Music / Indio Solari

"Damas y caballeros... Los Fundamentalistas del Aire Acondicionado"

Carlos Alberto "Indio" Solari is an Argentinean musician born on the city of Paraná, province of Entre Ríos on January 17, 1949. He's best known for being the lead singer and lyricist of Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota.

Solari formed Los Redondos on 1976, alongside guitarist Eduardo "Skay" Beilinson, manager Carmen "La Negra Poli" Policastro and a troupe of musicians and artists. He spent The '80s and The '90s fronting the band that dissolved on 2001. Afterwards, he began a solo career where he played few and far in between dates due to the huge^note his shows began at 50.000 people, while his last show, at the city of Olavarría, drew around 250.000 fans (and sometimes problematic) crowds that he inherited from Los Redondos, in contrast with his former bandmate Skay, who went to play more dates on smaller venues.

He stopped doing shows after the 2017 gig in Olavarría ended up with the death of two fans and several injured people, as well as his advanced age. He was later diagnosed with Parkinson, something that ensured him to never be able again to step into a stage, unless it's in a way that allows him to not be physically there, i.e. holograms. In February 24th. 2023, he officialized his retirement from live shows, calling his stint as Indio in general "finished".

In addition to a musician, he's also a filmmaker and a writer. He also owns his own recording studio, Luzbola Records, which he used to release his solo career's albums. His solo band is called "Los Fundamentalistas del Aire Acondicionado"^note "The fundamentalists of the conditioned air". Yeah, try not to make sense of that., which were active until November 19th, 2022. Halfway through the same year, he created another band, called "El Mister y los Marsupiales Extinctos", a band focused in a more adult lounge-like music, far from the classic rock Solari has been known for, but with more or less the same musicians that accompanied him during "Los Fundamentalistas..." stint.

Discography

With Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota

• Gulp! (1985)
• Oktubre (1986)
• Un Baión para el Ojo Idiota (1987)
• ¡Bang! ¡Bang! Estás Liquidado (1989)
• La Mosca y la Sopa (1991)
• En Directo (1992 - live album)
• Lobo Suelto (1993)
• Cordero Atado (1993)
• Luzbelito (1996)
• Último Bondi a Finisterre (1998)
• Momo Sampler (2000)

With Los Fundamentalistas del Aire Acondicionado

• El Tesoro de los Inocentes (Bingo Fuel) (2004)
• Porco Rex (2007)
• El Perfume de la Tempestad (2010)
• Pajaritos, Bravos Muchachitos (2013)
• En Concierto (2015 - live album)
• El Ruiseñor, el Amo y la Muerte (2018)
• Singles:
  • "Encuentro con un Ángel Amateur" (2021)
  • "Rezando Solo" (2021)
  • "Strangerdanger" (2021)

Los Fundamentalistas del Aire Acondicionado were

Last known lineup

• Indio Solari - vocals
• Gaspar Benegas - lead guitar, backing vocals (2005-2022)
• Pablo Sbaraglia - keyboards, electroacoustic guitar and backing vocals (2005-2022)
• Baltasar Comotto - lead guitar, backing vocals (2004-2022)
• Fernando Nale - bass guitar (2016-2022)
• Déborah Dixon - backing vocals (2004-2022)
• Marcelo Figueras - backing vocals (studio only) (2013-2022)
• Sergio Colombo - saxophone, backing vocals (2009-2022)
• Miguel Tallarita - trumpet (2009-2022)
• Luciana Palacios - backing vocals (2008-2022)
• Ramiro López Naguil - drums (2019-2022)

Other former members

• Martín Carrizo - sound engineer, musical director, drums (2007-2018)^note Died on January 11, 2022
• Hernán Aramberri - sound engineer, musical director, drums (2004-2015)
• Ervin Stutz - trumpet, trombone (2004-2008)
• Alejo von der Pahlen - saxophone (2004-2008)
• Carlos Nozzi - violin (2010-2013)
• Alejandro Eijovich - violin (2010-2013)
• Emanuel Sáez - acoustic guitar, backing vocals (2016-2017)
• Axel Lang - keyboards, samples (2016-2017)
• Marcelo Torres - bass guitar (2004-2015)

