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Uruguay is a small country located among the two geographic giants of South America: Brazil and Argentina. Separated from Argentina by British political manoeuvres in the XIX Century, Uruguay has developed in its 170 years of existence a personality slightly different from its bigger neighbour, due fundamentally to most of Spanish immigration rather than the clearly Italian-influenced Argentina.
In the sixties, in contrast to most of its neighbours, Uruguay breathed
a climate of total political freedom from the military dictatorships that razed the
continent with censorship and repression.
When the rock phenomenon -mainly through the Beatles- broke in Montevideo
(the capital city of Uruguay), a vernacular rock movement began to grow, sending its
achievements initially within its own country and then, logically, toward the rest of
South America.
By the middle of the 60s, what is known in Argentina as "the Uruguayan invasion" took place: youths were gratefully surprised by bands that sounded like The Beatles (Los Shakers) or The Rolling Stones (Los Mockers). The recording industry welcomed this new phenomenon and began to sign unknown groups, similar to what took place in London when the record companies recruited any band from Liverpool in the middle of the Merseybeat craze. The Uruguayan rock meant to Argentina good quality music.
When the bands stopped being a new novelty, many musicians that had arrived with those pioneers joined to local groups.
Meanwhile, the following flock of musicians formed a second generation of rock, no less naive but more prepared and structured.
Bands like Opus Alfa, Días de Blues, or Génesis, would surely have had much better luck having been born in a country with more inhabitants and another economic situation.
TV shows such as Discodromo Show (created and directed by Rubén Castillo) or Constelación (by Carlos Martins) helped to promote this music on radio and television, allowing its development and expansion despite the mentioned difficulties.
In 1973, the arival of a military dictatorship -in a small country accustomed to democracy and respect for freedom and civil rights- ended the rock phenomenon. The time when local rock music became average currency again is outside the context of this book.
By 1975 rock music was replaced by an absurd musical movement -so-called "Canto Popular" ("Popular Song")- that pursued a kind of a "return to the sources" (banning foreign rhythms, electric instruments, and so forth).
Between 1965 and 1973, the Uruguayan music was inextricably bound to Argentina. Nevertheless, at the same time it presented a distinctive and individual profile for reasons such as the influence of the black race in the rhythms and melodies (thus, the candombe).
Needless to say, the pressings were very small, except in some cases where the record had also been released in Argentina.
Finally, I would like to dedicate this chapter to all those early Uruguayan rock musicians. Some of them later forged their career abroad and others remained in their country attempting to develop their art in the face of all the difficulties.
Return to Magic Land - Uruguayan Groups A-Z - Appendix - Compilations
