SUI GENERIS Discography Vida (1972) Confesiones de invierno (1973) Pequeñas anécdotas sobre las instituciones (1974) Adiós Sui Géneris, Parte 1 (1975) (Live) Adiós Sui Géneris, Parte 2 (1975) (Live) Adiós Sui Géneris, Parte 3 (1975) (Live) (Inedit still 1995) Sinfonías para adolescentes (2000) Si (2000) (Live) Members featured in the album Vida (1972) CHARLY GARCÍA - Keyboard and vocals NITO MESTRE - Guitar, flute and vocals Guest Musicians: JORGE PINCHEVSKY - Violin ALEJANDRO MEDINA - Bass CLAUDIO GABIS - Guitar Members featured in the album Confesiones de invierno (1973) CHARLY GARCÍA - Keyboard and vocals NITO MESTRE - Guitar, flute and vocals Members featured in the album Pequeñas anécdotas sobre las instituciones (1974) CHARLY GARCÍA - Keyboard and vocals NITO MESTRE - Guitar, flute and vocals The history of this band, which became a classic, among many other things, due to their popularity, started in 1969. It was originally formed by CHARLIE GARCÍA (keyboards and vocals), |Nito Mestre| (guitar, traverse flute and vocals), ROLANDO FORTICH (bass), JUAN BELIA (guitar), ALBERTO RODRÍGUEZ (drums) y Carlos PIÉGARI (vocals). Charlie and Nito met on the third year of the secondary school. Both participated in small rock groups. Charlie, together with Rodríguez and Correa, were members of "To walk Spanish". Nito sang in "The century indignation". As a quintet, without the participation of Piégari, they played for the first time in the school Santa Rosa of Buenos Aires. After that performance, the group changed a lot until it became an acoustic duet. In 1970, they played in little underground theaters, such as la Galería Nexo. The same year they also performed in Channel 7, sponsored by Eduardo Falú. A short time later, they went to Mar del Plata where they played with |Litto Nebbia|. As from May 1971 they participated in a series of shows at the ABC, nowadays considered as the starting point of their successful career. They performed there for almost two months together with Roque Narvaja and Pedro and Pablo, with the participation of other musicians such as |Luis Alberto Spinetta|, Héctor Starc and Emilio Del Guercio, among others. Later they played seven times at the Olimpia theater, travelling in winter to a Mar del Plata, where they worked together with Marilina Ross and Gianfranco Pagliaro. After beeing rejected by many record companies, their manager Pierre Bayona got in touch with Jorge Álvarez, producer of Microfón record company. They played four songs for the audition with the record company. As a result, they signed a contract which let them release their first album. The album was called Vida. The first recordings were made at the end of 1972. The song "Amigo, vuelve a casa pronto" was the first song that the group recorded; with the participation of the violinist Jorge Pinchevsky, the bassist Alejandro Medina and the guitarist |Claudio Gabis|. The recording was finished in October. Then, the duet had two important shows. One, one again in the Olimpia Theater, together with |Raúl Porchetto|, and the other at the end of the year, in the third part of the B.A.Rock Festival. When they performed the song "Canción para mi muerte", they appeared in the movie "Hasta que se ponga el sol" by Aníbal Uset, first about the Argentine rock, filmed during that festival. As a preview of their debut album a single was made with the songs "Canción para mi muerte" and "Amigo, vuelve a casa pronto" .The official presentation of "Vida" had a great feedback, at the Opera Theatre of Buenos Aires in April of 1973. They continued performing as a duet until May, when Francisco "Paco" PRATTI (drums) and Alejandro CORREA (bass) joined the group. One month later they recorded the songs "Aprendizaje" and "Bienvenidos al tren", the first two tracks of their second album which was called "Confesiones de invierno" which was finished at the end of August. The musician who participated were |David Lebón| and León Gieco. The record came out in October . In the summer of 1974 they successfully performed in Córdoba, Mar del Plata, Punta del Este and Santa Fe. After the tours, Juan RODRÍGUEZ replaced Francisco Pratti in drums. After many months of rehearsal they started recording their third album. Its name was "Pequeñas anécdotas sobre las instituciones". This record had some problems with the censors who were against the artists . "Tango en segunda" replaced "Juan Represión" and "El tuerto y los ciegos" replaced "Botas locas". Some lyrics had to be modified, such is the case of "Instituciones", "Las increíbles aventuras del Sr. Tijeras" and "Para quien canto yo entonces". In such opportunity the musicians who participated were |David Lebón|, León Gieco and Jorge Pinchevsky. From then on, Charlie started experimenting with new instruments from the USA: a moog, a string synthesizer ARP and a Fender Rhodes Piano. This gave the record a more electric sound. At the same time the group participated with |Billy Bond|, |David Lebón|, |Espíritu| and |La Pesada| del Rock, in the new version of La Biblia by |Vox Dei|. After this presentation, the bass player Rinaldo RAFANELLI replaced Alejandro Correa. The songs of the new record were performed for the first time on December 13 at the Coliseo Theatre with all the 1.800 seats sold and with the participation of |David Lebón| in guitar and León Gieco in harmonica. The record was released three days later. It had sold 30 thousand copies in advance. During the summer of 1975, Charlie and Nito toured with |Porsuigieco|, short time group with María Rosa Yorio, |Raúl Porchetto| and León Gieco. They recorded a récord with them in February. Meanwhile Rafanelli and Rodríguez joined Lebón in an experience, which would later become the group |Polifemo|. At the end of the tour, Charlie, tired of fighting the censors brought up the idea of finishing the group to avoid an unnecessary wear. Another reason – according to Charlie – was the low demand from the public, unconditioned, towards the group. From that moment the band started rehearsing to play in a goodbye concert. On September 5th 1975 at the Luna Park Stadium in their two performances, before 30,000 people, Sui Generis said goodbye to the public. From the concert a movie was made. It was called, Adiós Sui Generis. It was directed by Bebe Kamin and supervised by Leopoldo Torre Nilson. It was shown for the first time at Cine Plaza on September 2 1976. The film was qualified by the National Cinematography Institution, ruled by Miguel Paulino Tato Mr Song’s Scissors -, as prohibited for minors under 18 years of age. Fianlly the group went on a little tour throughout the province of Buenos Aires. Those were the last performances of Sui Generis before they broke up. After the Luna Park shows, they thought of making a final studio album. It would be called " Ha sido". It was never released and the few recordings that were made were left unfinished. After many informal meetings, There was a formal one. It was on December 11 de 1981 en at the stadium of the club Defensores de Uruguay in Montevideo. Nito opened the show with his group. The duet performed more than 10 songs. The ending was in charge of |Seru Giran|. 16.000 people attended the show. They were planning a show in Chile, but it did not take place due to a banning by such government. Information: www.geocities.com/charlynito/suigeneris.html Another Non Official Site: www.geocities.com/SoHo/2457