Guatemalan rock

Guatemalan Rock or Rock Chapín is a genre of rock music which has been developing in Guatemala since the mid 1960s.

Guatemalan Rock Music

The rock movement with Spanish texts began in Guatemala in the mid 1960s. One of the first representatives of the rock movement was Luis Galich, with his band Santa Fé, who played gigs and concerts in Guatemala City and some of the towns. Bands like Plástico Pesado, later renamed Quetzalumán, were more on the side of the experimental. Other psychedelic bands of that time included S.O.S. (Rony de Leon, Chepito Hope, David de Gandarias), Caballo Loco, Apple Pie (Tito Henkle, Luis Zetina, Rico Molina & Gentry), Cuerpo y Alma, Banda Clásica, Cerebro, La Compañía, Siglo XX, Eclipse, and Pastel de Fresa. One remarkable milestone was the unprecedented creation in 1973-74 of the rock opera Corazón del sol naciente (Heart of the Sunrise) by Sol Naciente, a large youth group formed by dancers, solo vocalists, an extended chorus, as well as band which included Guatemalan percussion instruments besides "unplugged" acoustical guitars, piano, and solo violin. Some of the band members later formed the group Alción.

A very important and popular band during the 1980s and 90s was Alux Nahual, one of the Spanish lyrics writing and singing rock bands, that has published a number of recordings in Guatemala. At their beginnings they were heavily influenced by progressive rock bands such as Kansas and Jethro Tull, though they added a very important native theme to their lyrics, it never really evolved into their sound. Their members nowadays are active musicians giving reunion concerts but mostly keep working as individuals producing and performing.

Guatemalan rock bands such as Radio Viejo, Ricardo Andrade y los Últimos Adictos (which disbanded after their leader, Ricardo Andrade, was murdered in Zacapa), Bohemia Suburbana, Viernes Verde and Viento en Contra have enjoyed popularity among high-school and college students during the 1990s and 2000s, being Bohemia Suburbana the most influential band to emerge from the scene around that decade. Fusing influences like U2 and Soda Stereo, Bohemia Suburbana created something rooted on very well crafted melodies and arrangements, though never relying on Guatemalan native sounds. Their most noted influences came from underground American and European sounds and some South American and Caribbean.

A unique case in the scene is the rock band Sobrevivencia from Huehuetenango whose lyrics are sung in Mam, a Mayan language spoken in the Guatemalan northwest.

Some of the bands of Guatemalan rock active in the present are Razones de Cambio, El Tambor de la Tribu, Malacates Trebol Shop, Viernes Verde, Redhka, La Gran Calabaza, El Clubo, Viento en Contra, Legión, Vitriolo, Bohemia Suburbana and Especies, among many others.

The struggle of Guatemalan Rock is the lack of interest from its society, for Guatemala is a country that didn't evolve into Rock And Roll. Rock And Roll came to be an influence, labeled only as rebellion, it never provided a medium in which the youth from the 60s and 70s could make something influential enough. Today, the sound of the bands has so much to do with what North America produces, and the only efforts to make something original have been, seeking for the fusion of native elements with the "rock" sound.

Further reading

Also 4 Tiempos, who have emerged in the early 2000s.

• Dieter Lehnhoff, Creación musical en Guatemala. Guatemala City: Editorial Galería Guatemala, 2005. ISBN 99922704-7-0. [1]

External links

• http://www.rockchapin.org/
• http://www.rockrepublik.net/
• http://www.musica.com.gt/
• http://www.elcircodelrock.com/