Argentine rock and the country’s popular culture suffer a devastating blow with the death of Carlos Alberto “El Indio” Solari at 77 years of age, a death officially confirmed this Friday morning. The iconic and historic leader of Patricio Rey and his Ricotta Rounds He spent his last hours surrounded by his family in his legendary residence in Parque Leloir, Ituzaingó district.
After the medical notice and the beginning of the rigorous operation at his home, the Functional Instruction Unit Number 2 of Ituzaingó, under the direction of prosecutor Lucio Rivero, prepared the minutes of “Investigation of causes of death”, confirming through the judicial report that the musician suffered from Parkinson’s Disease and concluding preliminarily that nothing indicates or indicates another cause of death that is not linked to the natural and progressive deterioration caused by said disease.
Solari’s health had already been in the public spotlight in February of this year, when his relatives had to issue a strong statement on social networks to deny rumors about an alleged stroke, clarifying at that time that the only truth corresponded to routine medical checkups. In the last shows of the group Los Fundamentalistas del aire Adiciones, the singer participated through audiovisual projections that impacted the screen.
The news of his physical departure spread with electric speed through information portals and digital platforms, generating an immediate impact on the media that broadcast live. One of the most overwhelming moments of the day occurred on air on the Vorterix multimedia signal, where the driver Mario Pergolini he found out live, in the middle of an interview with Gonzalo Bonadeoof the sad news while hosting his radio program and immediately interrupted the usual broadcast.
Absolutely shocked by the event and visibly moved due to the close relationship he had with the singer, the media entrepreneur expressed his deep perplexity before the microphones by exclaiming that “There are no words, we are confirming that Indio Solari has passed away,” adding with dismay that “I am shocked by the news and it goes beyond me knowing him. I am shocked because today I said that I was going to open with Los Redondos.”
After reviewing some photographs shared with the vocalist in his historical interviews, Pergolini made a forceful determination by expressing that “we are going to say goodbye for today, we are going to leave the program, it is too important for me and for Vorterix, for everyone, not to rethink today in general”, closing the air space with the promise that “we say goodbye and all that is going to sound at this moment is Redondos and music from the Indio.”
A few minutes later, the digital reaction transformed into a massive and unanimous demonstration of mourning on social networks, where the artistic community and their former colleagues broke the silence. The most anticipated and emotional message came from his historic creative partner and guitarist of Los Redonditos de Ricota, Skay Beilinsonwho turned to his official Instagram and X accounts to dedicate a poetic farewell to his eternal companion in artistic battles.
With a deep feeling of sorrow, Beilinson wrote on his networks: “I carry you in every memory, in every song of yesterday. With immense pain. Have a good trip my dear friend, see you always. Now you are the light that travels between us and forever.” Given the magnitude of the loss, the guitarist also determined the total suspension of the concert he had scheduled with his band, Los Fakires, for Saturday at the Bioceres Arena in Rosario.
Voices from various genres were added to this tribute from the great figures of music, such as that of the singer Lula Bertoldiwho declared on the streaming channel Olga that “Indio forever, you listen to Los Redondos and it is Argentina. An artistic and political reference. A visionary.” For his part, the singer-songwriter Ricardo Montaner He turned to platform
The actress Griselda Siciliani He also paid tribute by sharing an image of the artist set to music with the emblematic Ricotera song No one is going to listen to your shirt anymore, adding to the heartfelt expressions of the political sphere, where the former president Alberto Fernandez He highlighted in networks his “human commitment, his dignity as an independent musician and the profound social and cultural phenomenon that Los Redonditos de Ricota generated.”
In his X account, Anibal Fernandez He remembered it: “Of that eager talk, at your house this March 31. Your commitment to life and that long time chatting about nothing and everything, the memory of being part of the capsules to enter the recitals, when in Mendoza you dedicated Black Label to me and now, your two hugs when I was getting ready to leave your house, you accompanied me to the door. For the first time you told me to take a photo of us. I love you very much friend…”
“For a lifetime Indian,” he dedicated to him in a post Maximo Kirchner with a photo of the artist and his mother, Cristina Kirchner. The president of the AFA, Claudio Chiqui Tapia, dedicated a few words to him: “A deep pain for your death, dear Indio. Thank you for your art, for representing the People and for transmitting so much through your music. An idol has left us, the history of national rock. On this day and every day, an absolute legend. May you rest in peace.” Diego Branatelli, on his X account, recalled: “See you soon, dear Indio. Rock is not going to be the same without you.”
