Litto Nebbia

The guitar work of Litto Nebbia, born Felix Francisco Nebbia Corbacho, proved central to the development of rock music across Argentina. He fronted the groundbreaking Argentinean tango rock outfit Los Gatos during the early 1960s, then kept pushing boundaries across multiple styles both on his own and through affiliations with the experimental ensemble Huinca in the early 1970s and the jazz-focused Litto Nebbia Trio.

His initial breakthrough apart from Los Gatos arrived in 1967 via a partnership with Argentinean multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Tanquito on the dance number “La Balsa,” which became a major hit in Argentina and moved an unprecedented 200,000 copies.

Soon afterward he departed Los Gatos to concentrate on solo work, issuing a self-titled debut album in 1969 that contained the hit single “El Extracto De Pelo Largo” (The Stranger With Long Hair).

From 1971 onward he steadily merged Argentina’s folkloric traditions with Western rock elements, producing a markedly individual sonic identity.

Although the military dictatorship prompted a relocation to Mexico, he came back in the early 1980s and, in May 1983, staged a reunion concert alongside former Los Gatos colleagues Juan Carlos Baglietto, Silvina Garre, Fito Paez, and Jorge Fandermote.

He has remained an active figure in his native country. The 1997 CD-ROM Paginas De Vida offered both a biography of Nebbia and a chronicle of his various bands, while the following year he released Nebbia Canta Cadicamo, a collection of tangos written by Enrique Cadicamo, and presented those songs in concert at the Theater General San Martin.