the case opened after the assault reported against a paparazzi. He was acquitted and in that same January a "very recovered" García gave -after seven years- a recital in the country, in the parking lot of the Conrad hotel in Punta del Este. In May, he performed at a Roman amphitheater in Israel and touched the Wailing Wall.
On October 23, 2012, after being declared an illustrious citizen of Córdoba in June, Charly García celebrated his 61st birthday with friends, sushi, free taps and records. The celebration lasted until 3 AM. True to his style, the national rock icon celebrated playing with lifelong friends. The celebration was at the El Muelle restaurant on the north coast. Charly looked happy and rested. He arrived accompanied by his girlfriend Mecha Iñigo. He shared the evening with León Gieco, Fito Páez, Palito Ortega, Hilda Lizarazu, David Lebón, El Zorrito von Quintiero, Juanse and El Negro García López. There were also guests from the world of cinema and television, such as Gonzalo Valenzuela, Graciela Borges, Gastón Recondo, Mariana Badía and Beto Casella.
In 2013, after publishing his live album 60x60 the previous year, García presented his book Parallel Lines: Impossible Artifice. Edited by the Planeta publishing house, it is a detailed explanation of the method of planning his presentations with drawings and texts.
I fill the drawing bed, which summarizes part of my brain and soul. They wanted a biography, but it seems to me that I'm still very young, it's only forty years of trajectory. There is a scientific part through space and distance, so I see that the parallel lines are touched. We all know that doesn't happen, but it does happen in my work. The parallels are eager to touch, but they console themselves knowing that they will be all their lives together. [...] Many of the things written in fist or I understand them, the brain goes faster. It's like he's doing a song, one writes what's coming to him. It is a love story, it is a story of non-sphyllion of space, of my vision of what is called art that I still do not understand it as I do not understand the infinite, but I do understand that without air there is no music. [...] It's like a part of my brain, because whenever I'm in the recitals or for recording a drawing album, I write, and I didn't plan to draw a book but they asked me, first it was a biography and I think I'm still very young for that.Charly García explains about his book at El Ateneo Grand Splendid, September 30, 2013
Random (2015-2020)
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Just in 2015, five years after Kill Gil, Charly García began working on his 17th album, apart from playing with the idea of a film about his life for 2016 or 2017.
After the three albums released by EMI between 2002 and 2010, on February 24, 2017, the album Random, made up of ten songs, was released under the Sony Music label. The first single from Random, released on February 5, was La máquina de ser feliz, a song that Charly had been performing live since 2015.
With the passage of time, the album achieved a Gold Record in Argentina for ten thousand copies sold. In April a new single was released, Lluvia, although for the moment without any video clip, just like La máquina de ser feliz. In June, the Sony label uploaded three videos to YouTube in which Charly appears in the middle of a photo session, humming the new songs Ella es tan Kubrick, Primavera and Other. These videos preceded Charly's first official video clip since You should know why, from 2009: Lluvia.
In 2019, he joined Roberto Pettinato's individual project "Pettinato Plays García", which at the beginning was an album that the jazz musician would make in homage to Charly, covering some of his songs in instrumental not so well known topics. García decided one day to go oversee it and they ended up making the record together, with Charly's instrumental and vocal participation on some of the songs. Finally, after a year of recording, the album was available on YouTube on June 4, 2020.
70 years
In October 2021, Charly García turned 70, which is why a series of tributes and recitals were organized to commemorate him. The main activity was held at the Kirchner Cultural Center National Auditorium, under the name of "Charly Cumple". The show lasted for nine hours and was carried out in four blocks, with the presence of dozens of performers who toured García's work. The first block consisted of a symphonic work orchestrated from its main themes. In the second block, jazz, tango and folklore musicians reflected Charly's impact on these musical genres. In the third block, Charly García himself came on stage, without being announced on the program, with a band made up of musicians who historically accompanied Charly (Fito Páez, Zorrito Von Quintiero, Fernando Samalea, Rosario Ortega, Pablo Guyot, Alfredo Toth and Hilda Lizarazu.
