page_title: Charly García
section_title: Sui Generis (1972–1975)
hierarchical_section_title: Charly García / Biography / Sui Generis (1972–1975)
caption_attribution_description: Español: Charly García y Nito Mestre del dúo argentino de rock Sui Generis.
context_page_description: Charly García is an Argentine singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. With a vast and renowned career, he formed and headlined two of the most popular bands in Argentina's rock history: Sui Generis in the 1970s and Serú Girán in the 1980s, plus cult status groups like progressive-rock act La Máquina de Hacer Pájaros and folk rock supergroup PorSuiGieco, both also in the 1970s. Since the 1980s García has worked mostly as a solo musician. His main instrument is the piano, followed by guitar and keyboards.
  García is widely considered by critics as one of the most influential rock artists in South America, and as "The Father of Argentine Rock".
  García is also well known for his bicolor moustache, with one side white, due to vitiligo.
context_section_description: The Beatles appeared in Charly's life when he was thirteen. Having previously only been exposed to classical music and folk, he would describe the Beatles as "classical music from Mars". In high school he met Carlos Alberto "Nito" Mestre and the two fused their bands to give birth to Sui Generis.
  The band at first experimented with psychedelic rock, but its style would quickly be established as folk-rock with a certain influence from the symphonic rock of the day. At their first big gig, the band's bassist, guitarist and drummer all failed to appear. Only Charlie (García spelled his name with "ie" back then) and Nito showed up, playing piano and flute respectively. They were forced to play on their own, and were a hit with the audience despite the other musicians' absence. The band's strength lay in the songs' musical simplicity and romantic lyrics, which appealed widely to teenagers.
  In 1972, Sui Generis released its first LP, Vida, which quickly became popular among Argentine teenagers. Confesiones de invierno ("Winter Confessions"), their second LP, was released in 1973. This album showcased higher production values and better studio equipment, and was very successful commercially.
  1974 was a year of changes. Charlie lost interest in "the piano and flute" sound that Sui Generis had been developing, and decided that Sui Generis needed a change; the band would evolve towards a more traditional rock sound, incorporating bass and drums. To that end, Rinaldo Rafanelli and Juan Rodríguez joined the band. In many live shows, Sui Generis also brought in a gifted guitar player, David Lebón, whom Charly admired very much.
  With a new line-up and style, the band was ready to launch its new album. Originally titled Instituciones, its name was changed to Pequeñas anécdotas de las instituciones at the producer's suggestion. The album was intended as a reflection on the unstable nature of Argentine social and political institutions at the time. Charlie's initial concept was to write a song for every traditional institution: the Roman Catholic Church, the government, the family, the judicial system, the police, the army, and so on. However, two songs, "Juan Represión", about the police, and "Botas locas", about the army, were eliminated from the album by the censors. Two more, which referred to censorship itself, had to be partially modified. While Sui Generis achieved a different, more mature sound with Instituciones, the public did not embrace it, preferring the band's previous style, and so the album sold poorly. Around this time Charlie met his future wife, María Rosa Yorio, a singer-songwriter who became the mother of his first son, Migue García.
  Charly García continued composing, and during 1975, he prepared what would be Sui Generis's fourth album, Ha sido ("Has Been", playing on the word ácido, acid). However, growing frictions between Charly and Nito and a wearying public prevented the album's release, and the decision was made to dissolve the band. Many songs from that ill-fated album were later included in other García's LPs, such as Bubulina (1976) and Eiti Leda (1978).
caption: Sui Generis: García and Nito Mestre in 1972.
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