León Gieco

Raúl Alberto Antonio Gieco Better Known As León Gieco Born On November 20 1951 In A Farm Near Cañada Rosquín On Northern Santa Fe Argentina Is A Pop-Folk Music Composer And Interpreter. He Characterises For Mixing Popular Folkloric Genres With So-Called Argentine Rock And For Lyrics With Social And Political Connotations. Biography Gieco Started Working At The Early Age Of 8. With His Own Money He Bought A Guitar And Soon Started Playing At School At Patriotic Holiday Commemorations And With Los Nocheros Folkloric Music Group. He Also Played With A Rock Band Called Los Moscos That Soon Gained Some Popularity Within The Neighbouring Towns. They Played Songs Of The Beatles The Rolling Stones And Spencer Davis Group When They Won A Concourse To Play At Channel 5 Of Rosario In 1965. When He Was 18 He Went To Buenos Aires To Try His Luck. There He Became Acquainted With Litto Nebbia And Specially With Gustavo Santaolalla Who Fixed Him Some Chances To Play In Opening Acts For Better Known Musicians. He Got To Play With Different People Including David Lebón And In The Buenos Aires Rock Festival In 1971 1972 And 1973. That Year His First Album Was Released Recorded Independently With Santaolalla During The Previous Two Years. Its Main Song Was En El País De La Libertad "In The Country Of Freedom" And The Record Acquired Certain Recognition He Is Called "the Argentine Bob Dylan". A Year Later The Second LP La Banda De Los Caballos Cansados Followed The Same Style Of Trying To "understand The Destiny Of The Peoples The Reason Of Injustice" Entender El Destino De Los Pueblos El Por Qué De Las Injusticias . León Had A Series Of Concerts With A Stable Group Of Musicians As Well As Other Presentations With The Porsuigieco Supergroup Formed With Raúl Porchetto Charly García Nito Mestre And María Rosa Yorio. They Had A Relative Success And Released An Eponymous Record In 1976. At The Same Time He Continued To Play With His Other Group And Had A Contract For Two Shows But The Breakup Of The Band Forced Him To Make Those Shows All By Himself. The Audience Seemed To Like The One-Man Show And Gieco Decided To Continue His Path Alone. In 1976 He Released El Fantasma De Canterville. The Record Suffered A Great Deal Of Censorship From The Military Government He Had To Change The Lyrics Of Six Songs And Remove Other Three Altogether. Nevertheless The Record Was A Success And He Had Concerts Not Only Around Argentina But Also On Other Countries Of South America. Two Years Later He Edited IV LP With One Of His Most Famous Songs Sólo Le Pido A Dios "I Only Ask Of God" . Because Of The Political Situation In Argentina He Moved To Los Angeles For A Year. In 1981 He Had A Concert In Buenos Aires Alone On Stage With A Guitar Harmonic And Charango. He Then Released Pensar En Nada "To Think About Nothing" . That Same Year He Started A 3-Year 110 000-Kilometre-Long Series Of Independent Concerts All Over Argentina Playing For A Total Of 420 000 People. In 1985 He Went To Moscow For The 12th World Youth And Students' Festival Alongside Juan Carlos Baglietto And Litto Nebbia Representing Argentina. He Gathered Material From The Different Places He Visited In Argentina During The 1981-1983 Tour And Recorded In Buenos Aires With Various Autochthonous Musicians The First Volume Of De Ushuaia A La Quiaca "From Ushuaia To La Quiaca" In 1985. The Following De Ushuaia A La Quiaca 2 And De Ushuaia A La Quiaca 3 Where Recorded In A Mobile Studio In Different Locations Of The Country. He Had Concerts In Germany With Good Friend Mercedes Sosa And Upon His Return To Argentina He Had Another Tour Around The Country During 1986. In 1987 He Returned To Germany For Seven Concerts Including That Of Berlin's Political Song Festival. When He Returned He Performed For Free In Two Concerts For 40 000 Spectators At The National Flag Memorial In Rosario And For 35 000 In Buenos Aires. At Boca Juniors Stadium He Did A Concert With Pablo Milanés And Chico Buarque And Guest Musicians Mercedes Sosa Fito Páez Nito Mestre Juan Carlos Baglietto And Sixto Palavecino. At The End Of The Year He Went On A World Tour That Included Countries Such As Mexico Peru Brasil Sweden Germany And Denmark. Again In 1988 He Performed In Germany And Austria. Back In Argentina He Participated In The Final Concert Of The Amnesty International Tour At River Plate Stadium With Charly García Peter Gabriel Bruce Springsteen Sting And Others. After Eight Years Of Touring Semillas Del Corazón Of 1989 Marked His Return To The Studio. That Same Year He Performed At The Teatro Ópera In Buenos Aires With United States' Folk Legend Pete Seeger Material That Was Edited In The 1990 Concierto En Vivo. The Following Year Seeger Asked Him To Joint A Tour That Took Him To Washington Boston And New York City. There He Played With David Byrne Whom He Had Already Known In Buenos Aires Shortly Before. In 1992 He Played With Milton Nascimento Mercedes Sosa Os Paralamas Do Sucesso Gilberto Gil And Rubén Rada At The Inauguration Of The Latin American Parliament In São Paulo. He Also Released Mensajes Del Alma "Messages Of The Soul" . In 1994 He Edited Desenchufado "Unplugged" An Ironic Name Mocking The Popular MTV Unplugged Concerts With A Recompilation Of Old Songs. Even Though The 1997 Los Orozcos Had A Few Songs That Did Not Follow Gieco's Folkloric Past The Rest Of The Disc Had His Style And Many Guest Musicians Participated In The Recording Among Them Mercedes Sosa Ricardo Mollo Divididos Santaolalla And Ricardo Iorio. Also In 1997 He Participated In The 20 Year Memorial Concert For The Mothers Of The Plaza De Mayo With Bands Such As Divididos Las Pelotas La Renga Los Piojos And Attaque 77. Discography * León Gieco 1973 * La Banda De Los Caballos Cansados 1974 * El Fantasma De Canterville 1976 * IV LP 1978 * Siete Años 1980 * Pensar En Nada 1981 * Corazón Americano / El Gran Concierto 1985 * De Ushuaia A La Quiaca 1 1985 * De Ushuaia A La Quiaca 2 1985 * De Ushuaia A La Quiaca 3 1985 * Semillas Del Corazón 1989 * Ayer Y Hoy 1989 * Concierto En Vivo Con Pete Seeger 1990 * Mensajes Del Alma 1992 * Desenchufado 1994 * Orozco 1997 * En El País De La Libertad 1999 * De Ushuaia A La Quiaca 4 1999 * 40 Obras Fundamentales 2000 * Bandidos Rurales 2001 * Por Partida Doble 2001 * El Vivo De León 2003 * De Ushuaia A La Quiaca Re-Edition 2005 * Por Favor Perdón Y Gracias 2005 read less