Live recitals and albums
Music of the soul
In 1977 Charly performed a solo recital at Luna Park called El Festival del Amor, to which he invited his friends and fellow musicians such as David Lebón, the acoustic group PorSuiGieco, the symphonic La Máquina de Hacer Pájaros and his first band, Sui Géneris first with Nito Mestre and then with Rinaldo Raffanelli and Juan Rodríguez. The recital was released on a double disc as Música del alma but only containing five of the forty-two songs from the recital. At the beginning of 2006, a reissue of Música del alma was released.
The year 1981 was very important for Charly because he shared a concert at Obras with Gilberto Gil and there was a mini-return of Sui Géneris in Uruguay. He appeared at the Solidarity Festival, before tens of thousands of people, broadcast on Channel 9. He, along with Nito Mestre and others, sang "Rasguña las piedras."
He gave the most important concert of his brand new solo career on December 26, 1982, at the Ferrocarril Oeste stadium in front of 30,000 people. She arrived on stage in a pink Cadillac and, at the end, a hail of prop projectiles destroyed the city that formed the set, while the last chords of "Don't bomb Buenos Aires" sounded.
He began 1983 with three recitals at Obras Sanitarias, reviewing again the album Yendo de la cama al living . Modern Clicks from 1983 was presented over four dates at Luna Park. In 1983, García played again at the Obras stadium. The following year, García played in Chile, Mar del Plata, among many other places.
In 1985 García performed in Brazil, Peru, Chile, at Luna Park.
He closed the Rock&Pop radio festival in Vélez where he was noticeably upset: after a torrential rain, he had to go out to calm down the public that waited for hours and threw mud at everyone who played before him. When he finally played, he charged with his guitar against the cameraman who disconnected the instrument's cable; he left him passed out on the side of the stage.
In 1986, he gave a concert together with Pedro Aznar, to present his album Tango at the Palladium nightclub. He later played in Spain. A year later, she performed at the Gran Rex, Mendoza, Ecuador, Uruguay and at the Belgrano Stadium in Córdoba.
The year 1988 showed García very active playing in Obras, Mar del Plata and a historic presentation at the River Plate stadium together with Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel, Sting, León Gieco, etc, as the closing of the biggest tour in the world: the Amnesty International concert (started in London on September 2, 1988, closed in Buenos Aires on October 15), was presented on June 21 at the open-air theater in La Paz (Bolivia), being a success in front of thousands of fans.
In 1989, he performed at the Gran Rex, at the Teatro Opera, in Mexico, Colombia and Costa Rica. That year, the Puerto Rican pop star Wilkins invited Charly to New York to record a new version of his classic "I don't want to go back so crazy," along with Ilan Chéster, from Venezuela, as a tribute to rock i> in Spanish. The song was included on Wilkins' album L.A./N.Y..
In 1990, he continued to tour the American continent, even playing in New York, where he sold out. That year, the Municipality organized the Mi Buenos Aires Rock festival, which brought together one hundred thousand people on Avenida Nueve de Julio, to witness García, Luis Alberto Spinetta and Fabiana Cantilo. Although each artist was scheduled to play for half an hour, García performed for more than two hours and ended with his version of the National Anthem on a stage illuminated with light blue and white lights.
On December 22, 1991, like almost nine years ago, García gathered 26,000 people in Ferro for his first massive performance in several months. On that occasion, he entered the stage in an ambulance to join his band disguised as nurses as a way of mocking his admission to a psychiatric clinic in the middle of that year. The band of musicians was the same one that had been accompanying him for some time, now called Los Enfermeros. The recital of just over two hours, 35 songs and guests such as Mercedes Sosa, Fito Páez and Illya Kuryaki and the Valderramas is one of the most emblematic in the musician's career.
