Argentinian rock and pop music
The Argentine rock and pop music scene is diverse and, despite its unmistakable roots in American pop music, has its own character.
The keyword Rock Nacional is often mentioned in connection with Argentinian rock music and the youth culture associated with it. This is not a style name, but only a reference to rock “domestic production”, but serves as a demarcation to music that does not fit into the rock scheme (such as pop or electronic dance music ).
Social relevance
In times of authoritarian regimes in Argentina, the rock scene played an important role as a culture of protest , in which a large part of the counter-work to official state propaganda took place. This was particularly true of the dictatorship of the so-called Revolución Argentina (1966–1973), in which the rock scene was able to establish itself as an independent movement in Argentina. In the process of the National Reorganization (1976-1983), however, the situation turned out to be more difficult, since this regime was extremely rigid against any kind of protest and therefore the rock scene was relegated to the underground; Nevertheless, some musicians managed to draw attention to themselves with protest songs even during this time.
By contrast, since the early 1990s at the latest , the rock scene has become a largely commercialized youth culture. Today rock is consumed like any other genre of music and rarely has anything to do with a real protest attitude, even if the lyrics of many bands represent politically left-wing ideas.
development
The beginnings (1955–1970)
The Argentine pop scene got its start in the late 1950s when several local performers copied hits from the rock 'n' roll movement in America. Examples include Mister Roll y sus Rockers and Sandro , who was often referred to as the Argentine Elvis Presley .
As in many other countries, the movement was only able to break away from the models from the Anglo-Saxon scene around 1967, during the military dictatorship of the Revolución Argentina . This development went hand in hand with the emergence of its own rock culture, which saw itself as an open alternative to the established order. A hippie movement formed, whose idols were the band Los Gatos from Rosario and José Alberto Iglesias Correa , known as Tanguito , from Buenos Aires. Both are now considered to be essential influencing factors in the early days of rock music.
While some rock musicians in the early days professed to openly protest and the state authorities acted very repressively against them in the cities, others migrated inland and founded colonies for dropouts . There were well- known hippie communities in isolated areas of the country, such as El Bolsón in Patagonia, as well as San Marcos Sierras and the Playa de los Hippies in the province of Córdoba , where the youth pursued their ideals without being persecuted by the state.
Explosion and Suppression (1970–1983)
At the end of the 1960s, in the last years of the military dictatorship, the personalities appeared in the increasingly consolidated local rock scene who are to shape it to this day: Charly García , Luis Alberto Spinetta , León Gieco , Norberto Napolitano and Fito Páez . Although they were all stylistically influenced by the American scene, they also integrated elements of their own. Leon Gieco and Charly García integrated sounds from local folklore with his band Sui Generis , while Luis Spinetta (with the band Almendra ) and Norberto Napolitano made hard rock with blues influences. The blues should shape Argentine rock music to this day. With the appearance of these first superstars, the rock scene became a veritable mass movement. Despite the repression, several large festivals such as BAROQ were organized.
The local rock scene experienced a brief heyday in the democratic phase between 1973 and 1976, until the next, far more repressive military dictatorship put an end to it. During the reign of the dictators of Jorge Videla , Roberto Viola and Leopoldo Galtieri , all major rock concerts were banned and published titles were subject to censorship . Many rock bands went into exile or took a creative break at this time. In the early 1980s, it was mainly easy-to-digest disco groups that stood out.
Some artists were still able to hold their own and continue to give concerts in the underground . Charly García, for example, used a very complex symbolic language with a new band called Serú Girán to continue denouncing the grievances in the country without being prosecuted by the censors. Another important band of this era were Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota , who, building on blues rock, were able to build a counter-rock scene independent of the record companies. The band was successful with their concept, soon had a large fan base and is still one of the most famous rock bands in the country.
Second heyday (1983–1990)
After the return of democracy in 1983, several bands emerged that still dominate the Argentine charts and fill football stadiums to this day. First of all, the band Sumo should be mentioned, which made a mixture of blues rock and reggae and whose sound became the cornerstone of the Rock Nacional of the 1980s. This band split into Divididos and Las Pelotas in the mid-1980s .
