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Charly García (born October 23, 1951 as Carlos Alberto García Moreno) is an influential artist in the history of rock and roll in Argentina. He has been making distinctive music for thirty years.
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The early years
He was the firstborn in a wealthy Argentinian family, but at the time of his birth (the 1950s), Gral. Juan Domingo Perón was the president in Argentina, and big social changes were taking place. And so, the García Moreno family had to adjust: Carlos's father began working as a professor, teaching physics and mathematics, and Carmen Moreno, his mother, began working as a radio producer of musical shows, especially folk music.
Once, mummy and daddy took an airplane to Europe, and little Carlos was left at home, alone. One of those days, he woke up with half of his face extremely white. It was produced by a pigmentation problem - vitiligo - probably from the shock of being left alone without his parents. The effects of this illness can still be seen today: the particular bi-color moustache in his face is a direct consequence of that.
Since he was a very little kid, he showed his musical talent. At the age of 3, he received a piano toy as a gift, and her mother soon surprised him composing/playing coherent and beautiful melodies. After that incident, she took him to a neighbour's house, who had a piano, little Carlos doubted, but as soon as he discovered that the big instrument worked as his toy, music began. His talent showed off, so his mother enlisted him in a music conservatory, the Thibaud Piazzini, where he became Music Professor, at the age of twelve.
When he was 7, a folk guitar player named Eduardo Falú was at home. Charly said to his mother: "The master Falú has a string out of tune." After some home made tests, the conclusion was clear: that young boy had, such as Beethoven, absolute ear, which allowed him to recognize every single tone, listen to a song and just play, or see the whole world as a huge pentagram.
1964: The death of a classical musician. The birth of a Rock Star
At the age of thirteen, the Beatles appeared. Until that moment, Charly's music consisted of Classical music - like Chopin - and that was all. When he first heard There's a place, he said he thought it was "Classical music from Mars". He bought Please Please Me and his life changed.
In High School, he formed a band, "To Walk Spanish" (in English), and in 1969 he met Carlos Alberto "Nito" Mestre who had his own band, "The Century Indignation". Sui Generis was born soon after, fusing these two bands.
Hello Sui Generis
The new band experimented with psychedelic music but would eventually refine its sound as a folk-rock band. At their first big gig, the bassist, guitarist and drummer all failed to show. Only Charlie (García used an "ie" in those days) and Nito where there, with a piano and a flute respectively. They played the show alone, and amazingly, the audience loved them. García's simple songs of adolescence contained substantial poetic elements that showed through the limited instrumentation.
As the band was gaining popularity, García faced mandatory military service at age 20. Unhappy in the military, he pulled outrageous stunts, such as taking a corpse in a wheelchair for a walk in the sun because "he was too pale." Eventually, García ingested a large dosage of amphetamines, faking a heart attack, after which he was taken to a military hospital. There, he composed two songs: Botas locas ("Crazy Boots"), then censored, and Canción para mi muerte ("Song for my death"). He was released from the military due to his mental health "problems".
Sui Generis? first LP, Vida ("Life"), released in 1972, became instantly popular, especially among Argentinian teenagers. Charlie wrote all Sui Generis' songs.
Confesiones de invierno ("Confessions in winter"), their second LP, was released in 1973. This album showcased higher production values and better studio equipment and was also a huge commercial success.
Innocence Lost
1974 was a year of changes. Charlie was sick of "the piano and the flute" sound, and decided that Sui Generis needed a change. He pursued a more traditional rock sound, with bass and drums. Rinaldo Rafanelli and Juan Rodríguez joined the band for that purpose. The new album play was originally titled "Instituciones" ("Institutions"), but Sui Generis' producer suggested they change the name to "Pequeñas anécdotas de las instituciones" ("Little Anecdotes about the Institutions") to reflect the unstable nature of Argentinian social and political institutions at the time. Charlie's initial concept was to write a song for every influential traditional institution: the Catholic Church, the Government, the family, the Judicial System, the Police, the Army, and so on. However, two songs, Juan Represión ("John Repression") about the police, and Botas locas ("Crazy Boots") about the army, were eliminated from the album by the censors. Two more had to be partly changed, "Las increíbles aventuras del Señor Tijeras" ("The incredible adventures of Mr. Scissors") and "¿Para quién canto yo entonces?" ("Who am I singing for, then?"), both about the censorship itself. While Charlie achieved a different, more mature sound with "Instituciones," the public didn't like the change. They preferred the old sound, and the album sold poorly.