In 1992, García represented Argentine rock in Les Alumées, a show of Buenos Aires culture that took place in Nantes, France. Tangueros, plays, painters and rockers traveled: Charly summoned 6,000 people and was received by the mayor of the city. In that same year he gave himself what many expected: the reunion with Lebón, Aznar and Moro to revive Serú Girán. With a plaque in studios (Serú '92) , recitals in Córdoba, Rosario and two packed River stadiums, during which another double album was recorded, the reunion did not give for much more. Around October 1992 he began the tour that would end again in Ferro, at the end of December. The support band, Los Enfermeros, suffered the desertion of Carlos García López and Hilda Lizarazu, both dedicated to their individual projects (the García López Band and Man Ray, respectively). García summoned María Gabriela Epumer (former Widow and Daughters of Roque Enroll), to perform both functions, guitar and choirs.
In 1993, García played at Ferrocarril Oeste with the novelty of a revolving stage. In 1994, she presented La hija de la lágrima in ten sold-out performances at the Gran Rex.
In February 1995, he performed at the International Song Festival, at the Mundialista stadium in Mar del Plata, together with Fabiana Cantilo, Os Paralamas do Sucesso and Antonio Birabent. He reviewed some of his hits and previewed material from his new album Estaba en llamas cuando me acosté (1995), in front of the band now named Cassandra Lange (with María Gabriela Epumer, Juan Bellia, Fabián Von Quintiero, Jorge Suárez and Fernando Samalea). All the songs were recorded live, during the tour of the seaside resorts. The album has only two of his own songs: «Fifteen forever» (which had been left out of Tango 4) and «Te recuerdo invierno» (a song that García composed before Sui Géneris). On the other hand, it includes eleven versions from the sixties, among them: "There's a place" and "Ticket to ride" (by The Beatles); "Positively 4th Street" (by Bob Dylan) and Sympathy for the devil by The Rolling Stones; and Sweet dreams (by Eurythmics).
Taking advantage of the furor of acoustic recitals, García appeared in the Unplugged cycle of the American television network MTV, with a presentation that included songs from all its stages and which was broadcast for throughout Latin America in July and released on CD by the end of that same year under the name Hello! MTV Unplugged. The material was played live at the Gran Rex theater at the end of 1995.
In 1996 García offered concerts at the Gran Rex, at the Teatro Ópera and a controversial recital called Drug without Sun, in Villa Gesell, parodying the slogan Sun Without Drugs that the government had spread as a campaign against the use of narcotics. In 1997, Charly García performed important concerts in Colombia and Cosquín. On December 26 and 30 he presented the CD El aguante at Obras. He also performs in San Juan and Chile.
In 1999, he played in Obras, Mexico, Peru, etc. In that same year, she was the great attraction of the Buenos Aires Vivo III free cycle, organized by the Buenos Aires government in Puerto Madero. More than 300,000 people acclaimed García in a concert that lasted approximately 4 hours, with several songs dedicated to the disappeared and with guests such as Nito Mestre, Javier Calamaro, Fabiana Cantilo and the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo. Part of the recital was recorded for the live album Demasiado ego.
That same year he returned to controversy, organizing a private recital for President Carlos Menem. Charly agreed to give a private concert at the Quinta de Olivos (Argentine presidential residence), at the invitation of the president. In a rarely televised event, he was seen in a good mood, engaging in mischief such as playing with the security cameras, trying to teach the president how to play the piano and getting the president to put on his now characteristic Say No More bracelet. on the arm. That presentation was registered in Charly & Charly a limited edition album that did not go on sale that included a version of the song by the Canadian group The Band in Spanish version El Peso.
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In 2000 the expected return of Sui Géneris occurred. For this special occasion, they release a new album, Sinfonías para adolescentes. Of course, things were very different at 25 years old, but fans young and old were excited about the return of the Sui Géneris. This new stage would be marked by the new Garcia, replacing the old and dark "Say no more" style. Finally, Sui Géneris played again at the Boca Juniors stadium, in front of 25,000 fans on December 7, 2000. Charly respected his fans and his former partner, and played for almost four hours in front of a delighted audience, despite the differences between the old and the new Sui Géneris model, Charly's voice and behavior, etc. Many journalists and some fans criticized this statement, stating that the main cause was money and that the two band members had changed so much, that the new album and show had nothing to do with the real Sui Géneris. The following year, yes! Behind the Walls was released as Sui's second and last album in this new era. It was a compilation between the live versions of the concert at the Boca Juniors stadium, new songs (such as "Telepathically") and some versions of old songs (such as "Rasguña las piedras", with Gustavo Cerati, former leader of Soda Stereo).
