Historical Facts Around the World
Translation on the way...
In these paragraphs we try to have an idea of what happend in some countries oround the world, within the music we call progressive rock or Art Rock and all the things associated. This genre can be divided in some ways, one is the easiest like Catarsis do and the other is more complex and detailed like the Gibraltar progressive rock Enciclopedia did. In the first case we have some word frome the writer of the book "The Return of Italian Pop". In the second case we have the situation in Argentinia and Uruguay. We hope some more contributions in the future...
Italy
A brief
history of the italian pop scene
(Published
with the kind permission of Paolo Barotto itself. Thanks a lot).
Discussing italian progressive music (more commonly identified as "italian pop") is a rather difficult task. To examine a phenomenon, be it music or not, you need to know its origins, and -unfortunately- it´s not so easy to track down the background of this kind of music.
From Beat to Pop
While in England and overseas "pop" musica was only the transformation of the trend called "beat", the situation in Italy was a little different: there never was an independent beat movement with very distinctive characteristics. Italian beat music was, above all, based on "covers" (re-doing well cnown cuts from abroad). It even went so faras "importing" foreing beat groups (like the Rokes, the Renegades and Sorrow) that were unable to succeed in their own country. A great part of the italian beat goups had very poor musical preparation at that time. In spite of that, a lot of groups survived until the beginning of the seventies, trying to develop a musical style of their own, though still influenced by foreign groups. That type of music is today defined wit a few different names: progressive music (coming form "progress"), pop music (from "popular", avantgarde music or more simply rock music.
Italian Pop was born in 1969 with the first New Trolls concept album (an album in which the lyrics follow a common logical line). Their album, even if musically not yet mature, has the importance of being the first of a lon series; there will be a hundreds of concept albums releases by italian groups! The open air pop festivals debuted in 1970 (and in other countries). The irst one of some valuable importance was the Caracalla (Rome) Festival, even if the most famous turned out to be that of Villa Pamphili (Rome too) in 1972. A lot of groups, sneaking out of their garages, had the chance of presenting themselves to the general public in those festivals, even if the specialized press gave very few news of those events.
An Analysis of The Movement
It is weird how italian pop, in the brief span of its existence (1969/1797), could prodce such a number of groups. The can be subdivided into at least five important branches.
The first one in a chronological order (1968/1970) regards all groups with beat tendency that remained influenced by the music´s transformation. Among those groups the most important are Le Orme, New Trolls and Quelli (early PFM).
The second branch is that of the groups that were born right into the pop scene (1970), without having any previous expreriences (except work as sessionmen). Among these, the first groups on the scene were Trip, Il Balletto di Bronzo, I Gleemen and La Formula Tre.
The third branch includes the movement´s greatest moments (1971/1973), with great open air concerts and many records releases. This period is climaxed by PFM´s american tour and Orme´s tour to England. The most active groups of that period (apart from the already mentioned ones) were Jumbo, Metamorfosi, La Nuove Idea and Garybaldi. The leaders these groups were surely as good as their more famous foreing colleagues. The singers Davide Spitaleri (metamorfosi) and Demetrio Stratos (Area) deserve a mention as well as the guitarrists Bambi Fossati (Garybaldi), Alberto Radius (Formula 3 and Il Volo) and Nico di Palo (New Trolls); the keyboars players Joe Vescovi (Trip) and gianni Leone (Balletto di Bronzo); the drummers Franz di Cioccio (PFM) and Nunzio Fava (Osage Tribe); bass players Bob Callero (Osage Tribe) and Patrick Dijvas (PFM) and finally sax player Elio D´Anna (Osanna) and the multi-instruments player Mauro Pagani (PFM).
The fourth branch includes all those groups that should have brougth new ideas into italian pop but instead started the movement´s decline (1974/1976). The few groups that did not repeat earlier music schemes were Il Volo, Il Biglietto Per L´Inferno and Ibis.
The last few groups debuted in 1977, not having been able to record in the previous years. Even in this last chapter there were interesting groups, like Celeste, La Corte dei Miracoli and La Locanda delle Fatte.