In these years, Charlie met María Rosa Yorio, a singer who made a couple with him, who would then become the mother of his son, Miguel García.
Has been: the LP that finally was not
Anyway, García kept composing songs, and during 1975, he prepared for Sui Generis' "Ha sido" ("Has been"). There's a little trap here, because the stress in the phrase "Ha sido" actually places on the syllable "si". However, Charlie always made jokes about it and put the stress on "Ha". That way, "Ha sido" sounds just like "Ácido" (acid), a clear reference to LSD. In those years, psychedelia was very strong between the artists in Argentina. In the future, Charlie said that the LP definitely HAD something to do with LSD, because the songs spoke somehow about acid, about color fishes, about going to the sea and looking at the color fishes.
"Ha sido" ("Has been")... wasn't. The long play was never released, but some of the songs were included in other García's LPs, such as "Bubulina" (In 1976) and Eiti Leda (1978). In 1975, Sui Generis' members began with some conflicts. "Nito" Mestre wasn't enthusiastic about the new style and project, the new members weren't accepted by the public and Charlie was sick of Sui Generis' old style, what the fans and producers wanted.
Goodbye, Sui Generis
Finally, in September the 9th. in 1975, Sui Generis said goodbye, in the Luna Park Stadium, with two shows for 20 thousand people, the biggest in the history of Argentinean rock at that time. Charlie said many years after that, that before the show he was going around the stadium and was scared about the huge amount of people.
He was so nervous, he said, that on that car he smoked 24 joints (Yes, 24 cannabis's cigarettes). In the 70's, weed was "like a religious thing", he said about that some time ago. The shows were full of adrenaline, delirium and great music. Two LP's were released that year, registering the live shows: Adiós Sui Generis, volumes I and II (Goodbye Sui Generis).
In 1976, Sui Generis also recorded another long play, with León Gieco (another Argentinean musician), Raúl Porchetto (same as Gieco but in soft pop version) and María Rosa Yorio. The LP was called "Porsuigieco" (Mix of Raúl PORchetto, SUI Generis, León GIECO)
1976 The end of Sui Generis. The beginning of "La máquina"
Without Sui Generis, some things changed in Charly's life. From now on, he would be Charly instead of Charlie. He broke up with María Rosa Yorio, right after his son Miguel García was born. María Rosa left with Nito Mestre. Charly García met in this days Marisa Parendeiras, whose nickname was Zoca, a Brazilian woman that became his lover.
Charly's musical projects continued. This time, he wanted to make a band of symphonical rock. With Gustavo Bazterrica (guitar), Carlos Cutaia (keyboards), José Luis Fernández (bass and cello), Oscar Moro (drums) and Charly García (keyboards and voice) "La máquina de hacer pájaros" ("The bird making machine") was born. In Clarín, the most massive newspaper in Argentina, there was a comic called "El Sr. García y la máquina de hacer pájaros" ('Mr. García and the bird making machine'). Charly liked the name and that's why he chose it for the band, not because of his ego.
Their first long play was symphonical, complicated, strong, and great: La máquina de hacer pájaros (1976) is probably the best long play of symphonical rock in Argentina ever. It also had some dose of psychedelia. Anyway, the project was so ambitious and complicated that it wasn't possible for the band to be massive. The same thing happened the next year with their second, and last, LP: Películas ('Movies', 1977). This long play had a political message in some songs, against the military government of those years, whose president was Jorge Rafael Videla. Repression, disappearances and censorship were stronger than ever in those days. But the band never had a "boom". Smaller and smaller shows, and some anger between the members of the band, specially because of some shows in 1977 that were advertised as "Charly Garcia y la Máquina de Hacer Pájaros".
Finally, in that year, the band said goodbye during the "Festival del amor" ('Love festival'), recorded in the LP Música del alma ('Music from the soul') released three years later. After that, Charly went to a hotel with Zoca, and they decided to escape to Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Sao Paulo. The birth of a new sound: Serú Girán
In Sao Paulo, Charly met with Zoca's parents. Being a family of artist, the Parendeiras were fascinated with Charly. Artistically speaking, García received influences of some brazilian artists, specially Milton Nascimento.
