FULANO

Recognized as one of the most important jazz rock fusion bands that emerged from all of Latin America, FULANO existed from 1984 to 2015 and released five eclectic and virtuosic albums that have all become critically acclaimed. This band came out of Santiago, Chile when members of the traditional Chilean folk music band Santiago del Nuevo Extremo, Cristián Crisosto (alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, baritone saxophone, flute, bass clarinet, vocals) and Jorge Campos (bass, guitar) to be exact, wanted to start a more experimental band based on jazz and prog rock. FULANO is considered one of the most innovative of the entire Chilean scene with a crafty mix of Frank Zappa inspired silliness, Captain Beefheart styled eclecticism and the jazz paradigm of Brazilian fusionist Hermeto Pascoal.

With a sound primarily based on keyboards, a horn section, heavy percussion and the rowdy vocals of Arlette Jequier, FULANO crafted a unique mix of swinging jazzy rock with heavy doses of avant-garde. The band's lyrics tackled anti-fascism and anti-military during the last years of the reign of Pinochet's dictatorship and has become one of Chile's most popular bands for its unique and uncompromising stylistic approach. The first album to emerge was this self-titled release that was released in 1987 initially as a cassette-only edition and didn't see a CD release well into the 90s. The album of seven tracks ran slightly over 44 minutes and featured the robust lineup of six musicians who delivered sounds from the bass, guitars, flute, saxophone and other winds, clarinet, drums and percussion, glockenspiel, piano and keyboards.

While tagged as avant-prog or jazz fusion in most camps, FULANO really sounded like no other. Elements of prog and jazz were given a total makeover and the band effortlessly shifted from easy-on-the-ears swinging melodic fusion ("Fulano") to more demanding atonal musical chaos ("Fruto del Goce"). The tracks ranged from short such as the less than three minute tracks "Tango" and "El Calcetín Perseguido" to the lengthy ten minute plus "Fruto del Goce" and "1989 (O Esto No Es Bueno Ni Malo Sino Muy Por El Contrario)." Likewise the music could be light and captivating sounding like something out of a top class vocal jazz club or doomy and dreadful and covered in darkness. The horn section often sounds like it has a klezmer vibe.

The jazzy motifs are bouncy and energetic sounding something like the Flora Purim beginnings of Return To Forever only with a more sultry swing as Arlette Jequier delivers her best passionately delivered vocal performances that emulate the scatting traditions of traditional jazz. The energetic zaniness reminds of the spastic zolo acts like Devo or Oingo Boingo at times. The band's complexities were a creative fusion of some of the members' primary influences with included Weather Report, Return To Forever, King Crimson, Magma, Frank Zappa, Hermeto Pascoal, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and female singers like Maggie Nicols, Ursula Dudziak, Meredith Monk and Janis Joplin. The sound of the Belgian Rock In Opposition scene are also scattered throughout making FULANO one of the most eclectic and accomplished bands to emerge from the entire South American continent.

This is really my favorite type of crazy music. It's energetic, creative, passionate, unique and flipped a middle finger to the establishment and despite forming and existing during the last years of Pinochet's brutal regime still managed to squeak out albums during some of the harshest repression since WW2. The band had two phases with this first one lasting from 1984 to 2003 until the untimely passing of keyboardist Jaime Vivanco and then a second coming later with a reformation however this debut album showcases the band in all its primeval passion and firing on all pistons and filled with a justifiable rage against the machine. This music sounds exotic, distinct, accomplished and fascinating in its complex compositional nature. A very unique band and the precursor to bands like Mediabanda, Animal en Extinción and Araukania Kuintet. Excellent stuff here!