Today, only fiteen years (since 1977) after the "death" ot this scene, people ask where did all these groups disappear: we will try to discover it in the pages that follow... The Book "The Return of Italian Pop" 1996. English Edition by Paolo Barotto. First Edition in italian in 1992.
Argentina
Brief
history of Argentine rock music
By Marcelo Camerlo (reprinted
with his kind permission, thanks a lot)
With the burst of rock
& roll, with Elvis Presley as the first main lead character, each country
began to produce local figures that emulated the American or English star
of the moment.
In the 60s, the Beatles
phenomenon changed the mind of millions of youngsters from all over the world
for good. Thousands of rock bands emerged trying to imitate their beloved
heroes from Britain. So happened in South America, by the Rio de La Plata
shores...
By the end of 1963 Los
Shakers were performing in Montevideo (capital city of Uruguay) and soon signed
for a contract in Buenos Aires (capital city of Argentina) achieving an enormous
success.
From Rosario (main city
of the argentine province of Santa Fe) a group called The Wild Cats -with
their Beatles/Hollies/Animals repertoire- moved to Buenos Aires as well, changing
their name to Los Gatos Salvajes and -this was big news- singing in Spanish.
Other outfits, like Los Vip´s, Los In, The Seasons, Los Walkers (from
Argentina) or Los Bulldogs and Los Mockers (from Uruguay), played beat music,
but with English lyrics. (Actually, Los Gatos Salvajes was not the first group
to sing in the local language, but it was their attitude what turned this
into something natural from then on).
In 1966 Los Beatniks recorded
the first garage-single sung in Spanish, but it was not until the following
year -with the release of Los Gatos' massive hit ''La Balsa''- that the history
changed. Almost no group in Argentina (or Uruguay) dared to sing in other
language but Spanish again afterwards. Even the big record companies pushed
their beat commercial artists to translate their lyrics.
Within an old basement
at Pueyrredón Avenue in Buenos Aires -called La Cueva- a group of young
striving artists began to gather together and play with the local jazz band.
Moris, Pajarito Zaguri, Javier Martínez, Miguel Abuelo, Tanguito, Litto
Nebbia, Pipo Lernoud, and other ''hippies'' exchanged ideas, music and poetry.
From La Cueva they used
to go to La Perla del Once, a pizza-bar that never closed. They finally dawn
at Plaza Francia to meet other young hippies. All these places eventually
became the cradle of a big rock local movement. Groups like Los Abuelos de
la Nada, Manal, La Barra de Chocolate and singers like Moris, Tango or Pajarito
Zaguri emerged from these meetings.
La Cueva from Pueyrredón
finally closed, but Billy Bond opened a new one at the long Rivadavia Avenue.
In those days, Bond was a commercial beat singer with several singles released.
Being Buenos Aires a big
city, this small venue was not of course the only place where new rock groups
formed. Almendra (one of the Big Three, together with Los Gatos and Manal),
Vox Dei and Arco Iris -all from different neighbourhoods- had also something
new to say...
In 1968, pop magazine
Pinap hit news-stands and Mandioca -the first record label devoted exclusively
to rock music- was born.
By the following year,
big concerts were held: the June Sunday concerts (Beat Baires) at the Theatre
Coliseo, the Festival Nacional de Música Beat at the Theatre El Nacional,
the Festival de Música Joven at the outdoors Piletas de Ezeiza on September
21rst (the beginning of Spring and Student's Day), and the Festival Pinap
-with 12.000 attendants in two weekends- at the Anfiteatro Municipal.
The big wheel was rolling...
and nobody would stop it.
In 1970, from the ashes
of Pinap (along with Cronopios and La Bella Gente, the only beat rock magazine)
emerged Pelo (Hair), soon to become the official publication of argentine
rock.
Pelo's influence became
enormous. Daniel Ripoll, owner and editor, decided whether an artist was ''in''
or ''out'', praising or ignoring him.
In November 1970, Pelo organised the first Festival BARock (Buenos Aires Rock)
at the Velódromo Municipal, where 30.000 people enjoyed the music of
the aforementioned acts plus others like Alma y Vida or La Cofradía
de la Flor Solar.
Also in 1970 The Beatles
of course broke up, and in 1971 so did the Big Three (Almendra, Manal and
Los Gatos)... After these groups new bands appeared, playing a wide variety
of challenging styles for a growing local audience.