In spite of the commercial successes of Sui Generis, Charly was broke. In 1978, he lived with Zoca in Brazil, and their lives were really natural: they fished, collected fruits. Some time after that, David Lebón, an Argentinian musician who was a friend of Sui Generis, joined them. Now Charly had a musical partner, so in those days, they played some songs. This new musical society became a seed of a new musical project. Charly was now convinced of making a new band. But he had no money. So, he made his way back to Buenos Aires and began a new search.
He needed a bass player and a drums player. He found both when he saw a show of a band called Pastoral: a young talented bass player, Pedro Aznar, who was only 19 years old, and his old partner from "La Máquina de Hacer Pájaros", drummer Oscar Moro.
And so the band would be: Charly García, keyboards and voice (also songwriting), David Lebón, guitar and voice (also songwriting), Pedro Aznar, bass, and Oscar Moro, drums.
The band was now complete, but Charly had no money. So, he signed a (really bad) contract with a producer group and raised enough money to go back to Sao Paulo with the new members and record their first disc. Serú Girán was the name chosen for the band, meaningless words invented by Charly when he was in Sao Paulo, part of an invented song with meaningless words named... Serú Girán. The rest of the members liked it so much the name, that their first long play would be called Serú Girán, including the song Serú Girán, by Serú Girán.
When the band returned to Buenos Aires, there were big expectations about the new García's project. Their first show, in a traditional stadium, Obras Sanitarias, was again advertised as "Charly García... and Serú Girán". This time, Charly had learned the lesson, so from now on, there wasn't any Charly García... only Serú Girán.
But that show was a disaster. The public awaited a new Sui Generis version. But Serú Girán was completely different. A new sound, bass was really important, esthethic was more important. The lyrics were full of poetry. The people began asking for Sui Generis's old songs... In 1978, disco music was on fashion in Argentina. Well, as a joke, Serú Girán played a song called Disco Shock. Now the public was really angry. They hated the show.
Next day, the "specialized" press said about Serú Girán: "It's the worth band in Argentina. Besides, David Lebón's voice sounds homosexual when singing their songs" (???)
The relationship with the media was really bad. There's a famous magazine in Argentina called Gente ('People') which is of course a copy of People (magazine). But it's content is just crap, with half naked women, silly interviews and nothing else. In a magazine, the title was "Charly García: ¿Ídolo o qué?" (Idol or what?) and it said a whole bunch of bad things against García.
But Serú Girán's members were convinced their project was good. So they insisted. They organized new shows. Finally, they got some acceptance from the audience that began to like their style.
1979 began and Serú Girán wouldn't stop. In fact, they made great changes. Their new LP was called La grasa de las capitales ('Grease of the Metropolises') and it's cover was a direct joke against the magazine Gente. Now the lyrics were direct, strong, criticizing the media, the magazines (specially "Gente"), the fashion music, the radios... Because of that, they almost go to jail... This time the public liked it really much. The shows were better and better in bigger and bigger places... The "specialized" press changed it's mind and the romance of Serú Girán with the people had just began...
1980: The "Argentinian Beatles"
In 1980, there were big expectations about Serú Girán's new long play. It would be called Bicicleta ('Bicycle'), the name that Charly liked for the band, but that was finally rejected for the other members.
Here, the band sounded really mature, the music was nice, modern, strong but with great melodies. The bass was an essential member again, and now Pedro Aznar's work began to be taken into account.
In 1979, Charly was near to go to jail because the lyrics were clear and "too direct". He wouldn't make that mistake again. However, the political message was even stronger, but hidden, in order to avoid censorship, ready to be heard by the ears that wanted to. Canción de Alicia en el país ('Song of Alice in the (Wonder)Land), a freaky comparison between the Lewis Caroll's story and the Argentinian military government. Encuentro con el diablo ('Meeting with the Devil') is a reference to the meeting between the band with Eduardo Harguindeguy, secretly called "Devil", a military that was the Security Minister in those years, who organized talks with some artist, telling them "Chill down or leave". Because of this policy, many artist left Argentina in those years.
The commercial success was huge, the shows were amazing and the music was the best Charly did ever. The band began to be called "The Argentinian Beatles", and Charly began to be recognized as a great artist. Serú Girán was the first massive rock band for the rich ones and the poor ones. Rock left it's marginal historical position.