In 2001, García celebrated his fiftieth birthday with a DVD recorded live, at the Say No More bar and at the Teatro Coliseo among others. During 2002 García presented the album Influencia with three recitals in a row at Luna Park, winning the Gardel de Oro award. That year he closed it with several presentations at the Gran Rex.
In 2003, with the firm support of María Gabriela Epumer on guitar and backing vocals, Charly García performed several concerts at Luna Park, in Viña del Mar (Chile) and at Cosquín Rock among others. During the following year García presented a series of three concerts in Obras which he called La Venganza, Plateado sobre Plateado, and Say No More, respectively. Also in that year there was a historic presentation in the Ferro Carril Oeste stadium under the rain, a concert in Spain and a presentation in the Plaza de Mayo, at the invitation of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo for their 30th anniversary, where he sang the Argentine National Anthem and left breaking the guitar. His "allies" had waited for him for several hours -since he was late- under a great storm. During a recital in the province of Tierra del Fuego, one in four inhabitants attended.
In 2005, García appeared at the Government House of Argentina, the Casa Rosada. At that recital, García took the opportunity to present songs like "Pagarás con interes" or "El mundo B", not recorded on Kill gil. The following year, García appeared on the Atlantic coast and even at Gesell Rock. He then presented his album Kill gil with five dates at La Trastienda. New functions could have been added but on the fifth date some incidents suspended the recitals.
In 2007, García celebrated his birthday at The Roxy with Pedro Aznar, Nacha Guevara, Gustavo Cerati, Juanse, Deborah del Corral and other celebrities. The gift for that birthday was a woman coming out of a giant cake. In 2008, after performances in Mar del Plata, San Juan and Mendoza, he began a long hospitalization that leaves him without recitals for a long period.
In 2009 he held a surprise concert in Luján. Then began a new world tour starting with Peru, Chile and Argentina (Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield stadium, before more than 40,000 people who chanted and jumped throughout the recital in the rain). That show, under a torrential rain, was recorded in high definition with 18 cameras and released on DVD, under the title The Underwater Concert. Then Garcia shows up with two sold out dates in Ecuador. The second date in Argentina was held in Rosario before another 40,000 people who jumped and danced with a recital that had surprise guests: Nito Mestre and Fito Páez.
In January 2010 it was presented in Uruguay and in Mar del Plata, with 15,000 people on each date. In February he appeared in Cosquín. In Buenos Aires, he gave four unforgettable concerts at the Luna Park stadium (March 17 and 19, April 3 and 30), with surprise guests: Pedro Aznar, David Lebón, León Gieco, Fito Páez, Fabiana Cantilo and Juanse. On April 30, during the fourth Luna Park, David Lebón and Pedro Aznar met on stage. García performed on April 24 in Santa Fe. García, in May, gave two historic recitals in Israel, in the city of Haifa and in Tel Aviv. Also in May, he gave four performances in Mexico: Guadalajara, Puebla, Monterrey and Mexico City. Then, on June 12, he gave a show in Córdoba, and at the end of that month he played in Neuquén.
On July 9, 2010, he was one of the main protagonists of the Independence Recital held in San Miguel de Tucumán to celebrate the 194th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and within the celebrations of the Bicentennial of Argentina. This recital, which was attended by 100,000 people, pays homage to Argentine Independence and -because she was born on July 9 in the city of Tucumán- to Mercedes Sosa, who became her great friend. After this recital he spent a couple of months dedicated to recording Kill gil . In October, it became known that he was preparing his new studio work, the album Kill gil , which was scheduled to be released years earlier, except for the fact that the songs were leaked on the Internet. However, García made new arrangements on the songs and his new album went on sale in December. He returned to the stage in December. After a series of concerts presenting the new work, García appeared in April 2011 at the Vive Latino festival, where he was, together with the return of Caifanes, the main attraction.