Once again during the
four Saturdays of November, the BARock II festival gathered 50.000 people
to watch new and old bands perform, among them: Pedro y Pablo, Gabriela, Raúl
Porchetto, León Gieco, Orion's Beethoven, La Pesada, La Cría
Rockal, Miguel y Eugenio, Aquelarre (yet without a name), Color Humano, Contraluz,
Escarcha, Fe, La Pequeña Banda de Trícupa (all from Argentina)
and Tótem, Psiglo and Opus Alfa (both from Uruguay).
With Mandioca out of business,
new labels like Microfón (and subsidiary Talent), MusicHall, DiscJockey
and Trova, together with the always-present RCA, devoted efforts to the new
growing movement.
During 1972 groups could
be divided between two big style tendencies. On one hand there was the ''acoustics''
after the event "Acusticazo" (June 16th 1972 at the Theater Atlantic
in Buenos Aires) -mostly solo or duo folk-rock acts-, like Sui Generis, Vivencia
or Pacífico. On the other hand, there was the ''heavies'', like Pappo's
Blues and Billy Bond y La Pesada , with their offspring Alejandro Medina,
Kubero Díaz, Claudio Gábis or Jorge Pinchevsky.
The BARock people organised
several shows between May and August 1972 at the Teatro Atlantic, to finally
end in November with Festival BARock III this time outside the Argentinos
Juniors soccer club stadium. This event was immortalised in the movie Rock
Hasta que se Ponga el Sol (directed by Aníbal Uset), the only and superb
visual testimony of the good music performed in those days. (The following
and last BARock festival found its way late in 1982).
The film includes (in
alphabetical order) Arco Iris, Billy Bond y La Pesada, Color Humano, Claudio
Gabis, Gabriela, León Gieco, Litto Nebbia, Orion´s Beethoven,
Pappo´s Blues, Pescado Rabioso, Sui Generis and Vox Dei.
Another albums by groups like Piel de Pueblo, Sacramento or Materia Gris did
not have major support from the press and went unnoticed.
Rock music in Argentina,
as in every other country, was not precisely the establishment's delight.
To get matters worse, during a rock festival at the huge indoor Luna Park
Stadium, Billy Bond urged the audience to ''break it all''. This infamous
event achieved a lot of bad press.
We should not forget that
between 1966 and 1973 Argentina's government was taken by a military dictatorship.
Longhaired youngsters were persecuted and rock music represented the ''peaceful''
resistance (whilst the ''armed'' resistance was held by the revolutionary
guerrilla).
In March 1973, to celebrate
the return of democracy, the Festival del Triunfo Peronista was held at the
Argentinos Juniors stadium. Due to musical and political problems the event
experimented lots of troubles.
The youth in Argentina
was enthusiastic with the idea of Juan Domingo Perón returning from
exile for a third period as president. But soon frustration was evident and
the death of the old chief in 1974 led the country to social turmoil and economical
chaos. In 1976 a coup put the Armed Forces back in office again until 1983
-resulting in an enormous growth of the external debt, an estimated 30.000
disappearances and, no less, a war against Britain!
This uncomfortable social climate would influence the musical production of
those early years, being rock music the natural shelter for those who expected
a better world to live in.
Meanwhile, groups like
Arco Iris or soloists like Litto Nebbia began to experiment with local folklore
rhythms and fusion them with rock. Others, like Cuero, Rockal y la Cría,
Los Barrocos, La Banda del Paraíso or Montes, released great recordings
with no commercial response.
Concerts became more frequent,
and bands like Invisible, Aquelarre or El Reloj played intensively. Many new
outfits like Ave Rock or Madre Atómica tried to find their own way
playing past-midnight gigs at smaller venues. Finally, the considerable success
of Sui Generis path the way for a wider audience to discover the growing movement.
New magazines like Mordisco,
which eventually turned into the superb Expreso Imaginario, appeared.
By the mid 70s a new bunch
of bands with a more symphonic sound emerged, like Espíritu, La Máquina
de Hacer Pájaros, Crucis, Alas, Bubu and MIA.
