Mauricio "Moris" Birabent (born 19 November 1942) is an

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 ...

musician and pioneer of

Spanish-language rock Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a global language with more than 500 million native speakers, mainly in the Am ...

Biography

Mauricio Birabent was born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

in 1942. He took

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

lessons at age 12 and, in subsequent years, began frequenting local

piano bar A piano bar (also known as a piano lounge) consists of a piano or electronic keyboard played by a professional musician. Piano bars can be located in a cocktail lounge, bar, hotel lobby, office building lobby, restaurant, or on a cruise ship. Usu ...

s and

jazz club A jazz club is a venue where the primary entertainment is the performance of live jazz music, although some jazz clubs primarily focus on the study and/or promotion of jazz-music. Jazz clubs are usually a type of nightclub or bar, which is license ...

s. The son of an engineer, he enrolled at the Otto Krause Technical School. He maintained his musical interests, however, and, in 1965, began performing at ''La Cueva'', a

Balvanera Balvanera is a barrio or neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Origin of name and alternative names The official name, Balvanera, is the name of the ''parroquia'' (parish) centered around the church of ''Nuestra Señora de Balvanera'', erected ...

-neighborhood disco. Birabent relocated to seaside

Villa Gesell Villa Gesell is a seaside resort city in Villa Gesell Partido, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It was founded in 1931, with the intention of turning a dune field into a timber plantation.

in early 1966 and opened the Juan Sebastián Bar, where he formed '' Los Beatniks''.Grinberg, Miguel. ''Rock Superstar'': Moris. 1979. Los Beatniks obtained a

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

recording contract for their single, ''Rebelde'', within months of their formation. The release of the single coincided, however, with the overthrow of the moderate President

Arturo Illia Arturo Umberto Illia (; 4 August 1900 – 18 January 1983) was an Argentine politician and physician, who was President of Argentina from 12 October 1963, to 28 June 1966. He was a member of the centrist Radical Civic Union. Illia reached the ...

and his replacement with the repressive General

Juan Carlos Onganía Juan Carlos Onganía Carballo (; 17 March 1914 – 8 June 1995) was President of Argentina from 29 June 1966 to 8 June 1970. He rose to power as dictator after toppling the president Arturo Illia in a coup d'état self-named ''Revolución Argen ...

, who, upon learning that the album's insert contained shirtless photos of the band, had the release immediately banned, and the group soon disbanded. He continued composing and performing, and though he struggled, his single, ''Ayer nomás'' (''Only Yesterday'') was made into a local hit by

Los Gatos Los Gatos (, ; ) is an List of municipalities in California, incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population is 33,529 according to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is located in the San Franci ...

. With his wife, Inés, and two children to look after, however, Birabent signed on as a soloist with Mandioca Records in 1969, and the following year, released ''30 minutos de vida'' (''30 Minutes in the Life''). His second album, ''Ciudad de guitarras callejeras'' (''City of Street Guitars'', 1973) was a departure from his earlier,

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...

style, and drew more from the

Argentine tango Argentine tango is a musical genre and accompanying social dance originating at the end of the 19th century in the suburbs of Buenos Aires. It typically has a or rhythmic time signature, and two or three parts repeating in patterns such as AB ...

. The worsening political and economic climate in Argentina led Birabent to leave for

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in 1977. There, he recorded ''Fiebre de Vivir'' (''A Fever for Living''), whose 1979 release included his version of

Carl Perkins Carl Lee Perkins (April 9, 1932 – January 19, 1998)#nytimesobit, Pareles. was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rockabilly great and pioneer of rock and roll, he began his recording career at the Sun Studio, in Memphis, Tennes ...

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...

standard, ''

Blue Suede Shoes "Blue Suede Shoes" is a rock and roll standard written and first recorded by American singer, songwriter and guitarist Carl Perkins in 1955. It is considered one of the first rockabilly records, incorporating elements of blues, country and po ...

'', and his hit single, ''Sábado a la noche'' (''Saturday Night''). Its success prompted him to return for an April 1980 concert at Buenos Aires' Obras Stadium.''Página/12'' (11/10/1995) Birabent returned to Argentina for debut concerts for each of his subsequent albums, though his popularity gradually declined. He was joined in the band by his son,

Antonio Birabent Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

, in 1989 (the younger Birabent later entered acting, and became well known for his lead role as the villain in the thriller series, ''

Epitafios ''Epitafios'' ( en, Epitaphs) is a 2004 13-episode, Argentinian crime fiction TV mini-series with the tagline: ''El Final Está Escrito ... The End Is Written''. The series, which takes place in an unnamed South American city, was shot in Buenos ...

''). His 1995 release, ''Sur y después'' (''South, and then''), was notable for its being recorded in Buenos Aires and performed in the Cervantes Theatre with the Argentine National Symphony Orchestra.

Discography

*''30 Minutos de Vida'' (1970) *''Ciudad de Guitarras Callejeras'' (1973) *''Fiebre de Vivir (1979) *''Mundo Moderno''(1980) *''Las Obras de Moris''(1981) *''¿Dónde están las Canciones?'' (1982) *''Señor Rock, Presente'' (1985) *''Moris y Amigos ''(1987) *''Sur y Después (1995) *''Cintas Secretas'' (2005) *''Familia Canción'' (2011) - Recorded with

References

{{Authority control Argentine rock musicians Argentine rock singers 1942 births Living people 20th-century Argentine male singers Argentine male guitarists Musicians from Buenos Aires Singers from Buenos Aires Argentine expatriates in Spain Argentine people of French descent