Les Luthiers, the group whose shadow you laughed at
The orchestra they made themselves, such as the saw, the water pipe, the tobophone, the “gom horn da testa” (a kind of trumpet mounted on a helmet) or the trumpet, has achieved its great goal from the outset: “Amaze the audience rdquor;. and delight in it His ruthless sense of cynicism and mockery, Especially from the most serious, such as the majesty of high culture or the Argentine personality itself. says Carlos Núñez Cortes, a historical member of the luthiers That, after “getting off the stage” in 2017, Published in Spain Luthier’s diary (Colterm Books).
A meticulous text based tour of 50 recording works by Les Luthiers, the abundant revelations (many humorous) about the interiors of this collection are unparalleled. group started in 1964, under the name I am musicianswhen its first ideologist was proposed by the late Gerardo Massana (grandson of Catalan immigrants), he ventured to make Parody Passion according to St. Matthew, by Bach, changing the words and setting a lax text. “Sacrilege! & rdquor ;, Núñez Cortes is still admired.
mockery of vanity
That’s how him Cant Laxaton, an irreverent number which they set about executing in the most unorthodox way. “The cantatas are accompanied by an organ or orchestra, and since we had none of that, we built the instruments with everyday items like hoses, balloons, reeds, mldr; which we tuned as best we could.” The arrogance and elitism of culture.
They were all musicians with an academic background and knowledge of both classical and folkloric catalogues, and this was displayed in their repertoire, which alternated between operatic and tango adaptations, Chacarrera Or a bossa nova, I included this “after hearing Vinicius de Moraes, Maria Cruz and Tokenho sing every night” in double shows in Mar del Plata and Punta del Este. They didn’t shrink even before avant-garde music: The Atlantic 3.1416 (Tragic Prelude), a piece consisting of “a series of frightful noises ending in a railway collapse” and that they have come to suggest “a parody of tangible music” (and Swiss composer Arthur Honegger).
A parody of the left
Núñez Cortés still gloated when remembering all those skits and events, including that one with a political background, unit valuea cartoon about the endless divisions of left-wing parties. “We ended it by singing six of us apart, with six different letters that converge with the word ‘unity,'” he conjures without suppressing laughter. Each group was smaller, but with a longer name & rdquo;. In other words, the Tango shaped piece He referred to “that terrible Oedipal thing which greedy greedy have with their little mother, he wonders. The formation which, like the others, they ascribe to the collective ‘alter ego’ called Johann Sebastian Mastropero.
Nor is Núñez Cortés shy about being remembered The disastrous debut of Les Luthiers in Barcelona, on the Poliorama stage, in 1974. “We were there for at least a month,” he says, “and nobody came: ten or twenty people at each show.” But the subsequent publication of their records in cassette form, which began to pass from hand to hand, has led them to fill venues such as Tivoli or Palau d’Esports since the 1980s.
Goodbye
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He left the group in 2017, to celebrate its 50th anniversary. “I was tired, I had lower back problems,” reveals the musician, who turned 80 in October. At that moment, he proposed to his comrades to announce a grand farewell party, at the Obelisk of Buenos Aires. “They looked at me with a face I will never forget, and I knew I was alone on that crusade. The last of the pioneers had already disappeared, Daniel Rabinowitz (2015), “Funnier, More Canteenflaze & rdquor; And after five years he died Marcus Mundstock “Man of the Scripts, the Red Carpet ”.
And Les Luthiers has kept going to this day, with Two historic in their ranks, Jorge Marona and Carlos Lopez Puccio. “I do not share the experience that they are doing now,” he admits, not willing to go any further. His old teammates now face a farewell tour that has already begun in Spain (in Madrid, from May 31 to June 25; later they will pass SevilleAnd NerjaAnd Barcelona And Sant Feliu de Guíxols), and obtained his approval to publish this book. After all, I’m still a luthier & rdquo;.