It was during this period that many rock pioneers emigrated in search of peaceful
lands. And once again in harmony with the major groups from the north, local
artists began to experiment with fusion music, more noteworthy with tango
and jazz. This lead to some good music but lot of self-indulgence as well,
thus somewhat losing the strength of the first period of progressive rock.
So this is when we stop
the study of argentine rock music. Although rock music in Argentina later
achieved a success that nobody expected when the whole thing started, we feel
that what happened afterwards is of no real interest for the international
collectors to which this book is actually dedicated.
In Argentina, punk and
new wave music could not find its way until the early 80s. By the end of the
70s the music played was mostly empty-trying-to-be-FM of no real challenge.
The massive crack occurred by the end of 1982, when the Falklands (Malvinas)
War was over. During the war, radio stations were demanded not to play music
sung in English. Radio programmers went crazy trying to find a replacement
for such a big gap, so they quickly discovered that there was ''rock music
in Argentina''. So did the Armed Forces, as they found through the music an
excellent tool to easy the deceived youth. Argentine rock music became an
overnight sensation. Musicians became heroes and finally raised a small (in
many cases deserved) fortune as well. Suddenly, Argentine Rock Music was a
household word! But, as we have said, this is another story.
Although many local rock
journalists insist in considering argentine rock music as a whole, almost
nothing produced in the last 20 years (with some obvious few exceptions) matches
with the great music played during 1966 to 1977. The World was different then...
and so was Music. Fortunately, the dreams and expectations of that pioneer
musicians and followers had been captured forever within the recordings that
follow.
Uruguay
BRIEF
HISTORY OF URUGUAYAN ROCK
by Fernando Pau Cebey (reprinted
with his kind permission, thanks a lot)
Uruguay is a small country located among the two giants from South America: Brazil and Argentina. Separated from Argentina by British political manoeuvres in the past century, Uruguay has developed in its 170 years of existence a personality lightly different from its bigger neighbour, due fundamentally to most of Spanish immigration contrary to the clearly Italian influenced Argentina.
In the sixties, contrary to most of its neighbours, Uruguay breathed a climate of total freedom unaware to the military dictatorships that razed the continent with censorship and repression.
When the rock phenomenon -mainly through the Beatles- burst in Montevideo (capital city of Uruguay), a vernacular rock movement began to generate deploying its achievements initially in the own country and then, for logical projection, toward the rest of South America.
By the middle of the 60s, what is known in Argentina as "the Uruguayan invasion" took place: youths were gratefully surprised by bands that sounded like The Beatles (Los Shakers) or The Rolling Stones (Los Mockers). The recording industry welcomed this new phenomenon and began to sign unknown groups, resembling what took place in London when the record companies recruited any band from Liverpool in the middle of the Merseybeat craze. The Uruguayan rock meant in Argentina rock of good quality.
When the bands stopped being a surprise, many musicians that had arrived with those pioneers integrated to local groups.
Meanwhile, the following flock of musicians formed a second rock generation, maybe less naive but more prepared and structured.
Bands like Opus Alfa, Días de Blues, or Génesis, would surely have had much better luck having arisen in a country with more inhabitants and another economic situation.
TV shows such as Discodromo Show (created and directed by Rubén Castillo) or Constelación (by Carlos Martins) helped to promote this music on radio and television, allowing its development and expansion beyond the mentioned difficulties.
In 1973, the coming of a military dictatorship -in a small country accustomed to democracy and respect for freedom and civil rights- led the rock phenomenon to an end. For the time when local rock music became average currency again, we are outside the context of this book.
By 1975 rock music was
replaced by an absurd musical movement -so-called "Canto Popular"
("Popular Song")- that pursued a kind of a "return to the sources"
(banning foreign rhythms, electric instruments, and so forth).
Between 1965 and 1973 the Uruguayan music was indissoluble bound to Argentina.
Nevertheless, at the same time it presented a distinctive profile for reasons
such as the influence of the black race in the rhythms and melodies (thus,
the candombe).
Needless to say, the pressings detailed were very small, except in some cases where the record had also been released in Argentina.
Finally, I would like
to dedicate this chapter to all those early Uruguayan rock musicians. Some
of them later forged their career abroad and others remained in their country
attempting to develop their art against all the difficulties.