Mona Jimenez

Juan Carlos Jiménez Rufino, better known as la Mona Jiménez (Córdoba, Argentina, January 11, 1951), is an interpreter and Argentine composer of the quartet genre, considered its most important exponent. Among the best-known songs in his repertoire is & # 34; Who has drunk all the wine? & # 34;.

Biography

Painted in Cordoba. The Mona is part of the Cordoba culture.

He was born on January 11, 1951 in the city of Córdoba, Argentina, where he made his debut as a dancer and folklore singer. Among the most important influences on him was his father. At 15 years of age he participated in a casting to be a singer in the Bern Quartet, a young characteristic quartet group (musical genre that he was in in his early years of life) where he won.

Berne Quartet and Golden Quartet

He was part of the Berna Quartet, in which they began to call him Carlitos Jiménez for the first time. In this ensemble he had a series of problems with the manager, who, in turn, was the pianist's father and leader of the group. Another of the drawbacks he had were the limitations that were imposed on him when it came to going on stage, because the objective was to make the pianist, Berna Bevilacqua, stand out, leaving him in the background, for which he finally left the group.

After a few years, he joined the group Cuarteto de Oro, which was directed by his uncle, Coquito Ramaló. The first album he recorded with this group was called Put the chain on it , which was a resounding failure in sales; however, it was followed by Cut your big-headed hair with which they reached 180,000 units between LPs, cassettes and magazines. Over time La Mona was imposing as her mark the movement of her hand back and forth, with the palm up and down; a step that began to be repeated among her followers as soon as she gave the Golden Quartet a show. After that, La gaita del obizón would be her most important success.

On December 28, 1973, he met Juana Delseri, whom he married in April 1975. The couple had three children: Lorena (actress and musician) and Carlos -known as Carli- (who dedicates himself to music together with to his father, especially producing) and Natalia (who is a designer of his costumes).

At the end of July 2000, he divorced his wife who, however, continued to work as his personal manager.

During the military dictatorship that was erected in Argentina, known as the National Reorganization Process, the quartet was generally persecuted. However, he released 13 albums during this period. When Raúl Alfonsín took office in 1983 and democracy returned to Argentina, "La Mona" he prepared his solo release.

As a solo artist

In 1984 (at 33 years of age), with 26 LPs recorded, Jiménez retired from the Golden Quartet to put together his own solo project, but continued to play music in the signature quartet's style—with a sound renewed by the inclusion of percussion and electric keyboards— began to work in dances in the peripheral neighborhoods of Córdoba. Months later, he edited the album For all of America , where he had his first big hit: La flaca la gasta . He gradually became a figure of national prominence. His next album Thank God alludes to the excitement of being able to pursue a career outside of the restrictions that had previously held him back.

In January 1988, he was invited to perform at the Cosquín Festival, in an attempt by the organizers to attract people to the depressed festival, all the forecasts were exceeded and the Cosquín plaza was packed with more than 100,000 people, this caused excesses between the public and the suspension of the show, when La Mona had barely sung three songs. This episode was titled by the local press as: The black night of La Mona in Cosquín; however, this setback would give Jiménez a national connotation, which would capitalize on this negative fact, obtaining national popularity.

In the same year he played for the first time in Buenos Aires, at the Microestádio in Atlanta and participated in the film Las locuras del extraterrestre by Carlos Galettini, starring Emilio Disi and Javier Portales.

Later, it filled Luna Park and in 1989 it had a great success in the punk bowling alley Cemento, run by businessman Omar Chabán.

In 1992 he joined the cast of the TV program "El Gordo y el Flaco" starring Juan Carlos Mesa and Gianni Lunadei broadcast by Telefe. In 1995 and 2005 he received the Konex Platinum Award as the Best Tropical / Quartet Singer of the Decade in Argentina and in 2015 the Konex Merit Diploma in the same discipline.

In 1996 he made his debut in the magazine theater, with the play "Más feliz en Carlos Paz", together with Georgina Barbarossa, Susana Romero and the Magician Emanuel, at the Teatro del Lago.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Jiménez toured other countries. She was in Spain where in Cádiz, Valencia and Madrid she sang the rhythm of the quartet. In August 1995 she went on tour to the United States, performed for three days in Chicago and Houston, and then—between September 1 and 7, 1995—presented his great hit Who Drank All the Wine? -launched with their album En vivo in 1986- before thousands of Argentines in New York.

At the beginning of the XXI century, La Mona stood out for a series of albums that were generally tributes, selections and memories of his greatest hits accompanied by new songs. In December 2012, he released his album Number 83, as a celebration of his 45-year career in the Quartet, under the name "Revolución", with special guests such as Raly Barrionuevo, Andrés Ciro Martínez, Raúl Lavié, Alejandro Lerner, Palito Ortega, King Pelusa, Facundo Toro, Peteco Carabajal and Javier Calamaro.

In May 2014, he brought his greatest hits to Spain through a tour carried out in the cities of Madrid, Malaga and Barcelona, with total success in the three venues where he played.

In October of that same year he performed at the Luna Park stadium, a place that had seen him shine for the last time in November 2007. He returned again the following year (June 2015) with total success in those two presentations.

In September 2016, he announced a stoppage of his shows due to an emergency operation on his vocal cords that were deteriorated by a polyp. This recess saw him forced to silence his voice for a certain time, after going through the operation with Successful return to the stage in April 2017 in a presentation at the Complejo Forja located in the Barrio Talleres Este of the City of Córdoba, completely packed with fans from all over the country, another demonstration of the successful validity that La Mona Jiménez has maintained for years.

