Honestidad Brutal

Andrés Calamaro

Andrés Calamaro (born Andrés Calamaro Masel, August 22 1961 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine musician and composer. His former band Los Rodríguez was a major success in Spain in the 1990s. He became one of the main icons of the Argentine rock in the last two decades.

Abuelos de la Nada

At 17 years of age Calamaro participated as a guest in the recording of an album of the group Raíces, and shortly after he started his own band, the Elmer Band, with guitarist friend Gringui Herrera. This band had an underground hit, Tristeza de la Ciudad (City Blues).

When Miguel Abuelo, leader of Los Abuelos de la Nada, returned to Argentina, he reunited the band and invited Calamaro to play keyboards. The band was a big success; Calamaro wrote some of their greatest hits, such as Sin gamulán, Mil horas and Costumbres argentinas.

Separation

Before the dissolution of Los Abuelos de la Nada, Calamaro edited his first solo album, Hotel Calamaro in 1984. A second album, Vida Cruel, recorded shortly after his separation from the band, was received warmly by the press but did not achieve commercial success.

After a third album, Por Mirarte (1988), Calamaro started producing for bands such as Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Los Enanitos Verdes and soloists such as Fabiana Cantilo.

Calamaro closed the 1980s with his own band, featuring old friends Gringui Herrera and Ariel Rot, who recently came back from Spain. The trio recorded the album Nadie sale vivo de aquí (Nobody Gets Out Of Here Alive) in 1989 with a number of guest musicians, which obtained the nomination of Best Record of the Year.

Los Rodríguez

Due to the economic situation in Argentina, Calamaro and Rot relocated to Spain. Then, they created the band Los Rodríguez with Julián Infante. Germán Villela joined at the drums. The band didn't have a bass player, but Guillermo Martin, Candi Avello and later Daniel Zamora accompanied the band in recordings and tours.

Los Rodríguez edited three successful studio albums: Buena Suerte (1991), Sin documentos (1993) and Palabras más, palabras menos (1995), as well as the live Disco Pirata (1992), and the compilation Hasta luego (1996).

Sin documentos gave them international acclaim, with its mixture of flamenco and Latin American rhythms. They toured Spain and Latin America, and entered the history of Rock in Spanish.

Solo

A very prolific mind, Andrés Calamaro edited Grabaciones Encontradas ("Found recordings" which in Spanish could also be understood as "Recordings in Contradiction") while working with Los Rodríguez. After Palabras más, palabras menos, the band released a "Greatest Hits" album, which sold nicely, and then dissolved.

In 1997 Calamaro recorded Alta suciedad (literally "High Filth," but also a pun "High Society"/"Alta Sociedad"), which sold over half a million copies and took him again touring around Latin America.

Calamaro began composing song after song. In six months, he had over 100 songs ready to be edited. Thirty seven of these found their way to his next album, Honestidad brutal. The album has hits as: Te quiero igual, Paloma, Los aviones, Cuando te conocí or La parte de adelante. This double CD, was created after the break up with his girlfriend, and this is reflected in all the songs. The album also contains a collaboration with Maradona.

In 2000, he recorded 103 songs in his five-CD album El salmón.

Free music

In the following years, Calamaro made many guest appearances in concerts and recordings. He posted inedit songs of the 2001-2002 for free download over the Internet, saying that "Music belongs to those who want to hear it; and to nobody else".

He also made his home recordings available at DeepCamboya Due to the low quality of the recordings, and with permission of the author, Camisetas Para Todos, a group of fans, re-mastered Calamaro's songs and made them available on their site. He also started Radio Salmón Vaticano, a virtual recording studio at his web site

In 2004 he released El Cantante (The Singer), an album with covers of Tangos and other Latin American rhythms, and a few of his web released songs.

The Return

In 2005 he released El Regreso (The Return), a compilation of the live recordings from his appearance in the Luna Park Stadium earlier that year. The disc was presented on December 17 to an audience of 20,000 in the Obras Sanitarias Stadium, and was awarded with the 2006 Gardel Award for Rock album by Male Artist and Best Album Cover. Calamaro was awarded the Golden Gardel (main award).

After that, he released Tinta Roja, a collection of classic Tangos as El dia que me quieras,Como dos extraños or Sur. On November 20th of 2006 was released El Palacio de las Flores, recorded with Litto Nebbia and on September 11th of 2007, La Lengua Popular, his last album yet, comes to light.