The monkey, as he has been nicknamed since he was a teenager, is now 71 and has been with music for more than half a century. The highest reference of Cordovan quartet counts 90 published discs, more than 36 million copies sold. “I have more than 1200 songs recorded and 200 hits”, celebrates Juan Carlos Jiménez Rufino, who coined his artistic pseudonym despite himself.
“When I was 10 years old I got into a folkloric ballet and I was there until I was 13. I was second dancer of malambo, but I left because I didn’t like being called ‘La Mona’. In the neighborhood they called me that and it hurt me because I wanted to be Tarzan, that was my dream. I had my tree in the house and from there I shot arrows at people from the neighborhood who passed by. One day they told me ‘you are Tarzan, the king of the neighborhood’. But later they called me ‘La Mona’ and it’s an injustice… Look how I look ”he laughs when he remembers his beginnings and how he got the nickname with which he spent his entire career.
He debuted as a singer Bern Quartet at age 15, after winning a casting among 40 applicants, and recorded five albums with said group. But he left the band at the time: they didn’t let him dance, and besides, he earned very little: “he sang only for the sandwich and soda,” he said later.
“Dad gave me an electric guitar and I made a rock group. I stopped dancing folklore because when the boys fell, they climbed the wall of the house and yelled at me: ‘Mona, take off your panties, we’re going to play soccer!’ So, one day I came home, I took off my clothes, my panties, my boots and I never danced folklore again, “he revealed.
When he was so 17 years old his father passed away, the local electric power company (EPEC), offered him the same position to take charge of supporting the family. But he refused: “I told my mom: ‘I’m not going to go in there, I I will continue singing and I will succeed‘. She replied: ‘Son, you’re going to be passing the cap around the rocks…’ But I told her: ‘No, you’re wrong, I’m going to be a winning singer’”.
With his uncle Coco Ramaló and the Gold Quartet They went all over the inside. And the artistic link lasted more than a decade, until became independent as a solo artist at the age of 33. He began by animating dances on the outskirts of the provincial capital, until the Sargento Cabral club hired him for their late nights.
“When I got involved with ‘El Cuarteto de Oro’, I was there for 11 years. Unfortunately, It was the saddest 11 years of my life.. The person who was with me, who was a member, was the man who was with my mother’s sister. They lied to me… I was working for them for free, “she recalls about those years.
But with the separation and his wife as manager, his first hits would arrive: “La flaca Marta” from the album “for all America”, allowed him to buy cars and build his house in the Residential District of Cerro de las Rosas. From then on, he would experience his golden age towards the end of the 1980s: in 1988 he made his debut in Buenos Aires at the Microestadio in Atlanta; later took over Luna Park; and in 1989 he would play in Cement.
The 90s would later experience the success of the quartet alongside cumbia, La Mona would also preside over the inauguration of more than ten dancers in Buenos Aires. He would come hand in hand international successin Spain, appearing in Madrid, Velencia and Cádiz, and in the United States: New York, Chicago and Houston.
Participations in television programs, a theater magazine in Carlos Paz and more. And nothing would change during the 2000s, more than his will to continue recording and testing the quartet’s mix with other genres: his 65th album, “El Agite”, was released in mid-2000, reaching the top positions in the music rankings with songs like “Me muero por ella”, “El Agite” and “Zona Roja”, among others.
I would record songs with Charly García, Fito Páez, Calamaro, Manu Chao and Palito Ortega, among many others. Even a quartet version of the National anthem (in 2020). And he would play countless festivals (from Lollapalooza to Cosquín Rock), until he had his own. First it was the Monapaliza in his honor, on December 8, 2018 at the Malvinas Argentinas Stadium in Buenos Aires. And then him “Bum Bum”, where this year he paid an elegant tribute.
On the way to his 100 albums, today the greatest reference in popular music from Cordoba, he will have a show at the Obelisk. “I am happy, my heart is happy, it jumps for joy. Many years ago I sang at the Obelisk when Julio Bocca said goodbye, I sang Balada para un loco, but this time I’m going to be with my quartet group, of which we are 13, and we’re going to do a quartet. On Sunday people are going to give me so much joy that maybe I’ll shed a tear”, La Mona advanced.
“La Mona is presented this Sunday May 29 at 5:00 p.m. at the Obelisk. We thought of this schedule precisely so that people can return to their homes in peace, even for those who come from other parts of the country”, endorsed Enrique Avogadro, Minister of Culture of the City.
“He is a gigantic popular artist and for us it is a great joy to be able to carry out this living tribute. We know that many people are going to want to see it and with the Obelisk in the background it is going to be a unique setting, with logistics designed to make it enjoyable for everyone”, the minister insisted. “I want to thank the City of Buenos Aires for this tribute in life that they pay me,” answered Jiménez excitedly, and with the promise of a party.
“I didn’t start looking for weird songs or anything. I’ma do all the hits … We go to the steaks for people to have fun. All the hits: Federal, Marginal, Tinta China, Beso a Beso, El vino, Celosa…”, lists the tireless hero of the quartet.
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