“I do not seek, I find”are the words that Sergio Marchi used to synthesize and describe the meticulous investigative work that is reflected in the book “Some time ago. The life of Gustavo Cerati” (South American). The writer and journalist, with a vast career in various media, has always been linked to the world of music and was a direct witness to the growth and development of Argentine rock from the early 80s onwards.
Since his radio days in rock and pop and its passage through the graphics in publications such as rolling stonesMarchi established himself as a journalistic referent of the emerging musical culture, which expanded as his writings came to be sold in bookstores. “Do not say anything. A life of Charly Garcia” (1997), “The lost rock. From the hippies to the chabona culture” (2005), “Pappo. The suburban man” (2011) and “Spinetta. Magic noise” (2019) are some of the titles of his nine books published so far. This work earned him the recent recognition of being named “Outstanding Personality of Culture” by Legislature of the City of Buenos Aires.
The author decides, in his latest work, to face the life of an emblematic figure of music, who marked several generations with his style: Gustavo Cerati. Undoubtedly, the singer and guitarist was one of the rock musicians with the greatest international projection. In this regard, Marchi inquires about the detail and the testimony to reconstruct the life of the former soda Stereo, both professionally and personally. A luminous, complex and indelible figure that is put together, like a puzzle, by dint of multiple interviews and memories.
In dialogue with NEWS, Sergio Marchi rediscovers Gustavo Cerati. Mythical, and at the same time, absolutely real, he shows us the “winged man” of flesh and bone.
NEWS: In his book he mentions the likes of a young Gustavo Cerati, who had as references British symphonic and progressive rock bands such as Yes, Genesis and Pink Floyd among many others, how do you think he experienced that transition from his tastes as a young man to his initial musical stage in the new wave?
Sergio Marchi: I consider that it is also the story of a generation, because something quite similar happened to me. I listened to all those bands. The records came out and both these and other bands were around. Then came the jazz rock That comes a bit from the side of the musicians. All of us who were musicians pointed to that side of jazz rock, which became a very “stubborn” music. But when you discover the swing it has Police and the simplicity with which they did it, and you understand that there is another world out there that is reggae, that made everything change. For now, Gustavo experienced more or less that. It is a natural change. If you had the opportunity to see The Police live, it was impossible for them to leave you with the same brain structure that you had before the concert.
News: Was the influence of British rock primary with respect to other musical styles?
marchi: Gustavo liked rock, if he was British or American, I don’t think it was different. What happens is that the British in the eighties were very strong. And if there were a lot of bands that weren’t released here, they didn’t make it, and they were very interesting, and they were able to witness it first-hand when they left in ’86 Gastonbury. So there they saw Simple Minds, I think they took things from there, but not as a copy, but as an influence, to see what is happening and what things from there are useful for your own music. Gustavo always selected things from different sides, but it’s not that he was going to copy there to the millimeter, but that he let himself be influenced by the music.
News: Did you find that in other musicians already established in national music?
marchi: In everyone, in all musicians and especially in those who say no. Gustavo Cerati was one, within rock, who opted for electronics and a kind of electronic rock hybrid. Something that was not well known what it was, that later Ricotta Rounds they went to that side, when they start recording “Last bondi to Finisterre” and “Momo Sampler”. There they make friends with the machines, they arrived a little late, but they are also going in the same direction. Each one with its imprint.
News: Did you find anything, during your research, that transformed your view of Gustavo Cerati?
marchi: What you have, no matter how much you specialize in rock, is a blurred vision of an artistic object. And each of the stimuli focuses the lens on you and you see that in addition to what you saw, there are other elements. But I wouldn’t tell you that I saw anything like that, that it was different from what I thought. Because when you meet Gustavo, more or less, you know what you’re going to find. Yes, there was a wealth of detail that I did not have and that was what I was looking for. I searched all the time for things that no one had found and I had to see if I could find them, but well they appeared and they appear on everyone’s lips, each one tells me they are giving you some detail, beyond the fact that you have interviews that are better than others.
News: Before writing the book, did you have an idea of what you wanted to look for in Cerati?
marchi: I do not seek, I find. I found a much broader Gustavo than I thought in some things, also with some sides that well, it was… they didn’t call him for nothing “The boss”, he was very rigorous, you had to follow the train and he was quite hard-headed, but artists who have a vision are. For example, I talked a lot about music with him and I was surprised that he listened to Deodata, who is a Brazilian jazz musician, which I heard by accident because I bought a record and later I found out that Gustavo also listened to it Deodata. However, he listened to a lot of music that perhaps had nothing to do with rock, even his opening towards electronic music, which he was nourished by. He was a very restless guy when listening to music. And I’m not telling you that it surprised me, but I saw the breadth it had there.
News: What position did you occupy within that cosmogony of national rock in relation to your peers, to the musicians of that time?
marchi: In the 80s, Soda Stereo was like that star, which you say, is a shooting star and that remained. You might think it was a comet, but no, it’s a star that found its place and got bigger and bigger. And in the 90s, when he becomes a soloist, you realize that he is a very particular star who has a lot of other things that he released, he shone just as brightly or even brighter. Gustavo’s career as a soloist was extraordinary, but he didn’t have to be a visionary to realize what he was going to be. The guy had a clear talent that did nothing but grow since his band stabilized and he released his first record. And well, and there was no one who could follow him and I think that part of that has to do with the conflict with Soda Stereo, right? It was hard to follow him and he sometimes made that difference feel.
News: Did that famous rivalry with the Redonditos de Ricota also grow at that time? You mention that it is derived from soccer.
marchi: It’s a rivalry that was imposed more than anything. In the Argentine DNA there is duality, at first they were unitaries against federals, later they were peronists against radicals and the Boca River always existed. I don’t think that neither Soda Stereo nor the Redondos have experienced that rivalry with as much passion as the public, especially the Ricotero public that needed to put Gustavo in a place that did not correspond and that was false, like that of a pop, cheto, plastic, cold type. But all that starts when he dies Luca Prodan and they begin to sing “Let Cerati die”. So, that coincides with soccer, it coincides with a moment in which Argentina stops doing some good lyrics and in that, rock is also a reflection of society. When the thing from 88 onwards doesn’t work socially, a ball of air enters that intoxicates rock and also forms those trenches. In the 80s, the truth is that we were all together.
News: A cult that Cerati, and also in the eighties and nineties did Soda Stereo, was the care of the aesthetic at the scenic level. That was an added value that many neighborhood rock bands did not carry out. However, Cerati supported him and was always there.
marchi: Completely. A group that cares about aesthetics, about image, about giving a good show, always seems to me to be something admirable. It is true that the neighborhood rock bands did not give importance to that, but it was also a way of having an image in that attitude. The one with no image, we are the same as you, is a careful and projected image as much as Soda’s or Gustavo’s. But Gustavo put a lot of production into it, he “cranked” the show, yes, he planned it, he looked for people, good ideas and he let them do it too. It wasn’t that he came up with an idea and had to do what he said, but that things were proposed to him and he accepted them. That always seems like added value to me. Someone worry because in addition to sounding good the music looks good, it seems to me that it is an attribute of rock without a doubt. And that appears with the glamor.
News: Any project for later?
marchi: I feel, on the one hand, that this is the last great biography, after Charly, Pappo, Spinetta and Cerati. Yes, I know that I want to write fiction and that I want books that are maybe lighter, that don’t take three years, but really it’s like Gustavo Cerati said that “in order to fill yourself up, you first have to empty yourself of the whole process of what you were.” some record and then I could go back to thinking or finding ideas that would lead us to a new project”. I am more or less in the same.
You may also like
Image gallery