Some months ago, in an interview, David Lebón said: "Actually we were much more like Procul Harum than the Beatles, a legendary band: a rocker "viola" player (Lebón), a classical pianist (García) an infernal percussionist (Moro) and a virtuous bass player (Aznar)".
There was also another "rock star" in Argentina in those years: Luis Alberto Spinetta, who began with is first band, Almendra (one of the firsts of Argentinian rock) before Sui Generis, and now had a band called Spinetta Jade. His style was different, darker, more complicated, harder to understand. Probably because of that, he was a star but not so massive as Charly, and they were pointed like enemies.
Luis and Charly finished with that myth the 09/13/1980, when both bands, Serú Girán and Spinetta Jade, participated playing together of one of the greatest shows in the history of Argentinian rock.
Everybody loved Serú Girán, but there was a journalist named Patricia Perea, who worked in a magazine called El Expreso Imaginario ('Imaginary Express') who disliked them, and criticized them strongly after they played in the city of Córdoba, the place she was from.
Serú Girán took revenge from Ms. Perea through their fourth LP: Peperina, directed to her, with a song called Peperina too, which spoke about this woman. In Córdoba, the Argentinian typical infusion yerba mate, is mixed with another infusion called "menta peperina" (similar to peppermint), also used to prepare teas. Peperina is a fantastic album, the melodies are great, the performance of Aznar is superb, the songs are poetical and critical specially with high society. Maybe Peperina is the summary of Serú Girán.
There's in Peperina a song called Llorando en el espejo ('Crying in the mirror'). There's a phrase here that says "La línea blanca se terminó/no hay señales en tus ojos y estoy/llorando en el espejo..." (The white line has finished/there aren't any signs on your eyes and I'm/crying in the mirror...). The sad melody, the tears, the mirror, an that "white line", would make a perfect picture of cocaine addiction. In that moment, that phrase wasn't taken much into account.
The political message was also strong in Peperina: "José Mercado" (Joseph Market) was a clear reference to José Martínez de Hoz, the economy minister. The song said: "José Mercado compra todo importado (...) / José es licenciado en economía, pasa la vida comprando porquerías", which means "Joseph market buys all imported products (...) Joseph is licensed in economy, he spends his life buying crap", referring to the liberalism policy of Argentina in those years, and the huge amount of imported (and in most cases bad) products that were sold in those years.
Probably 1981 was the best year for the band in live scenarios. In 2000, a Serú Girán fan found some tapes of a show in the Teatro Coliseo, in December of 1981, and took them to Serú Girán drummer Oscar Moro, who was charged with "cleaning them", for the CD edited on 2000, Yo no quiero volverme tan loco ('I don't want to go that crazy').
In the beggining of 1982 Pedro Aznar received an offer he couldn't say no to. One of his favorite musicians, Pat Metheny, invited Pedro to join his band. Aznar couldn't say no, so he decided to leave Serú Girán.
That year, in March, Serú came back to Obras Sanitarias, and made a great show that was recorded and edited that year as "No llores por mí, Argentina" (Don't cry for me, Argentina).
At first, the band thought that maybe, David Lebón could have a double function, guitar and bass. But both David and Charly had some "musical taste" differences, and without Pedro it wasn't the same. Besides, they were mature enough to begin their own careers. That was the end of Serú Girán (for now).
Goodbye Serú Girán. Hello Charly García
The politics in Argentina were changing in 1982. After Malvinas war (in the Falkland Islands) in June, social chaos erupted and the military government lost much of its power. In fact, they were on leave. The kidnapping of people had stopped and the censorship had weakened.
Charly García's debut as a solo was with a double LP: Pubis Angelical ('Angelical Pubis'), the soundtrack of the movie with that name, fully instrumental, and the powerful Yendo de la cama al living ('Going from the bed to the living room'). Four of the songs of this album became historical hits: "No bombardeen Buenos Aires" (Do not bomb Buenos Aires), showing the panic lived in the city during the Falkland's war and criticizing strongly the army, specially the President, a drunk man named Leopoldo Galtieri. Yendo de la cama al living, speaking about being trapped in a close place, of course as a symbol of the repression of ideas; Inconsciente colectivo ('Colective unconscious'), a message of hope for the stricken Argentinian people; Yo no quiero volverme tan loco ('I don't want to go that crazy') a beautiful song that speaks about the adolescent spirit of freedom and rebelliousness.
