MIA

I truly do believe this album deserves five stars. "TRANSPARENCIAS" ? is a powerful instrumental, it's a stunning debut album. And easily earns its place as one of my all-time favourite progressive rock albums. MIA are definetly talented as well as unique and original. If you're enjoying mellow side of prog rock this album is probably the best choice for you. I especially enjoyed the keyboard and drums duo. This is original. In my opinion, this album has all the best qualities a rigorous should expect and demand from a symphonic prog masterpiece. You have to get yourself immersed into "TRANSPARENCIAS".

M.I.A's Last Stand

In October 1979, MIA embarked on their first tour through Argentina, where they introduced their ambitious triple album, Conciertos, recorded live. The album was met with praise from critics who recognized its innovation and daring artistry. Throughout their career, MIA released a number of remarkable albums, showcasing their talent for crafting unusual, lyrical melodies.

Like a farewell, Conciertos marked the end of the journey for MIA (Músicos Independientes Asociados), the musical collective led by the Vitale siblings, Lito and Liliana, alongside Nono Belvis, Kike Sanzol, and a host of other great Argentine musicians. This album captures their legacy in a striking, authentic way.

Conciertos remains a rare piece in Argentine rock as one of the few triple albums ever produced in South America. With 20 songs, the record is largely improvisational, showcasing the virtuosity of the band members. Tracks like Primera Inspiración, Segunda Inspiración, Tercera Inspiración, Melusina, Joe Pirata, Iridio Puro, La Caja Del Viento, Égloga a la Primera Carta de la Mañana, Discanto, Clima de Febrero, El Último Día de los Alisios, Las Brujas de Calaminta, El Triste de los Mares I & II, Coral Rock, Teclados Improvisación, Reposo Diáfano, El Joven Almendro, and Los Gatos de Zuly are inventive interpretations.

While these tracks may not fully meet the expectations of listeners familiar with MIA's studio work, as they offer a rawer sound, they provide a fascinating glimpse into Argentine prog. The album may not contain polished versions of the band's most memorable songs, but as a rarity or bootleg, it serves as a fitting tribute to the end of a remarkable decade in music.

A great Farewell

Cornonstipicum is the last release from the Argentine band MIA. MIA (Músicos Independientes Asociados) is a progressive rock group led by piano player Lito Vitale and his sister Liliana, on vocals and percussion .

Cornonstipicum is MIA's best work, featuring a strong progressive sound and a journey through music that mixes folk, progressive rock, and jazz. The great instrumentation in the album help each track create vivid images and emotions.

La Coronacion Del Farre - The opening track sets the tone with great keyboard work. The guitar and bass lines create a sense of celebration and greatness. The way the instruments work together shows MIA's talent in mixing traditional and modern sounds. Imagen III - This acoustic track has a more thoughtful sound, with a gentle, haunting voice guiding the melody. The soft music brings feelings of nostalgia, creating a reflective moment on the album, with keyboards adding depth.

Crifana Y Tamilstenes - This song mixes simple and complex rhythms, showing the band's versatility. The interaction between voices and instruments creates a lively conversation, moving between energetic parts and quieter moments. It feels like an adventure through different landscapes.

Las Persianas - Just 50 seconds long, this piece has a sound like Gentle Giant.

Piedras De Color - A piano solo featuring Vitale's impressive skills.

Cornonstipicum - An epic track that lasts almost 20 minutes, showcasing great teamwork and the unique sound of analog electronic keyboards blending with folk elements and amazing voices.

Cornonstipicum by MIA is an instrumental masterpiece that highlights the band's creativity. The album brings emotions and images to life through sound alone and shows Lito Vitale's growth as a musician from his debut at 14 to now at 18. This last record leaves the door open for future bands and the next generation of musicians in the Argentine rock scene.

A Shorter Attempt

The Argentine band Músicos Independientes Asociados (M.I.A.) took a new direction with their second album, Mágicos Juegos Del Tiempo (1977), compared to their debut Transparencias (1976). This time, they added vocals and made shorter, more accessible songs. These songs include the pastoral interludes, acoustic parts, and great vocal harmonies that give the music a warm and natural feel. While their sound might remind of Trespass-era Genesis or an early Renaissance, M.I.A. stays closer to their folk roots, making the music feel more personal and grounded in Argentine tradition.

M.I.A. shows strong musicianship throughout the album. Despite the shorter songs, they manage to include moments of complexity and depth, like in "Antiguas Campanas De Pueblo," where the music shifts and develops in unexpected ways. On tracks like "Archipiélagos de Guernaclara," the band blends vocal harmonies with solid instrumental work, featuring a jazz-inspired jam between piano and guitar that shows off their talent and ability to experiment.

Though Mágicos Juegos Del Tiempo seems to aim for more radio-friendly songs, it ultimately leans toward a folk- prog style, leaving behind some of the complexity found on Transparencias. This shift may have made the album easier to listen, but it also means the record can feel repetitive at times. Despite that, there are still great moments that stand out, and the album has its own charm. It's a good record, but it doesn't quite reach the level of Transparencias, which had more intricate compositions and felt more adventurous.

