By Claudia Sandoval Romero

Carlos Alberto García Moreno, known throughout Latin America as "Charly García," was born October 23, 1951. A legend of Argentine rock music, he began to do away with the myth that rock was only valid in English. Alongside Luis Alberto Spinetta and Gustavo Cerati, Charly is one of Argentina's most famous rockers outside the country.

He made his recording debut at age 21 when he accompanied Raúl Porchetto on his first album, Cristo Rock. In that same era he formed Sui Generis, a band that played music in the style of the day: North American folk.

The second highlight of his musical evolution occurred in 1976, when he released the symphonic rock album of his band 'La máquina de hacer pájaros' (bird-making machine).

He later founded the group Serù Girán in 1978, remaining with the band until launching his solo career.

It was 1982 and, because of the Falklands/Malvinas War, all national media were prohibited from broadcasting music in English. This gave a boost to the Argentine recording industry and Charly was one who benefited most, releasing 'Yendo de la cama al living' (Going from the bed to the living room), an album that includes the controversial song "No bombardeen Buenos Aires" (Don't Bomb Buenos Aires).

For his concert at the Ferrocarril Oeste (west railway) stadium, on December 26, 1982, Charly performed for twenty-five thousand people. He arrived at the edge of the stage in a pink Cadillac and, at the close of the concert, a shower of fake rockets destroyed the city that formed the stage's backdrop, as the last chords of "Don't Bomb Buenos Aires" played.

With Clicks Modernos, 1983, he turned to pop-rock, including the confrontational song ''Los Dinosaurios'' as well as danceable tunes. In other words, his songs took on another dimension, with lyrics, which until then had been the foundation of Argentine rock, greatly reduced.

His album, Filosofía Barata y Zapatos de Goma (Cheap Philosophy and Rubber Shoes), clearly influenced by Prince, cost him a lawsuit in 1990, for "offense against patriotic symbols" because the CD included a version of the national anthem, though the courts ultimately authorized it.

At a concert December 22, 1991, he arrived on stage in an ambulance. It was his way of making fun of himself for the time he ended up in the hospital due to a drug overdose.

In 1994 he released La hija de la láígrima (Daughter of the Teardrop), after a four-year hiatus, making use of opera to create his own rock-opera.

In the summer of 1999, Charly García was the major attraction of the free concert series Buenos Aires Live III, organized by the capital's government in Puerto Madero, where more than fifty thousand people applauded him for his show dedicated to those who disappeared during the Argentine dictatorship. The material recorded at the concert was later used on the album Demasiado Ego (Too Much Ego).

One can still expect much from Charly, his extravagances, his confrontational stance, but especially from his drive to make music into an experiment that enables him to express himself.

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