The LP's presentation took place in the Ferrocarril Oeste Stadium (or just Ferro), in December, with a scenery simulating Buenos Aires, destroyed by fireworks near the end of the show while No bombardeen Buenos Aires was finishing.
In 1983, Charly left Buenos Aires with a little suitcase and came back from New York with a great LP. Clics Modernos ('Modern Clix') was different than any other thing done in Argentinian rock: it was rock music you could dance, music you could also sing, but with strong messages, speaking about the past years: Exodus in Plateado sobre plateado (huellas en el mar ('Blonde on Blonde, Footprints on the Sea), repression in Nos siguen pegando abajo (They keep hitting us down there), and the nostalgic but challenging memory of the ones who were kidnapped or killed in Los dinosaurios ('The Dinosaurs').
Democracy arrived on December the 10th. and Argentinian history changed forever.
1984 was a year full of great shows, and during the last months, the recording of another album. García also recorded a LP called Terapia intensiva ('Intensive cares'), soundtrack of a movie.
Piano Bar was released in 1984, completing García's golden trilogy. Taken by the hand of cocaine, García's personality was changing: more violent, unpleasant, sometimes childish. This new García also changed his music... Even if Piano Bar had great songs, the calm of the Sui Generis's days had changed into a cocainic fury. Demoliendo hoteles ('Demolishing Hotels') shows that anger, and the name comes from a hotel room that Charly destroyed completely because he didn't like the decoration. Besides, it's a discharge after so many years of not saying what you think.
In this years, García had in his band to many of the future argentinian music stars, like Andrés Calamaro, Fito Páez, Pablo Guyot, Willy Iturri, Alfredo Toth or Fabiana Cantilo.
1985-1989 Still a "normal" rock star
After the success of Piano Bar, which was García's consecration as a solist, 1985 was a year to slow down. Charly met again with Pedro Aznar, in New York by chance, but they took advantage of this meeting and recorded Tango, which was a calm stage for García after his anger days. The disc had some interesting material, but it wasn't commercially successful, primarily since it had little diffusion.
In 1987, García came back with Parte de la Religión ('Part of the Religion'), a very interesting LP, full of hits. Two of them, No voy en tren ('I don't go by train') and Necesito tu amor ('I need your love') are the perfect symbol of García's dichotomies: the first one says No necesito a nadie a nadie alrededor ('I don't need anybody around me'), and the second one Yo necesito tu amor/tu amor me salva y me sirve ('I need your love/your love saves me and is useful to me'). In this LP there's also a song, Rezo por vos ('I pray for you'), which was part of a project with Luis Alberto Spinetta that was never finished.
His personal life was changing, after ten years with Zoca, Charly's behavior with other women complicated the things with her: they were still together, but things weren't the same now.
1988 was a strange year, Charly had his actoral debut at the age of 36 in the movie Lo que vendrá ('What will come next'), acting as a nurse. Being a nurse was one of García's obsessions. He also composed the soundtrack for that movie.
Then, in that same year, the Amnesty International festival finished in Buenos Aires. Starring international and local rock stars, Peter Gabriel, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Charly García and León Gieco were there. Before the show began, Charly was really nervous, sitting and standing up of a chair. Peter Gabriel was surprised, and Bruce looked at him in a bad way. Charly stood in front of Bruce and told him almost yelling: "Here, in Argentina, I'm the boss". The situation was tense, Springsteen was angry, and Sting forced Charly to sit down and began to massage him.
Years later, Sting would be asked about Charly García: "Charly? A whole character... In that show, Charly was in a lamentable condition: he was nervous and he could hardly sing... He was already star, and he received applauses anyway..."
In 1989, Charly released a new disc, Cómo conseguir chicas ('How to get girls'). This one would probably be his last "normal" disc. He described it as "Just a bunch of songs that were never edited because of different reasons".
A long time ago, Charly's father had told him, "Never write an anagram for someone if you don't want him or her to be pissed off". During the Serú Girán years, his friend David Lebón told him something similar: "Do not write a song for a woman if you love her, because she'll leave you". The LP includes a song, "Shisyastawuman" (or 'She is just a woman' in correct English), the first song García recorded in English, that was written to a woman, who left him after reading the song, just like Lebón had said... And what's more, there's a song named Zocacola, that Charly dedicated to Zoca, included in this LP as well. A couple of months after the disc was released, Zoca left him...
