Arco Iris (Spanish, 'rainbow') were a rock group from the late 1960s until the late 1970s in
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, influential in
Argentine rock
Argentine rock (known locally as ''rock nacional'' , "national rock" in the sense of "local", "not international") is rock music composed or performed by Argentine bands or artists mostly in Spanish.
Argentine rock began by recycling hits of Eng ...
history.
While tagged as an 'acoustic' Argentine rock band in the beginning, Arco Iris were pioneers (with Chilean band
Los Jaivas
Los Jaivas is a Chilean musical group who perform in folk, rock, psychedelic, and progressive rock styles formed in 1963 in Viña Del Mar, Chile. They are considered one of the most important and influential artists of all time in Latin America. ...
), infusing rock with regional folk music, as well as one of the first bands that projected their beliefs through their music and lifestyle (in their case around the art of
yoga
Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...
). In the late 70s Arco Iris – minus
Gustavo Santaolalla
Gustavo Alfredo Santaolalla (born 19 August 1951) is an Argentine musician, composer, and record producer. He is known for composing his film scores with his collaborator and acclaimed director Alejandro González Iñárritu, which composed the ...
– moved to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
to live in the mountains of
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, where they have been involved in the
jazz-rock
Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, ...
and
new-age music
New-age is a genre of music intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation technique, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management to bring about a state of ecs ...
scene.
Arco Iris founding member and frontman Gustavo Santaolalla would emerge, in the 1980s, as one of the artists and producers that aided the rise of
Rock en Español
Rock en español () is a term used widely in the English-speaking world to refer to any kind of rock music featuring Spanish vocals. Compared to English-speaking bands, very few acts reached worldwide success or between Spanish-speaking countrie ...
(with
Miguel Mateos
Miguel Ángel Mateos Sorrentino (born January 26, 1954) is an Argentine rock singer-songwriter from Villa Pueyrredón, Argentina. Outside Argentina he is considered one of the most important exponents of Rock en Español, specially in the 1980s ...
,
Charly Garcia
''Charly'' (marketed and stylized as ''CHAЯLY'') is a 1968 American drama film directed and produced by Ralph Nelson and written by Stirling Silliphant. It is based on ''Flowers for Algernon'', a science-fiction short story (1958) and subseque ...
, etc.) by promoting rock acts all over
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
.
History
The band's origins are traced to the late 1960s, when Santaolalla, Ara Tokatlián, and Guillermo Bodarampé recorded a three-song demo tape, and met producer Ricardo Kleinman (owner of the successful radio show ''Modart en la Noche'' ). Kleinman agreed to sign the group with the condition that they sing in
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
and drop the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
name "The Crows".
"Arco Iris" first released two singles: "Lo veo en tus ojos" and "Canción para una mujer" (no relation with the
Vox Dei song with the same name). Months later, they released a second disappointing single and met former model Danais Wynnycka (a.k.a. Dana), who became their "spiritual guide", and began to live communally with her. Their next single, "Blues de Dana" (obviously dedicated to Wynnicka), reflected changes in the music as well.
[Arco Iris](_blank)
Argentine Groups A
The single won the Mar del Plata Beat Music Festival. On the back of this major exposure coup for the band, Arco Iris released what basically amounted to two full-length albums in a short time: their self-titled debut album (''Arco Iris''; 1969), and ''Blues de Dana'' in 1970, a compilation of all pre-1969 singles and both for RCA. Both albums' sound owed mostly to pop sensibilities inherited from "música beat", the prevalent subgenre of Argentine rock at the time.
Horacio Gianello replaced Alberto Cascino at the drums, and in 1971 Arco Iris began releasing a series of singles. Eventually the band began working on their second album, which would be released in 1972 but now under the Music Hall Label. However, RCA also came out with a compilation of B-sides from the band, including some in the English language, creating some confusion even to this day about the order of the various releases.
Not confusing was the across-the-board success of the single "Mañana Campestre", which would be included in ''Tiempo de Resurrección'', which also indicated the group's increasing tendency towards folk-symphonic rock. However, Santaolalla was able to maintain rock at a shoestring's length thanks to his distinguished electric guitar style.
The group released still another record in 1972, ''Sudamérica o el Regreso à la Aurora'', and a double LP. It is generally considered the first rock-opera in Spanish. It represents the summit of the band in terms of orchestral achievement. The music offers a unique multi-influenced rock universe as few records anywhere, made of blues, folk, jazz, rock, and Latin, and it flows to be listened to as an entire piece. Even so, several of the singles can be enjoyed by themselves. It is hard to claim there is anything in rock music that approaches its sound, and for many it is a masterpiece of Argentine rock.
With Arco Iris one of the most critically acclaimed rock groups, ''Inti-Raymi'' was released in 1973. Following up the previous year was virtually an impossible task, yet this album while not superior was a worthy follow-up and continuing on the folklore-meets-electric guitar themes. But it also was tending more to a ''sophisti''rock style, which would be blown wide open in Arco Iris's 1974 ''Agitor Lucens V'', where Santaolalla and the rest of the band accurately predicted the symphonic and progressive direction Argentine rock would take.