Mágicos Juegos Del Tiempo offers a different side of the band. It's less about long, complex structures and more about shorter, folk-infused pieces that still showcase their musicianship. While not as groundbreaking as their debut, it's a solid follow-up that remains true to their style.

MIA's Introspective Journey

I've been on a musical journey through the marvelous world of Argentina's 70s Progressive Rock and discovered an amazing band, Músicos Independientes Asociados (MIA). Active mainly in the 70s, MIA was formed by the multi-instrumentalist Vitale siblings: Lito on keyboards and Liliana on percussion and vocals, along with Nono Belvis on bass and vocals, Daniel Curto on guitar, and Juan Del Barrio on piano and drums.

MIA combines all the elements to stand out in the progressive rock scene: epic tracks, complex compositions, acoustic passages, and a vast collection of analog keyboards. Their style ranges from symphonic influences like Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Yes, and Genesis, while maintaining a lot of originality.

Their debut album, Transparencias, shines with its ambitious experimental compositions, where each track unfolds like a story, delving into a world of sonic exploration. The band's impressive instrumental work, with outstanding bass lines that fit perfectly with the complexity of the drums, guitar, and keyboard passages, makes Transparencias a great listening experience. Every member of the band is a multi-instrumentalist, which adds to their remarkable musicality.

Lito Vitale, a piano virtuoso, was only 14 when he recorded keyboards for Transparencias, and he was already an incredible player. His sister Liliana, at 16, also played keyboards, percussion, flute, and sang. While the siblings were the heart of MIA, they were surrounded by a collective of highly skilled conservatory-trained musicians.

Transparencias is an instrumental album. It opens with "Reencontrando El Camino," a fantastic start with fast-paced piano work. "El Casamiento De Alicia," perhaps the best track, is full of electric passages, featuring great keyboard solos and ending with Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance. "Imagen II" begins with an acoustic guitar, blending beautifully with piano and synthesizers. "Contrapunto Rítmico" is another electric track featuring excellent drum and bass interplay, ending with a drum and bass solo. The title track, "Transparencias," closes the album with 20 minutes of pastoral sounds, vocals, guitars, and brilliant keyboard sections.

MIA's music is not only innovative but also deeply personal. The themes explored in Transparencias resonate with introspection and connection, making it a timeless piece in the progressive rock genre. Transparencias is a captivating experience that captures the essence and evolution of progressive rock in Argentina.

MÚSICOS INDEPEDENTES ASOCIADOS or M.I.A. for short which translates into English as Independent Musician's Association was a music cooperative formed in 1975 Buenos Aires, Argentina and incorporated the talents of several musicians, graphic designers, illuminators and others to craft a rotating project that lasted until 1982 and yielded three studio albums. Led by the still teenagers Lito Vitale (piano, organ, synthesizer, mellotron, accordion, clavinet, celeste, percussion, vocals) and Liliana Vitale (drums, bass, celeste, recorder, contralto recorder, percussion, vocals), the project produced some of the finest top tier prog from the South American continent.

M.I.A. saved its best act for last with its third and final studio release CORNONSTÍPICUM which was released in 1978 well after the initial prog golden years had subsided but in my experience, it was the years that followed that produced some of the highest honors of prog splendor where a few dedicated bands had to make their limited releases count due to the burden of swimming upstream with a lack of financing and interest. M.I.A. was the exception to the rule with the members financing their own project by teaching music to the public and soliciting funding in order to record the albums. This all resulted in three excellent albums that weren't under the pressure of record company execs trying to dumb down the music and craft the next crossover pop hit.

On "Transparencias," M.I.A. established itself as Argentina's answer to a pastoral folk-infused symphonic prog band that crafted complex yet melodic compositions with the emphasis on Western classical piano parts augmented by synthesizer atmospheres and prog rock aesthetics gleaned from the Italian prog scene whereas on the sophomore release "Magicos Juegos del Tiempo," the project focused more on a lyrical approach that engaged the masculine and feminine vocal counterpoints of the two Vitales. CORNONSTÍPICUM returned to the mostly instrumental workouts of the debut only more refined with the perfect integration of the Argentinian prog folk aspects married with the more bombastic symphonic prog keyboard driven heft inspired by groups like Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Premiata Forneria Marconi and Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso.

After the lineup being reduced to a mere quartet on the previous album, CORNONSTÍPICUM featured an expanded lineup of seven musicians including the Lito and Liliana Vitale along with Daniel Curto (electirc & acoustic guitar, bass, flute, contrabass, organ, mellotron, percussion), Alberto Muñoz (electric & acoustic guitar, bass, vocals), Nono Belvis (bass, electirc guitar, percussion), Emilio Rivoira (tenor sax) and Kike Sanzol (drums). While the first two albums were focused on a more acoustic driven experience, CORNONSTÍPICUM unifies the acoustic with more electric elements not only with a heightened use of more complex keyboards, mellotrons and organ sounds but also a much wider use of the electric guitar. As with the debut the vocals are primarily limited to wordless utterances serving a richer palette for dynamics.