García was now really changed. Physically, he looked older. His music was full of darkness, and the old symphonical García from "La Máquina de Hacer Pájaros" left forever: now, Charly was near the punk rock, with violent songs as No toquen ('Do Not Touch'), or with a depressive and dark style as shown in No me verás en el subte ('You Won't See Me in the Subway). Different and conflictive times were coming...
For the international tour in 1989/1990, García formed a new band, with Hilda Lizarazu, responsible of being a support voice for Charly. He called her "the First Lady", but once, in a show in Bolivia García spitted Hilda, who hided her tears during the show, but quit the band after it.
1990-1993 The excess's days
In 1990, Charly was full of ideas and without a band. Now, another important member of it, Fabián "Zorrito" Von Quintiero had left to another band, Los ratones paraoicos ('The Paranoid Mouses), Hilda Lizarazu and Carlos García López began with a band called Man Ray and he was alone.
For his new disc, Filosofía barata y zapatos de goma ('Cheap Philosophy and Gum Shoes') he called many of his old friends who helped him recording most of the songs. Andrés Calamaro, Rinaldo Rafanelli, Fabiana Cantilo, "Nito" Mestre, Pedro Aznar, Fabián Von Quintiero and even Hilda Lizarazu among others.
The first issue came with the disc release. The last song was a rock version of the Himno Nacional Argentino, the argentinian national anthem. There was a controversy about the version, and it was forbidden for some days, but García finally won: a judge authorized his version. And many people liked it, because it was seen as a fresh, sincere, strong and also respectful version of the old song.
Without Zoca, Charly's social life was different. By using cocaine and other narcotics, he stood days and days without getting any sleep, looking for the precious "estado alfa" ('Alpha Condition'), the way he called the ideal inspiration moment for writing songs. He played every night in night clubs till the next morning, he drunk a lot of whisky and his friends began to worry about him. He has described his situation: "Creatively, I was great, better than ever. But my mind and body weren't synchronized, my body was taking a different directions".
In that same year, the Government of Buenos Aires organized "Mi Buenos Aires Rock" (My B.A. rock), a public rock festival organized in the Avenue 9 de Julio, the most famous in the city, Even if all the artist were intended to play for half'n hour, Charly played for more than two hours, closing the festival with his version of the national song, for one hundred thousand people.
Those strong days had to finished some day, and that happened in June of 1991. Evidently Charly was feeling badly, and he was convinced of something that was clear for everybody: he needed to rest. That's why he went to a farm, owned by the evangelist preacher Carlos Novellis. Charly was inside for some weeks, but when he discovered that the place actually was a drug's rehab clinic, he decided to leave, having a big argument with Novellis.
While he stayed in the farm, he was only allowed to visit his friend Pedro Aznar. From those days, a new disc appeared: Tango 4, illustrated with the drawings that García made while he was in the farm.
After that experience, Zoca came back. In 1991, the brazilian woman became Charly's personal nurse, but not for too long. Before the end of the year, she got completely tired of García's behaviour and left him forever.
In December, Charly came back to Ferro, the stadium where he had presented Yendo de la cama al living in 1982, after nine years. This time he arrived the stadium getting out of an "ambulance", assisted by some "doctors". Besides, his band was re-baptized as "The nurses". That was the way Charly had chose to mock about his "health problems". In that show, García was really fat, a surprising fact being him always really thin. Of course, the farm hadn't help him at all, they just took some money from him and got him fatter. His voice wasn't the same, but he was still there.
In December 1992, Charly faced his past and surprisingly joined again Serú Girán: ten years later, Charly García, David Lebón, Pedro Aznar and Oscar Moro were back. A new disc was recorded, Serú 92, a great commercial success, but musically speaking was really far from the other Serú Girán's discs.
Serú Girán presented in two huge shows in the River Plate Stadium, the biggest of Buenos Aires. Serú Girán was always great live, the four members always sounded perfect. This time, in Moro's words, "the show sounded like Charly García and Serú Girán". Charly's demons were replacing Charly the artist. In the second show, Charly mocked so much of Lebón, that David felt really bad and left the scenario. Aznar followed him and convinced him to come back to finish the show. Evidently, things weren't the same. After that image, the dream of new era of Serú Girán almost disappeared for everyone. Of course, the Serú Girán's meeting was just a meeting.
"Of course it was for the money, what did you think?" commented García some time after the shows.