In January 2018, he celebrated his 50-year career again at the Forge Complex; the largest dance venue in the City of Córdoba.

In the course of 2019, he announced his imminent return to the Luna Park stadium in the Federal Capital after 5 years, said event was held on Saturday, November 9 of the same year with thousands of spectators who enjoyed his greatest successes.

After his presentation on the Buenos Aires stage, he returned to his usual Weekend Dances in the City of Córdoba with the particularity of doing them in XL format, called "without pauses" In the Jargon of the Quartet, In March 2020 he was forced to stop his shows due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

On December 7, 2020 "La Mona" she sang again to perform a show in a private Streaming format for her fans, this was done again two more times in 2021 with complete success in all three editions.

After the National Government authorized massive events after the strict quarantine, The great return of a live show by La Mona Jiménez took place in January 2022, a few days after her birthday, at the Córdoba Hippodrome located in Jardín Espinosa neighborhood, the show was called "Bum Bum Festival", with the participation of a wide musical and cultural grid, which included the "bum bum kids" space, a food park and other attractions. This first edition included the participation of L-Gante, Damas Gratis, Los Palmeras, Los Caligaris and Karina la Princesita, among others.

With this new format, "La Mona" reinvented itself by offering massive concerts compared to its usual popular dances, in May 2022 it celebrated its 55-year career at the Obelisco Porteño in front of more than 80,000 people, an absolute record in the history of the Cordovan quartet.

In September 2022 he opened his own museum called "LA MONA MUSEOBAR" with the sample of the costumes that he used throughout his career, his complete discography, awards, distinctions and tributes. All this together with the wide gastronomic variety that the place offers.

Awards and nominations

Konex Awards

La Mona has won the Konex Platinum Award on two occasions and received the diploma of merit awarded by the same foundation on three occasions.

Carlos Gardel Awards

Legacy

Statue of La Mona Jimenez. Paseo del Buen Pastor. Cordoba. Argentina

He has released 90 albums to date (July 2019) and has sold more than 36 million copies throughout the country.

His performances feature manual sign language while he sings. Sign language was invented by him over the years, and mainly represents letters of the alphabet, the neighborhoods of the city of Córdoba, Córdoba cities, Argentine provinces and countries where he has made his presentations. The origin of this is told in his book & # 34; La Mona & # 34; where he recounts that in his dances people always carried neighborhood and band flags so that La Mona could name them but they caused the spectators who were located at the back of the place to not be able to see the stage, to solve this problem, he invents this particular language.

She has sung with a large number of renowned artists from other musical genres, including Fito Páez, Charly García, Andrés Calamaro, Manu Chao, Pato Fontanet, Martín Fabio, Pity Álvarez, Bersuit Vergarabat, Alejandro Lerner, Palito Ortega, Raly Barrionuevo, Javier Calamaro and Slim Dee, among others.

To this list are also added musicians of the same genre such as Ulises Bueno, Damián Córdoba, etc.

Culturally, La Mona has left a vast legacy in the people who follow her, among the most important manifestations we can talk about everything from graffiti in the streets to tattoos with her image and her name.

In 2010, together with the journalist Jorge Cuadrado, he published an autobiography, whose name is Juan Carlos Jiménez Rufino, La Mona.

In 2011 a group of rock musicians from Córdoba created the album Monatributo in his honor.

Discography

"La Mona" adds a total of 90 albums (until 2022) counting his career in the Bern Quartet, Golden Quartet and his subsequent work as a soloist. She has four platinum records and six gold records.

Other albums

• I'm from the T / We came to win (simple) - Gold Quartet (Philips, 1978)
• Dale Gloria dale / Where the champions are born (simple) - Gold Quartet (Philips, 1979)
• The old and glorious Belgrano / Potpurrí popular music (simple) - The Pirates of Belgrano with the voice of Carlitos Jiménez (Philips, 1984)
• The Golden Age of the Bern Quartet with Carlitos Jiménez - Bern Quartet (Music Hall, 1988)
• 10 years - Carlitos Jiménez "La Mona" (Philips, 1994)
• 10 Years Volume II - Carlitos Jiménez "La Mona" (Philips, 1994)
• Canta Carlitos "La Mona" Jiménez - Bern Quartet (Magenta, 1994)
• Great successes - Carlitos "La Mona" Jiménez (1996)
• Mona mix - La Mona Jiménez (BMG, 1997)
• Who took all the wine - Carlitos "La Mona" Jiménez (Polydor, 1997)
• The pupito remix - Carlitos "La Mona" Jiménez (1998)
• Kiss to kiss remix - Carlitos "La Mona" Jiménez (1999)
• His great successes - Carlitos Mona Jiménez (1999)
• Tropical anthology - La Mona Jiménez (2000)
• Great successes - La Mona Jiménez (Música & Marketing, 2000)
• The story - Carlos La Mona Jiménez (Warner, 2001)
• RCA Victor 100 years - Carlos "La Mona" Jiménez (BMG, 2001)
• Classic/03 - Carlos La Mona Jiménez (2003)
• 2x1 - Rodrigo / La Mona Jiménez / Cachumba (Magenta, 2006)
• Soul Monster (double CD) - Carlos La Mona Jiménez (RCA, 2006)
• People's singer - La Mona Jiménez (Sony Music, 2010)
• Best successes - Carlitos "La Mona" Jiménez (Universal, 2015)