During Joaquín Sabina's presentations in Argentina, at the Luna Park stadium, Charly García was invited along with Andrés Calamaro and Fito Páez, where he played with Joaquín Sabina the songs "No voy en tren" and "It's a lie".
In June 2011, he performed for the 15th anniversary of Rock&Pop FM 95.5 in Paraguay, along with Emmanuel Horvilleur and other Paraguayan rock groups at the Rakiura in the city of Luque. He appeared at the Prevemusic festival (in Sunchales) with his new band The Prostitution, which includes Fernando Samalea and a string trio led by him. During October and November 2011, he presents a new triple show consisting of three concerts with three different song lists for each performance, compiling songs from all his periods, at the Gran Rex theater in Buenos Aires. The success of this cycle of concerts made it necessary to repeat them in November. He also sang the Argentine Anthem in the acts of the second presidential inauguration of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner on December 10, 2011.
In 2012, he continued taking his music to different venues, one of them being Quilmes Rock 2012 held at the Antonio Vespucio Liberti Stadium, which featured Fito Páez and Las Pelotas as opening acts, and a free recital in Mar del Plata with high public attendance. It was the closing act of the eighteenth version of the Rock al Parque festival in Bogotá (Colombia). Later, García appeared on several occasions at Luna Park and other stadiums in Argentina and Latin America.
Presented as his masterpiece, during April 2012 he edited 60x60 (sixty years for sixty songs), a compilation box set that compiles a trilogy of performances at the Teatro Gran Rex offered at the end of 2011 and where Charly García covers his musical career in three stages. In a limited edition (each copy has a serial number), 60×60 contains 3 DVDs with more than three hours of concert and additional extras, 3 CDs with the audio of the recitals, a book of 44-page photos with more than 80 photographs, a 0.40 × 1 m poster, the lyrics of all the songs and an original drawing by García. His band, renamed The Prostitution, was made up of Christine Brebes, Julián Gándara, Carlos García López, Carlos González, Kiuge Hayashida, Rosario Ortega, Fernando Samalea, Toño Silva, Alejandro Terán and Fabián Vön Quintiero.
On September 24, 2012, Charly García performed in front of 50,000 people at the Free Educational Ticket party in Córdoba. As planned, the musician took the stage at 8:00 p.m., but from 4:00 p.m. the local musical groups Planeador V, Las Rositas, Cuatro al Hilo and Motor Blues performed. "Rockanroll yo" and "Silver plated" were the songs that García selected to open the concert.
On November 3, Charly García performed in the parking lot of the Ciudad de La Plata Stadium in front of hundreds of fans. A full room was Charly's recital in La Plata, a city in which he -he said- likes but has been lost several times.
On November 8, 2012, Charly García, Fito Páez, León Gieco and David Lebón came together to remember Flaco Spinetta. The artists came together on stage and played great hits, in a concert that moved all the guests at the 2012 Gardel Awards gala. On stage, and with photos of the life of the great musician on giant screens, Fito Páez, David Lebón and León Gieco sang "Poscrucifixión", "Durazno sangrando", "Laura va", "Don't look for yourself on the threshold", and "Keep living without your love". Also on stage were the musicians Mariano Otero, Gastón Baremberg (drums), Hernán Jacinto, Dizzi Espeche, and Alejandro Terán (violist).
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On September 23 and 30, 2013, Charly García presented «Líneas Paralelas (Artificio imposible)» at the Teatro Colón, along with two string quartets and his band The Prostitution. These two string quartets were called the Kashmir Orchestra – a tribute to Led Zeppelin. In total there were twenty-seven musicians on stage, ten that make up the band that has accompanied him since his return, The Prostitution, and 17 chamber musicians that provided the classic sounds to the songs, under the direction and arrangements of Patricio Villarejo. The plastic artist Renata Schussheim, who has already worked with the musician throughout his career, was in charge of the staging and costumes used by Charly and his bands. Also, as he had announced at the presentation of the book Parallel Lines , Charly was accompanied on stage by Bernard Fowler, a Rolling Stones backup singer.
On March 1, 2014, on the occasion of the Cosquín Rock festival, the national rock idol made his last live performance for the next three years. Despite his successive health problems in this period, he has played in concerts by Fito Páez, Pedro Aznar, Fabiana Cantilo, Juanse and others.
In 2017, he played surprisingly on March 16 at the Caras y Caretas bar in Buenos Aires, before an audience of less than four hundred people. In 2018 it has been presented at the Teatro Coliseo in the same city (February 15) and at the Gran Rex (April 30).
On May 18, 2019, he appeared together with the actress and singer Brenda Asnicar to present Asnicar's album, entitled Vos sos Dios, in which he recorded a song and sang with her the song "You're so vain".
On October 22, 2019, he celebrated his 68th birthday with a recital for a few guests (no more than 30), including Pedro Aznar, Zorrito Von Quintiero, Juanse (with the three of them he made “La fat from the capitals”), Palito Ortega, and other intimates.
On October 23, 2021, he performed at the CCK National Auditorium, where he was honoring his 70th birthday. Charly García appeared on stage during the third block, and was seated in an armchair surrounded by a set of keyboards. Together with other musicians he sang and played 5 songs: "Close to the revolution", "Promises on the bidet", "Rare new hairstyles", "Demolishing hotels", and "Song for my death".
Health
Charly García's drug addiction in the 1980s would begin to affect his health in 2008. After starring in a dramatic episode causing destruction inside the Mendoza hotel where he was staying, on July 9 of that year he was admitted to the Cuyo Polyclinic, where he was diagnosed with pneumonia. He experienced a great improvement in his condition, for which he waited for a court order that would allow his transfer to the Palito Ortega farm, in the Buenos Aires town of Luján. In fact, Palito Ortega collaborated to a great extent in Charly's recovery. Those close to Charly revealed to the DyN news agency that the musician had recovered 15 kilos of weight, had a new pair of glasses to improve his vision and had completed an aesthetic dentistry treatment. The spokespersons said that García's general state of health had improved remarkably and pointed out that this situation encouraged his possible discharge. In addition, they highlighted that a stylist had given him a "new and modern haircut" curiously similar to that of Andrés Calamaro.
He was discreetly transferred to the farm on October 21 and celebrated his 57th birthday in a very good mood two days later, with friends and close people. They were at the celebration León Gieco and his former representative, among others, with whom Charly made a jam. Pedro Aznar did not attend as he was in Río Cuarto, in one of the recitals of his record tour, Quebrado . In the middle of the recital, Aznar made a call to García to sing him his happy birthday. Charly spent her treatment hours in the Palito Ortega villa, watching the River Plate matches (a team of which she is a fan), running through the garden, swimming in the pool and recording the songs of Kill gil.
On June 9, 2012, after being declared an "illustrious citizen of Córdoba" and while singing his song "Canción del 2x3", Charly García fainted on the piano, an hour after starting his concert at the Orfeo stadium in the Cordoba capital, and gave everyone present a scare. After the suspension of the concert, the musician was transferred to the Instituto Modelo de Cardiología, and there the doctors assured that “his stress from him due to the presentation and because he is a heavy smoker caused him a hypertensive crisis. But he recovered well and is stable ». García finally received a medical discharge, but the decision of his environment was for him to stay in Córdoba resting. The musician's press officer assured: "They did many studies to rule out that he had nothing neurological or cardiovascular. All the check-ups went well, but from now on he will have to start taking better care of himself and taking medication for hypertension ».
On November 15, 2013, while he was presenting his show «Parallel Lines (Impossible Artifice)» in the city of Bogotá, he was hospitalized for a box of blood pressure. Although he was quickly released, he eventually canceled his show.
In 2014, he was admitted to the Fleni Sanatorium for a high fever on two occasions: in January and in March.
On July 21, 2015, the national rock idol underwent surgery for a hip fracture at the Argentine Institute of Diagnosis and Treatment, inserting a nail, which was removed in another surgical intervention on March 7, 2016.
On December 21, 2016, Charly was hospitalized again due to a complication of a viral illness that caused a fever and dehydration. This situation was resolved in four days, when the musician was released from the hospital A week later, on the 28th, he was admitted again for a medical check-up, being discharged on the 31st.
On May 30, 2020, the musician was hospitalized urgently in the midst of the quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic, presenting high temperatures, respiratory symptoms, and severe muscle pain. After four days at the Argentine Institute of Diagnosis and Treatment (IADT) and presenting a "very good evolution", he was discharged.
In March 2022, he was hospitalized again after suffering burns while making a mate. In that same month, he was discharged.
On October 23, 2022, he appeared in a wheelchair at the Bebop Club in Palermo, Buenos Aires, where the birthday celebration for his 71 years was held. However, her delicate state of health prevented her from playing the piano normally, evidencing her fragile mobility, and all the songs were sung by Rosario Ortega.
Physical characteristic
A physical feature of Garcia's is his two-tone mustache, which has a white side due to his vitiligo.
Personality and controversies
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Since its beginnings, Charly García was always a controversial figure both in his country and internationally. His sudden mood swings in the middle of the recitals -the worst that can happen is that there are problems with the sound-, his drug addiction and his controversial phrases about himself and other publicly known characters make García an always visible and very striking figure., arousing much sympathy and antipathy, because in general his critical vision of reality and his independence of opinion are not liked by all sectors of Argentine society. Another well-known anecdote tells that during a recital people from the public yelled at him "puto" and he responded by dropping his pants to show that he supposedly was not.
He has also been interned three times in psychiatric clinics, he was fired from the army when he was doing mandatory military service, because he could not stand the confinement and discipline imposed by the military. The desperation to get out of it reached such a degree that on one occasion he took a corpse for a walk on a stretcher, which prompted a psychiatric investigation that determined him to be psychotic and paranoid with a schizoid personality.
He had several admissions for drug addiction, such as in 1991, 1994 and 2008. When Charly concluded his admission in 1991, the musician ironized the situation by entering his recital in Ferro by ambulance.
He was banned from entering Uruguay for a while after a scandal when he attacked a paparazzi who tried to take a photo of him. Charly had conflicts in Colombia by calling her "Cocalombia". In Costa Rica, during the eighties, a Charly recital ended in a pitched battle when the organizers wanted to cancel the recital due to the rain. Charly had problems in Paraguay, when she locked up four girls in a hotel. In Quito he was arrested for the scandal that had him as the protagonist during a recital before some ten thousand spectators, the police arrested the Argentine rocker in the dressing room of the General Rumiñahui Coliseum, where the concert took place, although they did not give more details. García had to close the mega-concert at dawn, but after singing a song he left the stage while kicking the microphones and other sound equipment.
On one occasion a fan of Charly's was injured during a recital and the musician showed his solidarity and gave him an autographed guitar at the hospital.
Charly represents a challenge for many journalists. Susana Giménez interviewed the musician on several occasions. In one of them, Charly tore up the sheets where she had written down the questions that the host was going to ask the musician. In another interview: Susana says "You're fatter", to which Charly replies "you too". Jorge Guinzburg also interviewed the musician several times, obtaining well-remembered interviews. Jorge Lanata, Bruno de Olazábal and Jaime Bayly (Peru), Sergio Marchi, Bebe Contepomi and other journalists had memorable interviews with the musician. Charly García, however, maintains conflicts with some journalists, such as Mauro Viale.
In 1988, during a concert in River, Charly told Bruce Springsteen ―who in the United States is nicknamed The Boss (in Spanish: 'el jefe')― "Here I am the boss." That day Charly played with Peter Gabriel, Sting, León Gieco and Bruce Springsteen.