In January 1993, Charly was again in his angry and dangerous days, taking some vacations in Punta del Este, Uruguay, a very exclusive beach. A journalist asked him if he was afraid of living like that, "No. I like it. It's part of the religion", answered García. After many scandals, as calling the press to show how he could spend quickly enormous amounts of money, fighting journalists, fans and cops ("He confused me with "Nito" Mestre!", justified himself) and some other things, he became a "non-welcome person" in Punta del Este, and had to come back.
During that year, García's friends saw him in a really bad condition, so, his mother Carmen, was convinced to sign an authorization that forced Charly to be locked up in a clinic, in order to get over his addictions. But finally, the idea didn't work as expected: Charly escaped just some days after he got inside, and he got really mad with his mother; even today, they don't speak with each other because of that episode. Charly was free again to continue with his self-destructing life.
1994-1999 The Say no More era
After not releasing any new solo material since 1990, in 1994 García was ready to strike back. The new project was called La hija de "La Lágrima" ('«The Tear»'s Daughter'). It was a conceptual project, confusing, strange and with a strong repetition: the mercury tear, that also appears in the cover of the album. Rumors said that Charly had "made some experiments" by injecting mercury into himself. Well, officially, he spoke about "a fantasy of mine, in which there was a whole underground society that worshiped the mercury tear".
Buenos Aires was filled with street propaganda: "The genius has come back". But in fact, this Charly was only a shadow of the one he used to be. This LP would be an introduction to the future concept of "Say no more".
During this year, Kurt Cobain, the leader of Nirvana, ended tragically with his own life, and became a hero for his former fans. García was one of them, so his natural brown hair turned into blonde.
Also during 1994, the Soccer World Cup was being played in the USA. In the 1994 World Cup, which soccer player Diego Armando Maradona arrived with overweight problems, he was sent home after failing a drug test for ephedrine doping. Regarding the dispute, he states he had an agreement, that FIFA finally broke, of letting him use the drug to lose weight before the competition in order to be able to play, so that the World Cup wouldn't lose prestige because of his absence.
After Diego was sent home, Argentina lost against Bulgaria by 0-2, and then knocked out from the competition after losing again with Romania by 2-3. During this match, when Argentina was already down on the game was about to end, Charly called Diego to his cell phone, and sang to him "live" the Maradona's Blues, a song he composed for him. Diego cried when he heard "Un accidente no es pecado/y no es pecado estar así" ('An accident is not a sin/And is not a sin to feel like this'), and a friendship between them was born.
However, this friendship would be threatened a couple of years later. In 1996, Maradona became the image of a nasty, corrupt and totally childish anti-drug campaign of the argentinian government (leaded by Carlos Saúl Menem) whose slogan was "Sol Sin Drogas", which means "Sun without drugs". During a concert, Charly mocked about it saying "Have you heard something about the campaign 'Drugs Without Sun'? Yeah, I bet 'Drugs Without Sun" is a whole lot better than 'Sun Without Drugs'". Because of that remark, he had to visit a judge a couple of times, accused of "drug's apology". Finally he was acquitted.
1995 was again a musical year. The edition of "Casandra Lange", a LP which included those songs that Charly heard mainly when he was an adolescent, like "Sympathy for the devil" (Mick Jagger-Keith Richards) or "There's a place" (John Lennon-Paul Mc Cartney). All the songs of this album are in English, except for one, "Te recuerdo invierno" ("I remember you, winter"), written by García in the early 70's, but never recorded with Sui Generis (musicians)|. In may, Charly recorded "Hello! MTV Unplugged". Probably this was the last time that the rock star played his music in his full potential.
"Say no more" arrived in 1996. Charly's life was really twisted: drugs, arguments with old friends, and some public scandals. "Say no more" was a new concept for García: "Say no more would be in music what painting directly on the canvas would be for a painter", he explained. He also said that the LP "will only be understood in 20 years". Some sparks of the genius were showed, but the old fans of Charly didn't like it much in the beggining. Nowadays, it is considered the masterpiece of García, and "Say no more" is the classic slogan to identify Charly García and all his music.
During 1997, García recorded with Mercedes Sosa, probably the best argentinian folk music singer, "Alta Fidelidad" ("High Fidelity"). Charly and Mercedes knew since García was a little kid, so they decided to edit a shared disc, were Mercedes would sing her favourite García's songs of all times.
