Talent. You either have it or you don’t. It’s not something that you can learn in a class at your local community college; and it’s definitely not something you learn on the streets. Talent is just something you are born with. When you discover you have a talent and you get off your butt, work hard, and polish it up, the results are outstanding. Just ask Argentinean musician/ songwriter/ producer/composer Gustavo Santaolalla.
Gustavo Santaolalla was only 5 years old when he began guitar lessons. From then on his life has been a whole productive learning experience. As a teenager while many kids his age where busy dealing with their hormones, puberty and defying every adult figure around them, Gustavo along with Ara Tokatlián and Guillermo Bordarampé formed the band Arco Iris in 1967 where he served as the band’s lead singer, guitarist and songwriter. While in this band, Arco Iris fused rock with Latin American folk music. They released a total of five albums: Arco Iris (1969), Tiempo de Resurrección (1972), Sudamérica o el Regreso a la Aurora (1972), Inti Raymi (1973), and Agitor Lucens V (1975). Although the band was slightly successful in Argentina, they had to part ways when Gustavo Santaolalla decided to quit the band as he was forced to leave the country to Los Angeles for political reasons.
As every other average immigrant, Gustavo had to start from scratch. Not knowing the culture or the language was never an obstacle for Mr. Santaolalla and sooner than later he found himself doing what he knew how to do best: music. He started the band Wet Picnic with Anibal Kerpel, and after playing several gigs they scored a record deal with Universal, which led to the release of their EP Balls Up in 1982. While working with Wet Picnic, Santaolalla kept himself busy producing a couple of songs and soundtracks. It was later in 1982 with the help of Alejandro Lerner, Alfredo Toth, and Willy Iturri that he released his first solo album Santaolalla.
Thanks to the success of his debut album as a solo artist, he went back to Argentina, but quickly changed his mind and decided to leave the country yet again, this time with Mexico as his destination. While in Mexico he primarily focused on producing. He worked with some of the biggest names in the rock en español and Latin alternative scene: Maldita Vecindad y Los Hijos del Quinto Patio, Caifanes, Molotov, Fobia, Café Tacuba, Julieta Venegas, among others. In between producing albums he managed to release two more solo albums: Gas (1995) and Ronroco (1998). It was his latest album that caught Hollywood movie producers and directors’ attention. From then on he was called on to work on soundtracks for movies like “The Insider”, “Amores Perros”, “21 Grams”, “Motorcycle Diaries”, “Brokeback Mountain”, “Fast Food Nation”, and “Babel”, among others.
Most recently his work as a producer for Juanes has earned him a couple of awards and international recognition. He has received many Latin Grammy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and two Academy Awards, one in 2006 for Best Original Score for Babel and the other one 2005 for Best Original Score for Brokeback Mountain.