At the same time, the band Soda Stereo came into being with calm guitar rock with poetic lyrics. Soda Stereo was the first band in Argentina to have massive success outside of Argentina. On the other hand, a rivalry developed between the fans of this band and the Redonditos de Ricota, which partly determined the headlines of the rock press.
The second half of the 1980s were the heyday of Argentine reggae. New bands like Los Pericos mixed reggae with Latin American music styles.
In the provinces of Entre Ríos , Santa Fe and Córdoba , one could observe a phenomenon that took place far away from the national chart scene mainly in the working class of the rural cities. There the so-called Música Tropical ( cumbia and cuarteto ) became more and more popular, which later also had an impact on the music scene in Buenos Aires.
New Influences (1990–1997)
In the early 1990s, the hip house band The Sacados was quite successful. During this phase, the progressive reggae and ska bands Los Fabulosos Cadillacs and Todos tus Muertos with very unusual and creative arrangements, as well as the electronic rockers Babasónicos and the Latin fusion band Bersuit Vergarabat, joined the mainstream in Argentina. At the same time, rock rolinga or rock stone made a name for itself, a harder rock style that made life in the poorer parts of the city the subject of their songs with elements of blues rock and punk rock . Here are Los Ratones Paranoicos , Viejas Locas and its sequel Intoxicados cited as examples. The rock style, which largely imitated the Rolling Stones , was probably the most popular musical form in Argentina in the 1990s. At the other extreme, shallow pop with Latin American influences (the so-called baladas ) has since then experienced an unprecedented boom with performers such as Diego Torres and later Emanuel Ortega .
By the mid-1990s, the electronically influenced styles that had caused a sensation in Europe also became increasingly popular in Argentina. Illya Kuryaki and the Valderramas developed their own style between funk , hip-hop and crossover or nu metal , and in the electronic dance music scene, DJ Dero first rose to star, who in his tracks Eurodance and Tribal House became his own dance- Mixed subgenre. At the same time a massive techno scene emerged around 1995 , the best-known representatives of which were Urban Groove (techno), Hernán Cattáneo (house) and Diego Ro-K (techno and drum and bass ), now internationally sought-after DJs and producers.
Latin revolution and techno boom (1997 to today)
By the mid-1990s, the Música Tropical had its first nationwide hits. The Cumbia Romántica was created, a pop-influenced offshoot of the Colombian Cumbia , but it initially had a negative image, comparable to that of boy groups . In the summer of 1996/97 she finally achieved her breakthrough, which led to a turning point in the music market. Cumbia and the Cuarteto from Córdoba with its main exponents “La Mona” Jiménez and Rodrigo quickly dominated discos across the country without restriction, and even the associated couple dance became “in” again. As a result, record sales for many traditional rock bands fell. Well-known bands and performers of the Cumbia Romántica movement were Ráfaga , Amar Azul , Los Sultanes and La Cumbia. The rock scene, on the other hand, stagnated, with the established artists from the 70s and 80s still selling the most. Some of the traditional rock bands like Bersuit Vergarabat and Kapanga rose to the Latino trend and mixed cumbia and cuarteto with rock influences. In 1999 the Cumbia Romántica was replaced by the Cumbia Villera with harder texts and electronic influences.
Also towards the end of the 1990s, the techno and house scene exploded , which until the mid-1990s had concentrated almost exclusively on Buenos Aires, Córdoba and Rosario. In the following years there was a new departure in the underground of Argentina. New influences came from Miranda! and Adicta with danceable synth pop , experimental electro-drum-and-bass-pop band Zort , the trip-hop -, house and drum-and-bass project Altocamet and the Electro Tango (mixture of tango with electronic elements) Artists from Bajofondo Tango Club . Around 2002 these mixed forms of traditional and electronic elements also became commercially successful, especially Miranda! dominated the national music market for a long time, and Electrotango was also successful in Europe. Unlike in Europe, where the interest in electronic music is largely stagnating or declining, the scene in Argentina is growing steadily and is now also being recognized internationally. In 2003 DJ Hernán Cattáneo made it into the top ten of the DJ Magazine ranking .
