Biography
Andres Calamaro ranks among the most commercially dominant and genre-fluid figures to arise during the Rock en Español period. A singer, songwriter, and producer whose recordings have registered on international charts, he has cultivated a broad following through his assured handling of Latin and pop idioms. Solo releases from the 1980s, among them Hotel Calamaro, Vida Cruel, and Por Mirarte, established his reputation for meticulous songcraft and stylistic daring. The 1989 album Nadie Sale Vivo de Aqui marked his first major commercial success. After relocating to Spain in the early 1990s, he joined Ariel Rot and Julián Infante to form Los Rodriguez, releasing three charting albums that included 1995’s Palabras Más, Palabras Menos. He resumed solo work with the 1997 hit Alta Suciedad and then entered a prolific songwriting phase, composing more than 100 tracks for 1999’s Honestidad Brutal, of which 37 were selected for the final version. El Cantante, issued in 2004, became his initial collection devoted to tango interpretations. Following the Gardel Award win for best rock album earned by the 2005 live recording El Regreso, he delivered the well-received Tinta Roja in 2006, assembling earlier tango material. Calamaro shifted back to pop with the straightforwardly titled On the Rock in 2010. In 2015 he collaborated with Spain’s Enrique Bunbury on Hijos del Pueblo. The 2018 album Cargar La Suerte received a Latin Grammy, while 2021’s Dios Los Cría presented 15 newly written originals structured as duets featuring many of Latin music’s leading voices.
Born in 1961, Calamaro launched his professional career at seventeen as keyboardist for Raíces. He entered Los Abuelos de la Nada in 1981, one of the central acts in 1980s Argentinian rock, and although Miguel Abuelo headed the group, Calamaro supplied the majority of its hit songs, among them “Mil Horas,” “Así Es el Calor,” “Sin Gamulán,” and “Costumbres Argentinas.” His solo debut, Hotel Calamaro, appeared in 1984; the record blended disparate styles and personnel yet attracted little audience or critical notice. After departing Los Abuelos de la Nada in 1985, he completed his second solo effort, Vida Cruel. Even with contributions from Luis Alberto Spinetta and Charly García, the album met with limited commercial and artistic response. Although songwriting prospects seemed uncertain, Calamaro maintained a productive tenure as producer for acts including los Enanitos Verdes, los Fabulosos Cadillacs, and Don Cornelio y la Zona. He also maintained ongoing collaborations across varied styles, a practice that continued throughout his career. His third album, Por Mirarte, reflected greater stability with a settled band; the 1988 release featured notable tracks such as “Con los Dientes Apretados” and “Me Olvidé de los Demás,” while “Cartas Sin Marcar” and “Loco por Tí” aided its wider reach. Issued in 1989 amid Argentina’s severe economic downturn, Nadie Sale Vivo de Aqui faced constrained production conditions common to that period. Calamaro subsequently moved to Spain, following a path taken by numerous Argentinian rock musicians. There he encountered former Tequila members Ariel Rot and Julian Infante; together they established Los Rodríguez in 1991, a pop-rock outfit that gained substantial popularity across Spain and Latin America. Calamaro’s material regained traction in the early 1980s, restoring his presence on tour. Notably, his work from Spain began to resonate strongly in Argentina. During his Los Rodríguez years he issued no fresh solo material, only Grabaciones Encontradas, Vols. 1 & 2, two compilations of unreleased and rare 1980s recordings. Following the group’s dissolution, he resumed solo activity with Alta Suciedad in 1997, produced by Joe Blaney. The album achieved the commercial breakthrough that had previously eluded his solo catalog, selling 300,000 copies in Argentina alone, an exceptional figure for that market. Alta Suciedad elevated him to the upper tier of Latin rock figures. Prior to the record, Calamaro had been respected among fellow musicians yet remained outside broader popular awareness. After ending a relationship with his Spanish girlfriend, he released the double-CD Honestidad Brutal in 1999. Recorded at age thirty-seven, it contained 37 songs addressing despair, lost love, drugs, and regret. Though less commercially dominant than its predecessor, the set revealed a transformed Calamaro—desperate, decadent, and at times refined—marked by a newly direct lyrical stance. El Salmon arrived in spring 2001 as a five-disc collection of 103 songs, reportedly drawn from more than 400 written the previous year; roughly eighty percent consisted of previously unreleased original material, with the remainder comprising covers spanning the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, tango, and Argentine folk traditions alongside reworked versions of his own compositions. At the time, the project was widely viewed as disorganized and indicative of an obsessive, substance-influenced creative compulsion, prompting assessments of commercial miscalculation. Throughout 2001 and 2002, Calamaro distributed several free downloads and authorized fan remastering of his catalog. He reentered the studio for El Cantante in 2004 and followed with the live album El Regreso the next year. La Lengua Popular, released in 2007, incorporated cumbia elements. In 2008 he issued the live recording 2 Son Multitud, captured in Getafe, Spain, alongside Fito & Fitipaldis. Nada Se Pierde appeared in 2009, preceding the 2010 release of On the Rock, his twentieth studio album. Marking the tenth anniversary of El Salmon, Salmonalipsis Now reduced the original box set to two discs containing 54 songs—49 in their initial forms and five additional tracks from the same sessions—while resequencing everything in a seemingly arbitrary order that further fractured the source material’s continuity. Reviewers regarded the result as a strong distillation of one of Rock en Español’s most unconventional and compelling releases. After its appearance, Calamaro made approximately 2,000 songs available on SoundCloud. In 2013 he surprised listeners with Bohemio, introducing a new band and ten fresh songs produced by Cachorro Lopez, who had also overseen La Lengua Popular. Critics and audiences alike hailed it as his strongest work since their prior collaboration, and it performed strongly on the Spanish charts. The following year Calamaro issued two live albums, Jamon del Medio and Purasangre, and joined longtime associate Enrique Bunbury as opening act on tour; the encores featured the pair performing together with Bunbury’s band, and those ten songs were compiled as Hijos del Pueblo in 2015.