Other works

Literature

• Escenas del Delito Americano (2017)

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Solari's music and work provide examples of:

• Author Appeal: Same deal as with Los Redondos: despite what urban legends and false statements may tell you, Solari's lyrics can be divided in two groups: hard personal experiences and his own literary and visual preferences. Musically he was always above straight classic rock, with his solo work being more complex and akin to the last albums of his former band, in contrast with his former Redondos bandmate Eduardo "Skay" Beilinson, whose music was more in line with the earlier albums of Los Redondos.
• Call-Back:
  • Luis María Canosa, the subject of "Pabellón Séptimo (Relato de Horacio)", was previously name-dropped in Los Redondos' "Toxi-Taxi".
  • The titular Porco Rex from the eponymous album was previously name-dropped on Los Redondos' "Alien Duce".
• The Cameo:
  • Andres Calamaro, credited as "El Inefable Señor Gama Alta"^note The Ineffable Mr. High-End, did parallel vocals in "Veneno Paciente", from Porco Rex.
  • Former Los Redondos bandmates Sergio Dawi, Daniel Fernando "Semilla" Bucciarelli and Walter Sidotti played on "La Pajarita Pechiblanca", from Pajaritos, bravos muchachitos.
• Cover Version:
  • He covered Andres Calamaro's "El Salmón" for the Cover Album Escúchame Entre el Ruido (Homenaje al Rock Nacional).
  • During one of the early promotional shows for Porco Rex, Solari and his band opened with Manal's "Jugo de Tomate Frío", and closed with Pescado Rabioso's "Post-Crucifixión".
• Darker and Edgier: While a bit lighter than Los Redondos' Último Bondi a Finisterre and Momo Sampler, his solo bodywork is still darker than the rest of his work with his former band. For starters, the production is more dense, the albums lack memorable guitar lines (no wonder due to the absence of Skay's iconic guitar work) and the lyrics touch even darker matters than in Los Redondos such as military dictatorship era Police Brutality ("Pabellón Séptimo (Relato de Horacio)") and illegal immigration ("To Beef Or Not To Beef"). There's the occasional weird song such as "El Charro Chino" and "La Pajarita Pechiblanca", but for the most part Solari's work is not for those who expect Los Redondos's classic, direct rock songs.
• "Double, Double" Title: "Amok Amok", from Pajaritos, Bravos Muchachitos.
• Downer Ending: "Pabellón Séptimo (Relato de Horacio)", from El Tesoro de los Inocentes (Bingo Fuel) is based on the history of Luis Canosa, a band's long time friend from before Patricio Rey existed, and one of the Unidad 2 de Devoto jail's prisoners, who died during what was known as the "Masacre en el Pabellón Séptimo" during the Argentinean 1976-1983 Military Dictatorship.
• Driven to Suicide:
  • The subject of "Pabellón Séptimo (Relato de Horacio)" was found hanged from the floor due to the massacre he was being a victim of after trying in vain to find a way to escape only to be received by the police's shots.
  • At one point, the narrator of "Chau Mohicano", from Pajaritos, Bravos Muchachitos, talks about having "sueños de terraza de hospital"^note dreams of hospital ceilings, a direct reference to suicide via Disney Death.
• Drugs Are Bad: "Chau Mohicano", from Pajaritos, Bravos Muchachitos, is about a guy who decides to quit the consumption of drugs.
• Episode on a Plane: "Submarino Soluble", from El Perfume de la Tempestad, is about Solari's own fear of being on a plane, Solari himself suffering from claustrophobia.
• Everything but the Girl: "Ceremonia Durante La Tormenta", from El Perfume de la Tempestad, talks about a guy who had everything except love. He tries everything to replace it (hotel prostitutes, for example), to no avail.
• Genre Shift:
  • In the middle of a straight rock album with orchestral elements, El Tesoro de los Inocentes (Bingo Fuel) has "El Charro Chino", a dancing song.