Charly García sustained many conflicts in the province of Mendoza. In 1983, he stripped naked in the middle of a recital. Then a policeman knocked on the door of the room where the musician was and told him: "Open up: I'm a policeman!", to which García replied: "And what's my fault that you haven't studied?" On another occasion, according to a complaint filed with the prosecutor's office, García locked up five prostitutes refusing to pay them for their services. In Mendoza, in 2000, after having played for free with Mercedes Sosa, García tried the vertigo of throwing himself from a window on the ninth floor of a hotel into a swimming pool, and when the press questioned his act he said: «I only saw her!, and I dared! You have to go further, besides I'm never going to die and my whim is law ». He would later refer that he dared to throw himself after many calculations and because he was locked in the room, since the police were outside to question him due to incidents that occurred the night before in a pub in the same city.
The album Rock and Roll YO would have songs dedicated to Florencia, Charly's fifteen-year-old girlfriend, who was 53 years old at the time. Florencia's parents did not let Charly get close to his daughter and for this reason songs like "Dileando con un alma (Que no puedo understand)" appear.
During a recital in Ferro in 2004, after the statements of a woman who claimed to be his daughter and that she would even have already given him a granddaughter, Charly yelled at the spectators: «That one who says she's my daughter, what? Did he come or did he not come? In said recital he also broke two glasses with his hand and destroyed several instruments. García said that in that recital he was going to burn the piano but that the rain had not allowed him to. The following year, in 2005, García left his mark on the Walk of Fame in the seaside resort of Mar del Plata (located on the Argentine Atlantic coast).
In an interview with journalist Luis Majul, he revealed that he was attacked by local security employees in the last recital of a series given at La Trastienda. In 2007 he had a recital canceled for being late. Garcia yelled: "My army, break everything." The next day La Trastienda woke up with graffiti in favor of García. Garcia's followers are often called Los Aliados or the Say No More Army. Many times his followers forgive the musician everything, whether he arrives late to the recitals or even doesn't even go. The response that the allies give to that: "Charly is Charly, he is a genius, he is God." That same year, Charly García threw a glass of whiskey at the Icelandic singer Björk. The attack took place inside the Faena hotel, in Puerto Madero, and the event was kept in absolute secrecy. The following year, on Friday, April 18, 2008, Charly had a fight with Marcelo Pocavida (former member of Los Baraja) in the access area to the dressing rooms of the Roxy Theater (Buenos Aires) after the New York Dolls show. The Youtube website shows videos recorded from cell phones about this fight by Charly García or about other incidents in Chile (such as when a girl goes on stage).
In 2010, Charly García intervened in the controversy between his compatriot, the singer-songwriter Fito Páez, and Ricardo Arjona. The three-way fight arose when Páez assured that Arjona was a symptom of "cultural annihilation." García pointed out that his audience and Arjona's are very different: "(Arjona's) is more of housewives, who watch soap operas, and there are many people."
In 2017, Charly García accused the American pop star Bruno Mars of plagiarism: in an interview in Billboard magazine, he elaborated on the subject, convinced that the song "Uptown funk" from the American was too inspired by his song "Fanky".
Discography
Musicians
Charly García had several bands between 1967 and 1982 (listed in the previous line), and a band of accompanying musicians from 1982 onwards, in which GIT, Andrés Calamaro, Fito Páez and Claudio Gabis stood out, among other well-known Argentine musicians. Listed below are the names of the bands and their musicians in a chronology.
Bands
Timeline
Filmography
- 1973: Rock until the sun goes down
- 1975: Bye Sui Generis
- 1982: Walking down the street, video
- 1983: Mercedes Sosa, like a free bird
- 1988: What will come
- 1991: Nurses working
- 1992: Tato de América
- 1993: Good Show
- 1995: Peperina
- 2000: One night with Sabrina Love
- 2002: Who's Alejandro Chomski?
- 2006: That's rock.
- 2012: Graduates
- 2018: Bios: Lives that marked yours
- 2020: Break everything
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