The relentless advance of Parkinson’s Disease marked the vocalist’s last decade, a neurodegenerative and disabling pathology that he himself took it upon himself to reveal to his followers. The official announcement about his state of health took place in March 2016, moments before starting a massive concert at the Tandil racecourse, when he stopped the start of the music to address his audience directly and sincerely by confessing that “it is said that I have an illness.
“Yes, it’s true, Parkinson’s is on my heels. But hey. That’s life.” Solari himself later described the daily implications of his illness, revealing that it manifested itself through severe and constant muscle contractures that immobilized him and made him feel “like a plaster,” forcing him to take refuge in his studio work to abstract himself from the physical pain. In one of his last international interviews granted in 2023 to the Spanish station Mariskal Rock, the singer reflected with integrity on his clinical evolution, ensuring that “it is what it is, we have to fight it. He mistreats me less than other people, because one has the possibility of being treated in the best way, but he progresses.”
This medical reality definitively separated him from live performances in large stadiums, placing his formal farewell to in-person stages in the tragic and historic recital on March 11, 2017 at the La Colmena de Olavarría rural property. Before an unprecedented crowd estimated at more than 300 thousand people, that musical “banquet” was marked by severe organizational overflows, avalanches and the tragic death of two attendees, which precipitated the end of their in-person shows.
Despite the physical limits imposed by Parkinson’s, the musician used technological tools to keep the bond with his parishioners alive, implementing cutting-edge holographic techniques to appear virtually in the performances of his accompanying band, Los Fundamentalistas del Aire Aconditiono, and receiving just a month ago the distinction of the Honoris Causa Doctorate from the University of Buenos Aires through a moving audio of gratitude.
The personal and artistic biography of Carlos Alberto Solari constitutes andthe countercultural myth most enduring and influential in the Southern Cone, structured under a strict mystique of independence and an almost total secrecy regarding its privacy. Born in the city of Paraná, province of Entre Ríos, on January 17, 1949, he spent his childhood and youth in La Plata, the Buenos Aires metropolis where he absorbed the aesthetic avant-garde and the spirit of the time.
It was there where, in the mid-1970s and together with guitarist Skay Beilinson and manager Carmen “La Negra” Poli, he gave life to the artistic and musical project of Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota. What began as an itinerant theatrical, circus and musical collective, unrelated to traditional commercial channels of distribution and dissemination, led to the publication of fundamental albums for Argentine recording history such as Gulp!, Oktubre, Un baión para el ojos idioto, Bang! Bang!… You’re Liquidated, The Fly and the Soup and Luzbelito, building a work where cryptic metaphors, surrealism, political criticism and street poetry were transformed into generational anthems.
The band consolidated the most enormous mass phenomenon in the region through its so-called “ricotera masses”, drawing crowds in soccer stadiums and racetracks under a strict policy of self-management and total corporate independence. After the traumatic and unforeseen dissolution of Los Redondos in 2001 as a result of creative differences and disputes over the group’s audiovisual archive, Solari preserved his massiveness intact by beginning a successful solo period in 2004 at the head of the group Los Fundamentalistas del Aire Aconditionado, releasing acclaimed albums such as El Tesoro de los Innocents, Porco Rex and El Perfume de la Tempestad.
The last presentations a few months ago with the Fundamentalists, the singer appeared on screen for a few minutes in a delicate state. A preview of the advances of the disease that stressed his body through years of suffering.
In the intimate sphere, the vocalist had his family life in his residence in Parque Leloir with his wife Virginia and his son Bruno, maintaining strict social isolation motivated by a persistent social phobia towards the massive character that he himself had created. His sporadic outings required camouflage, dark glasses and caps to preserve anonymity on public roads, publicly confessing that he only managed to experience genuine urban freedom during his trips to New York City.
In his last years of home confinement, and after announcing his definitive retirement from live performances in 2023, he continued to channel his flow of lyrics through studio recordings with his most recent project, El Mister y los Marsupiales Extintos, the publishing of illustrated books and a permanent digital contact with his audience, closing with his death a golden and indelible chapter in the pages of the popular culture of the Argentine Republic.
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