In 1998, "El aguante" was released. El aguante is in Spanish (and mainly in Argentina) the noun for "holding on". This production had plenty of covers translated to spanish by García, like "Tin Soldier" (Small Faces), or "Roll over Beethoven" (Chuck Berry). But probably the best of the songs included was "A whiter shade of pale", originally released by Procol Harum, a band that Charly had always admired. But some days before the release date, "Con su blanca palidez" ("With its whiter shade of pale", actually) was deleted from "El aguante". Apparently, the Procul Harum's former members did not authorize García's verion because of it had some slight reference to cocaine. The new version said: "(..)yo soy una cajita / con un polvo ya lo ves / todo parece ir conexo / con su blanca palidez(...)", which means "I'm just a tiny box / with a dust, as you see / everything seems to be connected / with its whiter shade of pale".
In February 1999, García was again in everybody's words after his big concert, in the end of the free-public-rock festival "Buenos Aires Vivo III" (BA Live III),in which he played in a huge concert for 250.000 fans who assisted to one of the biggest concerts in Argentina ever. But in July 1999, Charly got many enemies in one single day. How? By visiting the most hated man in Argentina: that moment's president, Mr. Carlos Saúl Menem. The politician invited the artist to the "Casa Rosada" (the argentinian White House). Fascinated, Charly agreed and made some sort of private concert there, everybody could see him on TV very happy, playing with the securtiy cameras, trying to teach te president how to play de piano... Well, finally García and Menem had some sort of friendship. And a limited edition of a disc that registered the famous concert, "Charly & Charly", was released in that year.
Discography
Sui Generis
- 1972 - Vida ('Life')
- 1973 - Confesiones De Invierno ('Winter Confessions')
- 1974 - Pequeñas anécdotas sobre las instituciones ('Little Anecdotes about the Institutions')
- 1975 - Adiós Sui Generis I & II (live) ('Good Bye Sui Generis, Volumes 1 and 2')
- 1993 - Adiós Sui Generis III (live from 1975) ('Good Bye Sui Generis, Volume 3')
- 2000 - Sinfonías para adolescentes ('Symphonies for Teenagers')
- 2001 - ¡Si! Detrás de las paredes (live) ('B [the musical note]! Behind the Walls')
Porsuigieco
- 1976 - Porsuigieco
La Máquina de Hacer Pájaros
- 1976 - La máquina de hacer pájaros ('The Bird Making Machine')
- 1977 - Películas ('Movies')
Serú Girán
- 1978 - Serú Giran
- 1979 - La grasa de las capitales ('Grease of the Metropolises')
- 1980 - Bicicleta ('Bycicle')
- 1981 - Peperina
- 1982 - No llores por mí, Argentina ('Don't Cry For Me, Argentina')
- 1992 - Serú 92
- 1993 - Vivo I (live); Vivo II (live)
- 2000 - Yo no quiero volverme tan loco (live from 1981) ('I Don't Want To Go That Crazy')
Solo
- 1980 - Música del alma ('Music from the Soul')
- 1982 - Pubis angelical/Yendo de la cama al living ('Angelical Pubis / Going from the Bed to the Living Room')
- 1983 - Clics modernos ('Modern Clix')
- 1984 - Piano bar; Terapia intensiva ('Intensive cares') (soundtrack)
- 1985 - Tango (feturing Pedro Aznar)
- 1987 - Parte de la religión ('Part of the Religion')
- 1988 - Lo que vendrá (soundtrack) ('What Will Come')
- 1989 - Cómo conseguir chicas ('How To Get Girls')
- 1990 - Filosofía barata y zapatos de goma ('Cheap Philosophy and Gum Shoes')
- 1991 - Tango 4 (featuring Pedro Aznar)
- 1994 - La hija de La Lágrima ('The Daughter of «The Tear»')
- 1995 - Cassandra Lange/Estaba en llamas cuando me acosté ('Cassandra Lange/I Was On Fire When I Went to Bed'); Hello! (MTV Unplugged)
- 1996 - Say No More
- 1997 - Alta Fidelidad (with Mercedes Sosa) ('High Fidelity')
- 1998 - El aguante ('The «Holding On»')
- 1999 - Demasiado ego ('Too Much Ego') (live); Charly & Charly en Olivos (live, limited edition).
- 2002 - Influencia ('Influence')
- 2003 - Rock and roll yo ('Rock And Roll, Me')es:Charly García