Over the rainbow: Argentine rock legend Gustavo Santaolalla breathes life into rock en espanol

Latin Trade, Jan, 2004 by Joshua Goodman

Maybe it was all that yoga and Eastern philosophy he practiced in the 1970s. But one thing is certain, 52-year-old Argentine music producer Gustavo Santaolalla is now the Maharishi Yogi of the Spanish-language music world.

Artists produced by his Stucco Records, a joint-venture with Universal Music Group, are some of the hottest-selling and most critically acclaimed in the business right now. At last year's Latin Grammy awards in Miami, artists produced by Santaolalla walked away with eight awards of a record 15 nominations, including best song and album of the year. His latest discovery. Colombian songwriter Juanes, spent a record 65 weeks on the Billboard magazine's Latin Top 10, even becoming a smash hit in places like Holland.

On top of that, Santaolalla's own career as a musician continues to win praise. He's the mastermind behind two groundbreaking albums, the soundtrack for prize-winning Mexican film Amores Perros and the techno-tango outing Bajofondo Tango Club, which had its worldwide release after winning the best instrumental Latin Grammy. "He's the most visionary producer in Latin music today," says Zach Horowitz, president of Universal Music. Horowitz enticed Santaolalla to join forces with the Los Angeles record label in 1996.

The key to Santaolalla's success is his demanding work ethic and uncompromising musical vision, about the only thing he brought with him when he fled his native Argentina for southern California in 1978. Back then. at the height of the Argentine military regime's "dirty war" against the left, just having long hair was enough to land you in jail, or worse. As guitarist and songwriter for Arco Iris, an experimental band that mixed folk-rock with Eastern mysticism and psychedelic lyrics, the risks for Santaolalla were even greater.

Ironically, Santaolalla did not embrace the Woodstock generation's love and peace ethic. The band's rigorous, round-the-clock rehearsal schedule, communal lifestyle and defiant rejection of earthly pleasures--sex, drugs, beef', even hot showers--are the stuff of legends. "The bands I work with today share the same blind faith in their inner voice and passion for what they do," says Santaolalla, on a scouting trip to Buenos Aires. "Otherwise I couldn't work with them."

In a Latino music market dominated by hip-swiveling rhythms, acts produced by Santaolalla like Juanes or Mexico's Molotov and Cafe Tacuba offer a harder-edged sound closer to Santaolalla's uvula rock roots. As such, they're a genre unto themselves, known as alternative Latino or rock en espanol, which the Surco label all but monopolizes. Although traditionally a niche market generating small returns, Surco's artists have overtaken their more-genteel counterparts, often with no commercial exposure.

For example, when Molotov's rap-inspired debut, [??]Donde Jugaran Las Ninas?, was released, in 1997, it was banned from Mexican airwaves for its foul-mouthed lyrics. But through word-of-mouth it has since sold 1.3 million copies worldwide. That puts the album in the company of mainstream, multi-platinum artists like Bob Dylan or the Beach Boys. For Spanish language recordings, the Recording Industry of America awards "gold" certifications for sales exceeding 100,000 units--five times less than an English-language act must sell for the same designation. "The Latin explosion is much more than Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin," says Santaolalla, who signed with Universal, then known as MCA, after renting a car with the license plate MCA 733.

Raw talent Universal is sure glad the stars aligned in its favor. In no small part due to the success of Surco and Juanes, who's sold more than 1.5 million disks worldwide, the recording giant's Latin Music division jumped from dead last to first place this year in less than 18 months. Although other Universal-distributed labels are bigger, like Mexico's Fonovisa and Disa, few can match Santaolalla's ability to develop raw talent. "He's producing great music that's fabulously successful in a genre where success is rare," says Horowitz.

Santaolalla needs more than vision to propel Surco beyond the two years left on its joint-venture agreement with Universal. The continued growth of illegal downloading hobbling the entire music industry heavily impacts Latin America, where the bulk of Surco's sales come from. Nearly a third of albums sold in the world are pirated, generating losses for the recording industry of US$4.2 billion a year. In Latin America as much as 70% of music sales are illegal.

Santaolalla says so far he's unfazed by such high-figure losses. "So long as I can continue doing what I love I'll be happy," he says.

JOSHUA GOODMAN * BUENOS AIRES