Santullo… what does Santullo sound like?! You don’t know!It is the personified spirit of tango and rock traditions of the Río de La Plata, updated to the hip hop generation.
Santullo is a true reflection of Uruguay; geographically small, but huge in terms of musical tradition. Its powerful musical presence, reflected in SANTULLO, will rumble the stage of The Speakeasy on March 18, at SXSW, when groups from Uruguay will perform in Austin, Texas. On that day, the talent, energy, flavor, cadence and cultural diversity of Uruguayans will embrace the audience at the “Sounds From Uruguay” showcase. The Speakeasy stage will feature 5 artists who will share the musical richness of their South American country with the audience.
Here are 6 important facts you need to know about one of the artists presented at SXSW by the Bajofondo Collective:
The group’s creator, Fernando Santullo, was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1968. In 1976, he moved to Mexico with his family and lived there until 1985. He returned to Mexico in 1990, and after living in New York for some time, in 1992 he moved back to Uruguay.
In 1994, he founded the group Peyote Asesino (Killer Peyote) together with Juan Campodónico. The group released two albums, and the second one,Terraja, was produced by Gustavo Santaolalla, musician, songwriter, producer and winner of multiple Grammy awards and two Oscars for the soundtracks of Brokeback Mountain (2005) and Babel (2006). Their album Terraja was released by Universal Music in 1998.
After the breakup of Peyote Asesino in 1999 and after becoming a sociologist, Santullo created Kato, a group whose only album, carrying the same name, was released in 2003 by Bizarro Records. Fernando has been living in Castelldefels, a beach town in the outskirts of Barcelona, since the end of 2001.
In 2005, he started to write songs for his solo debut: Bajofondo Presenta Santullo. Before the record was released, Fernando wrote two songs for the album “Mar Dulce” by Bajofondo, “Ya No Duele”, a song he sang himself, and “El Mareo”, sung by the late Gustavo Cerati and for which he was nominated for the 2008 Grammy as Best Alternative Song.
After releasing his album Bajofondo Presenta Santullo which won him the Iris award for Best Album 2009 and the Graffiti award for Best Album of Electronic Music, Santullo has been performing in Uruguay and Argentina, sharing the stage with artists such as The Black Keys, Faith No More, La Vela Puerca, Traidores, El Cuarteto de Nos, Ruben Rada and Babasónicos, among others. In 2010 Bajofondo Presenta Santullo was nominated for the Gardel Award as Best Rock and Alternative Pop Album.
In 2012, SANTULLO releases his live album Vol. 2 Canciones Del Futuro Reciente recorded at La Trastienda, Montevideo, in March, and in February 2014, he recorded his new studio album produced by Guillermo Berta. The album is entitled “El Mar Sin Miedo” and was released by Bizarro Records in October of said year.
