Musical stylings
Les Luthiers began writing humorous pieces primarily in a Baroque style, especially imitating vocal genres such as cantatas, madrigals and serenatas. Later, they diversified into humorous renditions of music in other genres, from romantic lieder and opera to pop, mariachi, rock and even rap. Their stage show is often intermingled with humorous skits, frequently involving absurd situations, the music and biography of fictional composer Johann Sebastian Mastropiero and a heavy reliance on fairly sophisticated puns and word play. Much of the humor derives from the basic contradictions between the formality and highly developed vocal and instrumental technique of classical musicians and the sheer silliness of their show. All members of the group provided their voices for the pigeons in the Latin American and Spanish dubbings of the 2008 Disney film, Bolt .
Les Luthiers have acknowledged the influence of Gerard Hoffnung and Peter Schickele in their work. [1] "Professor" Schickele invented in 1965 the fictional character of P.D.Q. Bach, son of Johann Sebastian Bach. He also invented many unusual instruments based on real ones, in the same style of the group. He also used the fictional biography of his imaginary composer as a running gag in his musical act.
Mr. Hoffnung predated both acts, starting in 1956 the Hoffnung Music Festival and publishing many cartoons with imaginary instruments for a classical orchestra. Malcolm Arnold probably was the first person to write a parody of classical music using odd instruments when he wrote for a Hoffnung Concert the score of A Grand, Grand Overture, a piece for orchestra and vacuum cleaners dedicated to US President Herbert Hoover. [2]
Les Luthiers are known in particular for employing a diverse ensemble of invented instruments created from common, everyday materials. The group's first home-made musical instrument, the bass-pipe a vara (a sort of trombone), was created by Gerardo Masana, the founder of the group, by joining paperboard tubes found in the garbage and miscellaneous items. Forty years later, this instrument is still being used on stage.
The first informal instruments were relatively simple, like the Gum-Horn, made with a hose, a funnel and a trumpet's mouthpiece, and some of them were born as a parody of musical instruments, which is the case of the latín (referred to in English as fiddlecan) and the violata, bowed instruments whose resonating chambers are made out of a large tin for processed ham and a paint can respectively, the marimba de cocos, a marimba made out of coconuts, and others.
Inventor and instrument-maker Carlos Iraldi (1920–1995), as "Les Luthiers' luthier", was responsible for inventing several more sophisticated instruments, including the mandocleta, a wheel moves the strings of a mandolin, the bajo barríltono, a double bass whose body is a giant barrel, and others.
After Iraldi's death in 1995 Hugo Domínguez took his place, and made instruments such as the desafinaducha, the nomeolbídet etc.
A musical ensemble, also known as a music group or musical group, is a group of people who perform instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist solely of instrumentalists, such as the jazz quartet or the orchestra. Other music ensembles consist solely of singers, such as choirs and doo-wop groups. In both popular music and classical music, there are ensembles in which both instrumentalists and singers perform, such as the rock band or the Baroque chamber group for basso continuo and one or more singers. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles. Some ensembles blend the sounds of a variety of instrument families, such as the orchestra, which uses a string section, brass instruments, woodwinds, and percussion instruments, or the concert band, which uses brass, woodwinds, and percussion.
Los Jaivas is a Chilean musical group who perform in folk, rock, psychedelic, and progressive rock styles formed in 1963 in Viña Del Mar, Chile. They are considered one of the most important and influential artists of all time in Latin America.
Accompaniment is the musical part which provides the rhythmic and/or harmonic support for the melody or main themes of a song or instrumental piece. There are many different styles and types of accompaniment in different genres and styles of music. In homophonic music, the main accompaniment approach used in popular music, a clear vocal melody is supported by subordinate chords. In popular music and traditional music, the accompaniment parts typically provide the "beat" for the music and outline the chord progression of the song or instrumental piece.
A rhythm section is a group of musicians within a music ensemble or band that provides the underlying rhythm, harmony and pulse of the accompaniment, providing a rhythmic and harmonic reference and "beat" for the rest of the band. The rhythm section is often contrasted with the roles of other musicians in the band, such as the lead guitarist or lead vocals whose primary job is to carry the melody.