If the album title sounds alien, it should be no surprise then that the theme of this extraordinary work 'orbits' around an alleged pre-Columbian contacts between the civilizations of the Americas and visitors from outer space. Without losing their earlier identity, the music was more symphonic with long progressive instrumental segments and heavier use of keyboards.
In 1975 the music from ''Agitor Lucens V'' was presented in
Paris, London, Rome and Buenos Aires with a ballet
directed by renowned Argentine choreographer Oscar Aráiz. The album's reception in music circles previewed Santaolalla's rise as one of the major rock and movie soundtrack producers of the late 20th century (eventually leading to Academy Award in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and Premios Gardel in
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
).
Santaolalla's departure and restart in the U.S.
But that year would also prove to be the end for
Gustavo Santaolalla
Gustavo Alfredo Santaolalla (born 19 August 1951) is an Argentine musician, composer, and record producer. He is known for composing his film scores with his collaborator and acclaimed director Alejandro González Iñárritu, which composed the ...
as frontman, he would leave to create a new band, Soluna. Following Santaolalla's departure, Arco Iris would recruit Ignacio Elisavetsky in guitar and Mario Cortes in keyboards.
In 1977 they released their latest LP album ''Los Elementales''. Without Santaolalla's exotic folk and electric influences, this album clearly has a different feel from previous Arco Iris records. It is much more of a jazz-rock work, and this would be the road the band would embark upon from that point on. The album was seen as a disappointment to those that were looking for the old Arco Iris sound, for it became a well received one among progressive rockers. It would also be the band's final 'classic' period release as well as the end of their career as a visible and "popular" musical group.
In 1978, the members of Arco Iris left for the United States, to live in a cabin in the western US state of California. There they shifted their career to one of jazz, and also new-age music. In that vein the band has made several albums, including 1980's ''Cóndor'' and 1981's ''Faisán azul'' which was released in Argentina in 1986. But they also have worked alongside musicians such as
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he help ...
,
Lalo Schifrin
Boris Claudio "Lalo" Schifrin (born June 21, 1932) is an Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger and conductor. He is best known for his large body of film and TV scores since the 1950s, incorporating jazz and Latin American musical elemen ...
and
Chester Thompson
Chester Cortez Thompson (born December 11, 1948) is an American drummer best known for his tenures with Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, Weather Report, Santana, the progressive rock band Genesis and Phil Collins as a solo artist. Thomp ...
, among others, as a supporting group.
Ara and Danais continued to make music and release albums beyond 1981, including ''Peace pipes'', ''In Memoriam'' and ''Peace Will Save the Rainbow'', all in English. Danais (or Dana), died in 2003.
Meanwhile, Gustavo Santaolalla kicked off his solo career in 1982 with his debut album ''Santaolalla'', which once again proved he was ahead of the curve. The album featured a sound that was far more lively, rocking, and frivolous, which predicted the New Democracy Sound that would explode in 1983 and 1984 and eventually lead to the Argentine Invasion overseas.
Gustavo Santaolalla
www.rock.com.ar (Spanish)
In fact Santaolalla would help make "Rock En Español" massively popular beyond Argentina, and then go on to great things in Hollywood movie making in the United States music industry, as well as become one of the great producers of the current period. Which proves that Arco Iris is not only a historically significant group of the 1970s Argentine rock movement for what they did to the sound of Argentine rock, but considering that the members of Arco Iris went on to contribute in the musical development in many other nations, they also have laid a stake as one of the most important music groups from Argentina in the last 40 years.
Original members
*Gustavo Santaolalla
Gustavo Alfredo Santaolalla (born 19 August 1951) is an Argentine musician, composer, and record producer. He is known for composing his film scores with his collaborator and acclaimed director Alejandro González Iñárritu, which composed the ...
: guitar and vocals
*Guillermo Bordarampé: bass
*Ara Tokatlian: flute, saxophone, winds, keyboards
*Alberto Cascino: drums
*Danais Wynnycka: spiritual guide, vocals
Discography
;Studio albums
*''Arco Iris'' (1970)
*''Tiempo de resurrección'' (1972)
*''Sudamérica o el regreso a la aurora'' (1972)
*''Inti-Raymi'' (1973)
*''Agitor Lucens V'' (1974)
*''Los Elementales'' (1977)
*''Faisán azul'' (1983)
*''Peace Pipes'' (1988)
*''Peace Will Save the Rainbow'' (1996)
*''Arco Iris en vivo hoy'' (2001)
*''Desde el jardín'' (2012)
References
External links
Official site
Page and discography on Discogs.com
{{Authority control
Argentine rock music groups
Argentine progressive rock groups
Musical groups established in 1968