Gustavo Cerati would have turned 65 today: the heartfelt message from his daughter Lisa and the massive version of “De música ligera”

Escuchar

At the end of last month, Mario Pergolini announced the call to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the birth of Gustavo Cerati. The meeting point planned, starting at 2 pm, was the Costa de Vicente López (Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín and Laprida). Today, the promise, displayed its forms defying the wind and the cold of the afternoon. The name of this event was called “Once, tu cumpleaños: homenaje a Gustavo Cerati” whose expected high point was the interpretation of the crowd playing and singing the classic “De música ligera”. From the Vorterix page, at the appointed time, the transmission began with a voiceover in off which reviewed his life from his first days in the house in Villa Ortúzar, the formation of this iconic group that was Soda Stereo, his solo career and his death, at the age of 55, in 2014.

“This is a dream come true,” Mario Pergolini acknowledged at almost 2:30 p.m., when the first images of the venue with around a thousand people gathered on the Vicente López waterfront to play the classic appeared. As expected, many of the fans were dressed in original Soda Stereo t-shirts or some with others made for the occasion amidst cables, more than a hundred microphones, speakers, cameras, drones and a festive atmosphere attended by parents with their children as well as groups of teenagers.

Matías and Agustín Latorre, bassist and guitarist, joined the tributeNOELIA MARCIA GUEVARA / AFV

Why this song? Pergolini himself asked himself, and ended by saying that he considered it to be the band’s most “tribunera” song. The story of the birth of this song goes back to Mexico. In 1989, Soda was about to perform at the Plaza de Toros Calafia, Mexicali. Apparently, before a concert, in the middle of an improvisation, Gustavo Cerati was shaping this iconic song of the group. Once released in Animal song, Soda Stereo’s fifth studio albumseveral publications considered it as the best rock song in Latin America.

SOC – Tomás Marina, singer of the Kennedy Choir. one of the voices of Light MusicNOELIA MARCIA GUEVARA / AFV

For this afternoon’s version, more than 200 singers joined together with members of the Kennedy Choir, bassists, drummers (among them, Andrea Álvarez, the former percussionist of Soda) and guitarists, who had been given a tutorial to be able to interpret the multitudinous version of that song installed in the collective memory. Among the guests to the preview was the photographer Nora Lezanoresponsible for many iconic images of Cerati. “Now, coming here, I saw so many t-shirts with photos that I took of Gustavo that it creates a tremendous feeling,” said the great photographer and friend of the musician, who remembered when they filmed a video together for “De música ligera.”

All this was happening while hundreds of fans were rehearsing the song. “It’s an exciting day,” Pergolini acknowledged from the studio setting up on the spot. In a mobile in charge of Guillermina Casero, part of the staff from Vorterix, he walked around the place and came across an 11-year-old boy as if he were a father and son with their respective basses in the middle of the crowd.

Another one of those who joined the broadcast that Pergolini hosted with Dani Jiménez, his partner in the program Damn, it’s going to be a beautiful day, He was the musician Tweety Gonzalezwho was part of Soda Stereo between 1990 and 1997. “I never imagined seeing 200 drummers together,” admitted the man who was also involved in Cerati’s solo stage. “Almost every day I wonder what Gustavo would be doing if he were alive,” said the man who was part of the recording of “De música ligera.” At the same time, in the chat of the broadcast, comments from fans from different parts of America were added, joining in the celebration.

Camila Benavides was another of those who joined the collective remembrance of this unique artistNOELIA MARCIA GUEVARA / AFV

Amelia Álvarez, Cerati’s press officer since 2005 for the launch of Here we gos, the solo album he produced with Richard Coleman, Fernando Nalé, Leandro Fresco and Tweety González, also went through the studio. “He always answered all the journalists, no matter what media outlet they worked for,” said the musician’s close collaborator.

The broadcast of “Once, tu cumpleaños: homenaje a Gustavo Cerati” ended with few images of the long-awaited choral interpretation of “De música ligera”, leaving a certain taste of little, lacking a true closure. In a few days, as announced, the edited video of the final version performed by hundreds of fans will be released.

In another scenario, that of social networks, today Lisa Ceratithe musician’s daughter, uploaded a touching video to her Instagram account accompanied by a text. “Dear father. Today you turn 65 (a young man!) Wherever you are, I want you to know that your presence continues to generate the same calm in me. I can and was able to experience what love is in its purest form thanks to you, your music and the family you created around me. I love you, and the world loves you! Thank you for everything, which is too much. I always carry you in my heart and I try to make you proud, wherever life takes me. Happy birthday dad,” she wrote along with a video composed of family images of the musician in the role of a happy father.

For his part, his other son, Benito Ceratiused his Instagram stories to share an image of his father with an infinity sign. Today, that “restless angel who flies over the city of fury,” as Luis Alberto Spinetta wrote when this unique artist died, would have turned 65 years old. Today, a winter Sunday, his music once again sounded loudly in homes, cars, on the Vicente López waterfront. Everywhere.

LA NACIONGet to know The Trust Project