The next year brought Romaphonic Sessions, recorded solely with pianist German Wiedemer. The album originated as a demo submitted to film director Fernando Trueba in an effort to secure his production involvement; consisting of tangos, a cover of Litto Nebbia’s “New Zamba para Mi Tierra,” and pared-down reinterpretations of Calamaro’s own material, it prompted Trueba to conclude the project was already finished. Later that year Calamaro released Volumen 11—denoting maximum volume—a compilation gathering eighteen varied tracks recorded between 2012 and 2016 that entered the Grabaciones Encontradas series. For Record Store Day 2017 he issued the four-song vinyl EP Licencia Para Cantar, tracked with Wiedemer, Tono Miguel, and Martin Bruhn. In 2018 he joined Lila Downs for a rendition of “En El Ultimo Trago” on the tribute album Mundo Raro: Las Canciones de José Alfredo Jiménez, honoring the ranchera composer’s seventieth birthday one year after his passing. The track served as one of the set’s advance singles alongside Julietta Venegas’s “Te Solte La Riendar.” Produced by Camilo Lara and recorded across Mexico City, Monterrey, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, Barcelona, Madrid, and Texas, the album assembled thirteen songs performed by an array of artists including Bunbury, Carla Morrison, Beto Cuevas, and David Hidalgo of Los Lobos. Later in 2018 Calamaro delivered the full-length Cargar La Suerte through Universal, which earned the Latin Grammy for best pop/rock album. An extensive sold-out tour concluded when the COVID-19 pandemic halted live performances. While on the road he had begun composing and conceptualizing new material expressly for iconic vocalists. For 2021’s Dios Los Cría he realized that vision by constructing duets and trios with numerous prominent Latin stars, among them Downs, Mon Laferte, Enrique Iglesias, Alejandro Sanz, and Juanes.
Born in 1961, Calamaro launched his professional career at seventeen as keyboardist for Raíces. He entered Los Abuelos de la Nada in 1981, one of the central acts in 1980s Argentinian rock, and although Miguel Abuelo headed the group, Calamaro supplied the majority of its hit songs, among them “Mil Horas,” “Así Es el Calor,” “Sin Gamulán,” and “Costumbres Argentinas.” His solo debut, Hotel Calamaro, appeared in 1984; the record blended disparate styles and personnel yet attracted little audience or critical notice. After departing Los Abuelos de la Nada in 1985, he completed his second solo effort, Vida Cruel. Even with contributions from Luis Alberto Spinetta and Charly García, the album met with limited commercial and artistic response. Although songwriting prospects seemed uncertain, Calamaro maintained a productive tenure as producer for acts including los Enanitos Verdes, los Fabulosos Cadillacs, and Don Cornelio y la Zona. He also maintained ongoing collaborations across varied styles, a practice that continued throughout his career. His third album, Por Mirarte, reflected greater stability with a settled band; the 1988 release featured notable tracks such as “Con los Dientes Apretados” and “Me Olvidé de los Demás,” while “Cartas Sin Marcar” and “Loco por Tí” aided its wider reach. Issued in 1989 amid Argentina’s severe economic downturn, Nadie Sale Vivo de Aqui faced constrained production conditions common to that period. Calamaro subsequently moved to Spain, following a path taken by numerous Argentinian rock musicians. There he encountered former Tequila members Ariel Rot and Julian Infante; together they established Los Rodríguez in 1991, a pop-rock outfit that gained substantial popularity across Spain and Latin America. Calamaro’s material regained traction in the early 1980s, restoring his presence on tour. Notably, his work from Spain began to resonate strongly in Argentina. During his Los Rodríguez years he issued no fresh solo material, only Grabaciones Encontradas, Vols. 1 & 2, two compilations of unreleased and rare 1980s recordings. Following the group’s dissolution, he resumed solo activity with Alta Suciedad in 1997, produced by Joe Blaney. The album achieved the commercial breakthrough that had previously eluded his solo catalog, selling 300,000 copies in Argentina alone, an exceptional figure for that market. Alta Suciedad elevated him to the upper tier of Latin rock figures. Prior to the record, Calamaro had been respected among fellow musicians yet remained outside broader popular awareness. After ending a relationship with his Spanish girlfriend, he released the double-CD Honestidad Brutal in 1999. Recorded at age thirty-seven, it contained 37 songs addressing despair, lost love, drugs, and regret. Though less commercially dominant than its predecessor, the set revealed a transformed Calamaro—desperate, decadent, and at times refined—marked by a newly direct lyrical stance. El Salmon arrived in spring 2001 as a five-disc collection of 103 songs, reportedly drawn from more than 400 written the previous year; roughly eighty percent consisted of previously unreleased original material, with the remainder comprising covers spanning the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, tango, and Argentine folk traditions alongside reworked versions of his own compositions. At the time, the project was widely viewed as disorganized and indicative of an obsessive, substance-influenced creative compulsion, prompting assessments of commercial miscalculation. Throughout 2001 and 2002, Calamaro distributed several free downloads and authorized fan remastering of his catalog. He reentered the studio for El Cantante in 2004 and followed with the live album El Regreso the next year. La Lengua Popular, released in 2007, incorporated cumbia elements. In 2008 he issued the live recording 2 Son Multitud, captured in Getafe, Spain, alongside Fito & Fitipaldis. Nada Se Pierde appeared in 2009, preceding the 2010 release of On the Rock, his twentieth studio album. Marking the tenth anniversary of El Salmon, Salmonalipsis Now reduced the original box set to two discs containing 54 songs—49 in their initial forms and five additional tracks from the same sessions—while resequencing everything in a seemingly arbitrary order that further fractured the source material’s continuity. Reviewers regarded the result as a strong distillation of one of Rock en Español’s most unconventional and compelling releases. After its appearance, Calamaro made approximately 2,000 songs available on SoundCloud. In 2013 he surprised listeners with Bohemio, introducing a new band and ten fresh songs produced by Cachorro Lopez, who had also overseen La Lengua Popular. Critics and audiences alike hailed it as his strongest work since their prior collaboration, and it performed strongly on the Spanish charts. The following year Calamaro issued two live albums, Jamon del Medio and Purasangre, and joined longtime associate Enrique Bunbury as opening act on tour; the encores featured the pair performing together with Bunbury’s band, and those ten songs were compiled as Hijos del Pueblo in 2015.
The next year brought Romaphonic Sessions, recorded solely with pianist German Wiedemer. The album originated as a demo submitted to film director Fernando Trueba in an effort to secure his production involvement; consisting of tangos, a cover of Litto Nebbia’s “New Zamba para Mi Tierra,” and pared-down reinterpretations of Calamaro’s own material, it prompted Trueba to conclude the project was already finished. Later that year Calamaro released Volumen 11—denoting maximum volume—a compilation gathering eighteen varied tracks recorded between 2012 and 2016 that entered the Grabaciones Encontradas series. For Record Store Day 2017 he issued the four-song vinyl EP Licencia Para Cantar, tracked with Wiedemer, Tono Miguel, and Martin Bruhn. In 2018 he joined Lila Downs for a rendition of “En El Ultimo Trago” on the tribute album Mundo Raro: Las Canciones de José Alfredo Jiménez, honoring the ranchera composer’s seventieth birthday one year after his passing. The track served as one of the set’s advance singles alongside Julietta Venegas’s “Te Solte La Riendar.” Produced by Camilo Lara and recorded across Mexico City, Monterrey, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, Barcelona, Madrid, and Texas, the album assembled thirteen songs performed by an array of artists including Bunbury, Carla Morrison, Beto Cuevas, and David Hidalgo of Los Lobos. Later in 2018 Calamaro delivered the full-length Cargar La Suerte through Universal, which earned the Latin Grammy for best pop/rock album. An extensive sold-out tour concluded when the COVID-19 pandemic halted live performances. While on the road he had begun composing and conceptualizing new material expressly for iconic vocalists. For 2021’s Dios Los Cría he realized that vision by constructing duets and trios with numerous prominent Latin stars, among them Downs, Mon Laferte, Enrique Iglesias, Alejandro Sanz, and Juanes.
Singles