Sonamos Pese A Todo, the debut album of Les Luthiers, released in September, 1971. It was recorded in late 1970 at ION Studios in Buenos Aires, and it featured Les Luthiers as a quintet, with some guest musicians and an orchestra for some numbers. The album was done before they collectively credited their works to everybody in the group, so individual authorship is included. Ernesto Acher wasn't a member of Les Luthiers when they recorded the project, but he was instrumental in getting the album released.
Cantata Laxatón is the second album by Les Luthiers, released in August 1972.
Les Luthiers – , album released in October, 1973.
Mastropiero que nunca was a theatrical humour/music show by Les Luthiers. It was first performed on Friday 9 September 1977 and last done on Sunday 27 February 1983. It consisted of nine new live numbers, which ranged from a madrigal to a salsa skit.
Carlos Alberto Daniel López Puccio is an Argentinian multi-instrumentalist, orchestral and choral conductor, composer, arranger and one of the current members of Les Luthiers.
Jorge Maronna is an Argentine multi-instrumentalist, composer, singer, author and a founding member of the comedy-musical group Les Luthiers. Born August 1, 1948, in Bahía Blanca, he joined I Musicisti while still a teenager, and helped Gerardo Masana and Carlos Iraldi build the first informal instrument, the "contrachitarrone da gamba". In 1967, he was part of the four people who left I Musicisti and formed Les Luthiers. There, he and Masana composed most of the music for early shows, and to this day Maronna still pens many musical pieces for the group, often in collaboration with one of his bandmates.
Marcos Mundstock was an Argentine musician, writer, comedian, actor, broadcaster and copywriter. He had dual nationality of Argentina and Spain, having obtained the latter in 2012.
Carlos Núñez Cortés is an actor, composer, multi-instrumentist and singer. He has been a member of Les Luthiers since 1965 until 2017, when he retired. He also wrote 3 books : "Los juegos de Mastropiero", "100 caracoles argentinos" and "Memorias de un luthier".
Ernesto Acher is an Argentine comedian, actor, composer, arranger, multi-instrumentalist and orchestral conductor. Between 1971 and 1986 he was a member of the celebrated Argentine group Les Luthiers, with which he acted as composer, comedian, singer, and performer on more than twenty instruments, some of which he created himself. Before separating from the group, he was involved in individual projects as composer – including a soundtrack, a quartet for clarinet and strings, a string sextet and a symphonic poem for viola and orchestra. In 1988 he founded the La Banda Elástica (The Elastic Band), gathering some of the most outstanding Argentine jazz musicians. The band dissolved in 1993. Since then he has developed several musical and comedy projects, and performed as an orchestral conductor.
Gerardo Masana Argentine founder of comedy-musical group Les Luthiers in 1965. Masana died of leukemia eight years later, on November 11, 1973. The other members of Les Luthiers remained together until Daniel Rabinovich died in 2015, as of 2017 they still perform live in tours through Latin America and Spain.
An experimental musical instrument is a musical instrument that modifies or extends an existing instrument or class of instruments, or defines or creates a new class of instrument. Some are created through simple modifications, such as cracked cymbals or metal objects inserted between piano strings in a prepared piano. Some experimental instruments are created from household items like a homemade mute for brass instruments such as bathtub plugs. Other experimental instruments are created from electronic spare parts, or by mixing acoustic instruments with electric components.
Argentine humour is exemplified by a number of humorous television programmes, film productions, comic strips and other types of media. Everyday humour includes jokes related to recurrent themes, such as xenophobic jokes at the expense of Galicians (Spaniards) called chistes de gallegos, often obscene sex-related jokes, jokes about the English, the Americans, blonde women, dark humour, word and pronunciation games, jokes about Argentines themselves, etc.
La Marcha del Golazo Solitario Released in 1999 is the ninth studio album from the Argentine Ska Reggae Latin Rock band Los Fabulosos Cadillacs to reach gold.
Experimental luthiers are luthiers who take part in alternative stringed instrument manufacturing or create original string instruments altogether.
A luthier is someone who makes or repairs lutes and other string instruments.
Cuarteto Zupay or simply Los Zupay, was an Argentinian Popular Music group formed in Buenos Aires in 1966 that remained active until 1991. The founding members were the brothers Pedro Pablo García Caffi (baritone) and Juan José García Caffi, Eduardo Vittar Smith (bass) and Aníbal López Monteiro.