  • Porco Rex features the bossanova-inspired title song among the usual "rock band with strings and keyboards on top" format of Solari's body work.
  • Pajaritos, Bravos Muchachitos features the closing song, "La Pajarita Pechiblanca", a scherzo where Solari and his former Los Redondos bandmates cash in the various rumors about Solari's supposed obsession with drugs in a song totally about drugs (but with Solari's cryptic writing style hiding the several drug references). The song is also unique in its lack of guitars.
• Gratuitous Foreign Language: "Adieu! Bye Bye! Aufwiedersehen!", in addition to the gratuitous german contained in the song's title, contains "bloody filha da puta" in the lyrics, mixing both English and portuguese.
• I Have Many Names: To the extent of Once an Episode, Solari himself uses an alias every time he records an album:
  • "El Artista Invitado" in El Tesoro de Los Inocentes (Bingo Fuel).
  • "Monsieur Sandoz" in Porco Rex.
  • "Caballo Loco" in El Perfume de la Tempestad.
  • "El Fisgón Ciego" in Pajaritos, Bravos Muchachitos.
  • "Protoplasman" in El Ruiseñor, el Amo y la Muerte.
  • "El Mister" and "El Cantante Timido" in non-album song releases
• The Illegal: "To Beef or Not To Beef" is about an illegal immigrant trying to get into the U.S.
• Let's Duet: The entirety of "Veneno Paciente", from Porco Rex is sung by Indio and Andrés Calamaro in unison.
• Longest Song Goes First: El Tesoro de los Inocentes (Bingo Fuel) opens with "Nike es la Cultura" (6:30)
• New Technology Is Evil: "ZZZZZZZZ", from El Perfume de la Tempestad, talks about the consequences of letting machines dictate how human beings should live, channeling Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four in the process.
• Precision F-Strike: His solo work is a bit more... unhinged... than his work with Los Redondos, when it comes to profanity, using words such as "cagadero", "culeódromo" (slang for motel) alongside the usual "culo" (ass) and "mierda" (shit), for example.
• Seen It All: Invoked on "Ciudad Baigón", from El Tesoro de los Inocentes:
  "Muchos infiernos diversos vi^note I witnessed a lot of different hells
  y sin embargo yo aquí pateo^note yet I still walk around here."
• Self-Deprecation: As "El Artista Invitado", he credited himself under "arreglos, producción y ruidos molestos"^note Arrangements, production and annoying noises in El Tesoro de los Inocentes (Bingo Fuel).
• Shout-Out:
  • "Nike es la Cultura", from El Tesoro de los Inocentes (Bingo Fuel), in addition to name-drop the brand itself as a symbol of capitalism, also quotes Naomi Klein's No Logo. The song also name-drops Michael Jordan, ESPN and MTV under the same context as Nike.
  • "La Piba del Blockbuster", also from El Tesoro..., name-drops Coca-Cola, as well as the namesake video selling market chain.
  • The Who are name-dropped as the band that's played a lot in La Chanchita's bar in "¿Tomasito podés oirme? ¿Tomasito podés verme?". The name of the song itself also references the album Tommy.
  • "Martinis y Tafiroles", from Porco Rex, mentions both the namesake drink and the namesake headache medicine respectively.
• Take That!: Solari's cryptic writing makes it a bit difficult for some people to see it that way, but "La Pajarita Pechiblanca (Scherzo)" is an actual song about drugs... where Solari and his former Los Redondos bandmates laugh towards those who see everything related to Solari's lyrics as if he's talking about drugs.
• Title Drop:
  • In addition to having a Title Track, El Tesoro de los Inocentes features "El Charro Chino", which mentions Bingo Fuel as a place in its lyrics.
  • "Chau Mohicano" outright refers the title of Pajaritos, Bravos Muchachitos in its chorus.
• Vocal Tag Team: "La Piba de Blockbuster", from El Tesoro de los Inocentes (Bingo Fuel) features Déborah Dixon in a fragment of the song in addition to Solari himself.

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