Current situation
Today the rock and pop scene in Argentina has been on the upswing since the Argentina crisis , even if there are still problems. In particular, the dominance of the established bands, but also increasing competition from casted test- tube bands, makes it difficult for newcomers to move up in the scene. Therefore, only comparatively few groups can live on their music alone. Some bands solve this by touring the country practically all the time in order to increase their profile and to keep themselves afloat financially with the fees. Another problem is the still strong dominance of the scene in the capital Buenos Aires over the rest of the country; This is mainly due to the strong concentration of the music industry, but also the mass media in this city. Groups from the interior of the country have a particularly difficult time climbing up, so many ambitious bands are pursuing the strategy of making a name for themselves in Buenos Aires or even relocating entirely to Buenos Aires (e.g. Karamelo Santo or León Gieco at the time ).
Festivals
Since the late 1960s, the festivals, where music fans from all over Argentina met, have been of great importance. The first big festival was BARock in Buenos Aires, which was modeled on the Woodstock Festival and became the center of the hippie culture of that time. A number of smaller festivals followed across the country. After the military coup in 1976, festival activity declined drastically due to severe repression. Still, rock fans managed to get the La Falda Rock festival in the city of La Falda ( Cordoba Province ), which during this period became the center of the movement. After the democratization in 1983, the festival business increased again, but none of them even came close to the cult status of the earlier events.
Today there are the following well-known festivals (in alphabetical order):
- Cosquin Rock has been the most famous rock festival since 2001, even if it is temporarily overtaken by Quilmes Rock (see below) in terms of visitor numbers. It was initially organized in the city of Cosquín (Province of Córdoba) in the same square where the world-famous folklore festival takes place in that city. Since 2005 it has been held annually in February in a suburb of the city, San Roque , on an open-air area near the Lago San Roque reservoir . It has 60,000 to 100,000 guests.
- Creamfields Buenos Aires is the nationwide most famous festival for electronic dance music with international DJs and live projects. It is presented in a hall complex.
- Electro Rock is a smaller festival that has been taking place in various inland cities since 2004. The line-up combines rock and pop with electronic music.
- Gesell Rock is the largest festival on the Argentine Atlantic coast. It takes place in the summer season (mostly January) in the popular seaside resort of Villa Gesell .
- Reggae Punky Party , until 2006 Oye Reggae , is the most famous festival of the reggae style. It is organized in the province of Córdoba in January or February and took place until 2005 and again from 2007 on an open-air area at the foot of the mythical Uritorco mountain of the Sierras de Córdoba . In 2006 it was organized at a reservoir in the south of the province near Embalse .
- Pepsi Music is a multi-day festival in Buenos Aires that is more like a concert series than a traditional festival, as only 2-3 bands play per day and it takes place in a closed hall. It often has international guests.
- Quilmes Rock is the most important rock festival in the city of Buenos Aires. The focus is on local bands, it has up to 100,000 guests.
- South American Music Conference is a mixed festival in Buenos Aires. Local and international stars from the fields of rock, pop and electronic dance music perform.
Well-known bands and performers
The following is a list of well-known Argentine bands and soloists, sorted by music style.
| Music genre | Bands and performers | |
|---|---|---|
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Rock, punk, heavy metal |
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| pop |
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| Reggae / Ska |
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Latin American Music / Música Tropical |
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| Hip-hop, funk |
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| Dance and Electronic Music |
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Web links
- Rock portal with biographies of many bands
- Electronic music portal
- Portal for "Musica Tropical" ( Memento from April 19, 2003 in the web archive archive.today )
- "You're a fucking bull". Since the crisis in Argentina the middle class has detected rebellious pop music is also played in discos Nobel ( Memento of 16 May 2008 at the Internet Archive ) Jungle World 37/2002 (4 September 2002)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Pappo ( Memento of August 13, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), rock.com.ar
- ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/album/signos-mw0000248468
- ↑ The Sacados ( Memento of 24 February 2013, Internet Archive )
- ↑ http://edant.clarin.com/diario/2005/06/20/espectaculos/c-00801.htm
- ↑ http://edant.clarin.com/diario/2006/05/09/espectaculos/c-00615.htm
- ↑ Radio FM Z 95: Fábrica de estrellas ( Memento from November 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive )