Osvaldo Nicolás Ferraro Gutiérrez (7 September 1934 – 28 March 1977) better known as Waldo de los Ríos was an
Argentine
Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...
composer, conductor and arranger.
De los Ríos was born in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
into a musical family; his father was a musician and his mother a well known folk singer; he studied composition and arranging at the National Conservatory of Music under
Alberto Ginastera
Alberto Evaristo Ginastera (; April 11, 1916June 25, 1983) was an Argentine composer of classical music. He is considered to be one of the most important 20th-century classical music, 20th-century classical composers of the Americas.
Biography
G ...
, Teodoro Fuchs, and
Lita Spena. He was inspired by an eclectic range of music and formed a musical group called "The Waldos" which crossed folk music with electronic sounds. De los Ríos turned to work in cinema and film sound tracks where his compositions were heard in the 1967 film ''
Savage Pampas'', for which he received a prestigious award from the
Argentine Academy of Cinematography Arts and Sciences
The Argentine Academy of Cinematography Arts and Sciences () is an industry association in Argentina founded in 2004. Each year the Academy present the ''Premios Sur'' (South Prizes) for categories such as best fiction film, best director, best a ...
. He relocated to the US in 1958 and then to Spain in 1962.
He is best remembered for his ability to transform
European classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...
into
pop music
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...
. His 1971 arrangement of
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...
's ''
Symphony No. 40'', recorded with the Manuel de Falla orchestra, reached the top spot in the Dutch charts and scored a top 10 hit in several other European countries. (In the U.S. it peaked at #67 on the Billboard charts, released through United Artists Records.) In 1970, prior to this success, Waldo de los Ríos had already climbed the charts around Europe and America with
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...
's ''
Ode To Joy
"Ode to Joy" ( ) is an ode written in the summer of 1785 by the German poet, playwright, and historian Friedrich Schiller. It was published the following year in the Thalia (German magazine), German magazine ''Thalia''. In 1808, a slightly revi ...
'', which he arranged and conducted for
Miguel Ríos
Miguel Ríos Campaña (born 7 June 1944) is a Spanish singer and composer. He is one of the pioneers of rock and roll in Spain.
Biography
Ríos was born in La Cartuja, a neighborhood of Granada. The youngest of seven children, he went to wor ...
"Song of Joy".
His record ''Mozart in the Seventies'' rearranged famous Mozart pieces in a contemporary style, with a large percussion section. Several tracks from it were used as theme tunes to
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
programmes of that era, including the theme to the BBC's coverage of the ''
Horse of the Year Show
The Horse of the Year Show - also known as HOYS (pronounced /hois/)- was founded to be a culmination of the British equestrian events year. The Show was the idea of Captain Tony Collings and was realised by the then Chairman of BSJA (now Britis ...
'' (his reworking of Mozart's ''
A Musical Joke
''A Musical Joke'' () K. 522, (divertimento for two horns in F, and string quartet) is a composition by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; he entered it in his ' (''Catalogue of All My Works'') on 14 June 1787. Commentators have opined that the pie ...
''). His re-working of ''
Eine kleine Nachtmusik
(Serenade No. 13 for strings in G major), K. 525, is a 1787 composition for a chamber ensemble by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791). The German title means "a little night music" and is one of Mozart's most famous works. The serena ...
'', used for many years as the theme to the
Radio 4 quiz show ''
Brain of Britain
''Brain of Britain'' is a BBC radio general knowledge quiz, broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
History
It began as a slot in ''What Do You Know?'' in 1953. The main part of the show was the "Brain of Britain" quiz itself, originally called "Ask Me An ...
'', was the subject of frequent complaints from classical music fans (with whom the show was popular) and presenter
Robert Robinson described it on air as "Mozart plus sacrilege".
He also issued an album ''Symphonies for the Seventies'' which included Mozart's Symphony no. 40 and other major composers including
Dvořák's ''
New World
The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...
''. He arranged and conducted the Spanish entry for the
Eurovision Song Contest 1971
The Eurovision Song Contest 1971 was the 16th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Dublin, Ireland, following the country's victory at the with the song " All Kinds of Everything" by Dana. Organised by the European Broadcas ...
, "
En un mundo nuevo
"En un mundo nuevo" (; English: "In a New World") is a song recorded by Spanish singer Karina with music composed by and lyrics written by . It in the Eurovision Song Contest 1971 held in Dublin, placing second.
Karina recorded the song in Sp ...
" for
Karina. The song landed a respectable second position and hit the charts in several European countries.
He was married to actress turned journalist/author
Isabel Pisano
Isabel Pisano (Montevideo, 1948) is a Uruguayan actress, writer and journalist that has lived in several countries.
Biography
She has worked with several film directors from Argentina, Spain (''Bilbao (film), Bilbao'' by Bigas Luna) and Italy ( ...
(born in Montevideo, Uruguay, 1944). Pisano later documented part of his life in her autobiography ''El amado fantasma'' (Plaza y Janés, 2002).
A victim of an acute depression while working on "Don Juan Tenorio", De los Ríos committed suicide in
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
in 1977.
Los Waldos
Los Waldos were a folk group from Argentina based in Spain, formed by Waldo de los Rios. They played folk songs from Argentina with modern instruments, such as
electric guitars
Electric Guitars were an English band formed early in 1980 by Neil Davenport (vocals, lyrics) and Richard Hall (bass, vocals) who were both studying English at Bristol University. The band soon increased to a five-man line-up, with Andy Sander ...
,
electric bass
The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an electric but with a longer neck and scale leng ...
,
drums
The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...
,
piano
A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
and
synthesizer
A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...
s, sometimes accompanied by an orchestra. They started in the mid sixties and released various albums in Spain. The band was made up of five members:
* Waldo de los Rios (arranger, piano)
*
Cecar Gentili (keyboards)
*
Willy Rubio
Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to:
People Given name or nickname
* Willie Allen (basketball) (born 1949), American basketball player and ...
(guitars)
* Roberto Stella (drums)
*
Alberto Carbia (bass guitar)
They disbanded in the late sixties when Waldo started his solo career.
Discography
All his records were released under the Hispa-Vox Label. His first recordings were made with his folk group "Los Waldos". During late 60s and mid 70s he made several arrangements for many Spanish and international famous artists such as:
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...
,
Mari Trini,
Alberto Cortez,
Facundo Cabral,
Tony Landa,
Jeanette Dimech,
Miguel Ríos
Miguel Ríos Campaña (born 7 June 1944) is a Spanish singer and composer. He is one of the pioneers of rock and roll in Spain.
Biography
Ríos was born in La Cartuja, a neighborhood of Granada. The youngest of seven children, he went to wor ...
,
Los Pekenikes,
Maria Ostiz,
Karina,
Paloma San Basilio
Paloma Cecilia San Basilio Martínez (born 22 November 1950), known as Paloma San Basilio (), is a Spanish singer. She is a recipient of the Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for her valuable contributions to Latin music. She has sold ov ...
,
Los Payos, etc.
On his discography as soloist:
* "Los Waldos", 1965 (With "Los Waldos")
* "Waldo de los Rios en Europa", 1965 (With "Los Waldos")
* "España Electrodinámica Vol. 1", 1966
* "Folklore Dinámico", 1966 (With "Los Waldos")
* "España en 3era Dimensión" 1967
* "Suite SudAmericana - Argentina•Paraguay•Peru•Uruguay" 1968
* "Waldo en la TVE", 1968
* "El Sonido Mágico Vol. 1", 1969
* "El Sonido Mágico Vol. 2", 1970
* "Sinfonías", 1970
* "Mozartmania", 1971
* "Symphonies for the Seventies", 1971
* "Operas", 1973
* "Navidad Con Waldo de Los Rios" 1973
* "Sinfonías 2", 1974
* "Oberturas", 1974
* "Concierto Para La Guitarra Criolla", with
Ernesto Bitetti, 1974
* "Conciertos", 1976
* "Corales", 1977 (Postum Release)
Film work
*''
Alias Gardelito'' (''Alias Big Shot'') (1961)
*''
The Blonde from Buenos Aires'' (1961), with
Mamie Van Doren
Mamie Van Doren (; born Joan Lucille Olander; February 6, 1931) is an American actress, singer, and model. A Bombshell (slang), blonde bombshell, she is one of the "Three M's" along with Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield, who were friends and ...
* ''
Savage Pampas'' (1966), with
Robert Taylor
*''
La residencia
''The House That Screamed'' (, ''The Residence''), also released as ''The Finishing School'', is a 1969 Spanish slasher film written and directed by Narciso Ibáñez Serrador, and starring Lilli Palmer, Cristina Galbó, John Moulder-Brown, and M ...
'' (''The House That Screamed'') (1969), with
Lilli Palmer
Lilli Palmer (; born Lilli Marie Peiser; 24 May 1914 – 27 January 1986) was a German actress and writer. After beginning her career in British films in the 1930s, she would later transition to major Hollywood productions, earning a Golden Glob ...
*''
A Town Called Bastard
''A Town Called Bastard'' (also known as ''A Town Called Hell'' on DVD and Blu-ray) is a 1971 international co-production spaghetti Western. It was shot in Madrid with Robert Shaw, Telly Savalas, Stella Stevens and Martin Landau.
It was releas ...
'' (1971), with
Telly Savalas
Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas (; January 21, 1922 – January 22, 1994) was a Greek-American actor. Noted for his bald head and deep, resonant voice, he is perhaps best known for portraying Lt. Theo Kojak on the crime drama series '' Kojak'' (1973� ...
*''
Bad Man's River
''Bad Man's River'' ( and ) is a 1971 Italian/Spanish/French international co-production comedy Spaghetti Western directed by Eugenio Martín and starring Lee Van Cleef, James Mason, Gina Lollobrigida, Sergio Fantoni, Simón Andreu and Lon ...
'' (1971), with
James Mason
James Neville Mason (; 15 May 190927 July 1984) was an English actor. He achieved considerable success in British cinema before becoming a star in Hollywood. He was nominated for three Academy Awards, three Golden Globes (winning once) and two ...
,
Gina Lollobrigida
Luigia "Gina" Lollobrigida (4 July 1927 – 16 January 2023) was an Italian actress, model, photojournalist, and sculptor. She was one of the highest-profile European actresses of the 1950s and 1960s, a period in which she was an international ...
*''
Murders in the Rue Morgue
"The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe published in ''Graham's Magazine'' in 1841. It has been described as the first modern detective story; Poe referred to it as one of his "tales of ratiocination".
C. Auguste ...
'' (1971), with
Jason Robards
Jason Nelson Robards Jr. (July 26, 1922 – December 26, 2000) was an American actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he gained a reputation as an interpreter of the works of playwright Eugene O'Neill. Robards received numerous accola ...
,
Herbert Lom
Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchačevič ze Schluderpacheru (11 September 1917 – 27 September 2012), known professionally as Herbert Lom (), was a Czech-British actor with a career spanning over 60 years. His cool demeanour and precise, elegan ...
*''
The Corruption of Chris Miller'' (1973), with
Jean Seberg,
Barry Stokes
*''
Boquitas pintadas'' (1974)
*''
Who Can Kill a Child?'' (1976), with
Lewis Fiander,
Prunella Ransome
In popular culture
De Los Ríos's version of Schubert's
Unfinished Symphony No. 8 was used extensively in the series ''
The Smurfs
''The Smurfs'' (; ) is a Belgian comic franchise centered on a fictional colony of small, blue, humanoid creatures who live in mushroom-shaped houses in the forest. ''The Smurfs'' was created and introduced as a series of comic characters by ...
'' as the background music for
Gargamel
Gargamel is the main antagonist of the '' Smurfs'' show and comic books. He is a wizard and the sworn enemy of the Smurfs.
The character was originally meant to appear only once in a short story of the Smurfs. Since he was an established adv ...
, the series' lead villain.
On 10 March 2010 ''
The Rush Limbaugh Show
''The Rush Limbaugh Show'' was an American conservative talk radio show hosted by Rush Limbaugh. Since its nationally syndicated premiere in 1988, ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'' became the highest-rated talk radio show in the United States. At i ...
'' played an AM radio optimized mix of de los Ríos's version of
Symphony No. 40 in G Minor. The exposure propelled the song and the CD's popularity from No, 136,705 to No. 1 on
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc., doing business as Amazon, is an American multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevu ...
's rankings.
[Limbaugh, Rush (2010-03-11)]
El Rushbo: A One-Man Stimulus Package
. ''The Rush Limbaugh Show''. Retrieved 2010-03-11.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rios, Waldo de los
1934 births
1977 suicides
Musicians from Buenos Aires
Argentine composers
Suicides by firearm in Spain
Burials at La Chacarita Cemetery
20th-century Argentine conductors (music)
20th-century Argentine composers
1977 deaths