It was expected news. At 55, Gustavo Cerati rests in peace. Four years in intensive care became a punishment, not only for his relatives, but for his faithful followers who between the uncertainty, the hope and the resignation were kept alert to any news event. The night of May 15, 2010 was a reunion of sensations between Gustavo and his Venezuelan fans. It was a melómana commune inserting itself in a great celebration, as supposes any rock concert, this time it was the consented Argentine who premiered live its fifth studio album Fuerza Natural (2009).
Venezuela was a special country for Cerati , the last land that welcomed him live. Here he showed in already existing stages and in other impromptu stages: Mata de Coco, Autocine del Cafetal, Teatro Teresa Carreño, Poliedro de Caracas, Terraza del Sambil, La Rinconada and the one that enjoyed the most for its pines, landscape and Soccer stadium of the Simón Bolívar University, the same place where he gave the ischemic stroke. Blunt show, reminiscent of the sound of the seventies, a sound-transcendental atmosphere. We had already seen the return and final farewell of Soda Stereo. We did not know it could be Cerati's last show. "Do not you have nothing else to do tonight?" , Gustavo said to the audience refused to leave. That memory dwells in those present of that last appearance of Cerati in life.
WITHOUT SODA AND LAS ROKEN
" It was not easy, " Gustavo confessed in 2004 during the sound test at the Sambil Shopping Center in Caracas when he appeared with his electronic project Roken . He was remembering the historic Soda Stereo concert in Mata de Coco along with Sentimiento Muerto in the late eighties. " We were not really known at the time ."
In his mind there were reminiscences of Cayayo Troconis , the late singer and guitarist of Sentimiento Muerto . " I remember the strong personality Cayayo had, he was irreverent and talented, " Gustavo told me prior to his show with Roken . He then worked with bassist, engineer and Venezuelan producer Héctor Castillo , Cayayo's partner in Dermis Tatú .
That afternoon I saw an uninhibited, curious Gustavo , open to musical knowledge, wanting to shed knowledge of his peers. In Roken was the center of media attraction, internally a rookie in the creative laboratories of electronics. His musicians Flavio Etcheto and Leandro Fresco had control of everything. " We are the three making music. It's pure musical fun ."
BETWEEN MEDIACTIC CANALS
The first time I came across Cerati was in the presentation of his official album as a soloist. Although in its stage Soda Stereo had published Amor Amarillo (1993), the album Bocanada (1999) supposed the entrance like soloist of the Argentine guitarist, composer and producer. The passage through experimental psychedelic rock to electronic flirting was very well applauded.
He went through Caracas in 2000 with an aura of personal maturity, dismembering all rockstar idea, product of his adolescence within one of the most important bands in the history of Latin American rock. " You have to see me taking a bus," Gustavo joked about the natural way to lead his life. Behind its artistic archetype and musical intelligentsia, Cerati was beginning to show humanity to the media.
At the end of the meeting with the journalists we were introduced and agreed to attend a private party in La Florida in an urbanization located east of Caracas, it was the birthday of the promoter Felix Allueva , president of the New Bands Foundation , Latin America. Cerati did not hesitate to appear in the evening. Introspective, natural, friendly, he was avid of the scene and its protagonists.
Take me lightly
Nostalgia is a human exercise to cherish pleasant memories with the purpose of posing in the magnificence of memories. Those who have gathered sensations through music, recognize in Gustavo Cerati the guilty moments of contemporary rock history to its greatest influence The name of Gustavo Cerati is embedded in two generations of music as one of the most creative Latin American artists of his generation And a fundamental pillar to understand the rock in Spanish of the last 30 years.
Along with Soda Stereo he released seven studio albums and four live albums; As soloist released five albums. Among his recordings in collaboration with Daniel Melero, he made Colores Santos . With the groupings Plan V and Leisure came to light two production with each one. In an interview, Cerati said: " Art gives you the possibility of lying, of imagining, of changing the schemes, I hope it will encourage me to much more than I encourage myself. , But with talent . That's what he always gave his followers.
A restless and prolific artist, Cerati knew how to control her movements on the boundaries between rock, pop and electronics. He was steadfast in these territories. His particular metaphorical style to write songs, gave him the ability to draw imaginary portraits that, motivated by the musical sensation he created, were part of his seal. The metaphorical element and the construction of phrases within diverse narrative contexts make Gustavo his lyrical t rademark , the Argentine masterfully learned to use them against the dogma that to do rock in Spanish is not well and forged his way.
Cerati represented the restlessness of a generation that was discovering its musical identity. An imposing guitarist raised from the bases of The Police to the psychedelia of Pink Floyd and the forcefulness of Led Zeppelin . He was a genius, a master of sound seduction and guilty of giving art and good taste to Latin American rock with his touch of sensuality. The aesthetics, the sound, the personality of a musician that began between the new wave to show its pop facets, psychedelic, experimental rockers, electronic and humanize the path in musical legacy, sometimes through the strength that developed like exempted guitarist In process, give the importance and character that contemporary Latin American music will thank you.
Grace for your songs!