The fuller progressive rock aspects initiated on the second album are fully unleashed on CORNONSTÍPICUM where the full rock band effect is heard with heavy guitar, bass and drum workouts with faster tempos and classic Keith Emerson keyboard wizardry and the amazing thing is that many of the members were still teenagers even at the time of the release of this third and most mature album from M.I.A. Reflecting the superb cover art which evokes a mysterious glimpse into some magical parallel realm, the music on CORNONSTÍPICUM is truly transcendental with fully integrated darkened atmospheres and the triumphant crossroads of Western classical with progressive rock and subtle jazz elements. The original vinyl release featured only six tracks with the lengthy title track swallowing up side two at nearly 18 minutes and the shot 50 second "Las Persianas No" ranking as the shortest.

CORNONSTÍPICUM is one of the pinnacle achievements of Argentinean symphonic prog with lush soundscapes evoking Baroque melodic splendor infused with contemporary fortitude with outstanding compositions steeped in complexities without sacrificing a synchronistic flow. The liberal use of choral vocal sections especially on the title track only adds an increased vitality to the entire experience. The one question i have is why didn't M.I.A. release any studio albums after CORNONSTÍPICUM considering this one was released in 1978 and the project didn't cease to exist until 1982. The only other release after this one was the 1979 live album "Conciertos." Whatever the case, this third and final release is one of my absolute favorite albums of all time and not just from Argentina. It captures all the aspects of a symphonic prog masterpiece and excels on every level. The music is dense and layered and requires many spins to grasp but the ultimate impression will only be one of total awe and admiration. The Belle Antique remastered version also features several excellent bonus tracks.

M.I.A. (Músicos Independientes Asociados) didn't waste any time crafting enough material to record an album every year from 1976-1978. Following the mostly instrumental debut "Transparencias," the collective focused more on vocal compositions on its second release MAGICOS JUEGOS DEL TIEMPO which translates into English as "Magic Games of Time." The lineup was streamlined a bit for this sophomore release with only four members performing which included Lito Vitale (piano, organ, synthesizer, mellotron, vocals), Liliana Vitale (drums, vocals, flute), Alberto Muñoz (electric & acoustic guitar, bass, vocals) and Nono Belvis (electric & acoustic guitar, bass, vocals).

While the debut was primarily an acoustic affair with only synthesizers and a few electric guitar parts being the exception, MAGICOS JUEGOS DEL TIEMPO moves beyond the classical crossover approach of the debut and includes moments of more energetic progressive rock in the vein of Emerson, Lake and Palmer as keyboardist Lito Vitale flirted with the flashy virtuoso flamboyance in the vein of classic Keith Emerson bombast however for the most part this second offering still retains a great deal of the same symphonic pastoral Argentinean folk of the debut. Unlike the debut every track on this one features lyrics in the Spanish language sung by the two Vitales.

Also bringing the album more into classic prog territory is the inclusion of the mellotron, heavier uses of bombastic time signature changes and a greater use of dynamic shifts including faster tempos and the use of heavier guitar passages especially on "Archipielagos De Guernaclara" which at 11 minutes playing time results in the longest track of the album. Showcasing that the album is a true descendent of the debut, Lito Vitale still relies on Western classical piano riffs to fortify the overall mood of the tracks before branching out into the more adventurous moments. The vocal styles are very much in the vein of contemporary Argentinean prog rock as heard by Invisible, Crucis or La Máquina de Hacer Pájaros.

The melodies are quite addictive and although every track is vocally oriented, there is still much room provided for instrumental workouts. There's even a full-blown jazz interlude during the mid-section of "Archipielagos De Guernaclara." After that lengthy track, the album jumps back into the lush pastoral sounds of the debut only with vocals, "Romanza Para Una Mujer Que Cose" showcasing a dramatic passionate performance reminiscent of the great Italian symphonic prog acts of the early 70s and then with the closing track "Corales De La Cantata Saturno" a beautiful choral tapestry of vocals over melodic classical interpretations with symphonic prog atmospheres.

MAGICOS JUEGOS DEL TIEMPO features a dramatically different approach than "Transparencias" by building on its foundations and adding more diverse experiments which in some ways makes the album feel a lot less uniform than its predecessor but in many ways is an improvement and paving the way for the band's most ambitious album of all, the following "Conrnostipicum" which in my book is one of the best symphonic prog albums ever crafted. While not quite to those heights yet, this second coming is an excellent slice of Argentinean prog that made the most of a truncated cast of members who upped the ante with more experimental touches despite prog's eminent decline around 1977 when this was released.

One of Argentina's most woefully under-appreciated progressive rock act of the entire 1970s was surely M.I.A. also written as MIA but actually is an abbreviation for the lengthy MÚSICOS INDEPEDENTES ASOCIADOS which translates into English as Independent Musician's Association. This rotating cast of excellent musicians emerged in 1975 Buenos Aires around the core trio of Alberto Muñoz, Liliana Vitale and Lito Vitale, a young 12-year-old pianist who were joined by up to 50 musicians, sound engineers, graphic designers and other artists to create a larger than life and totally independent project that performed numerous live performances and as a musical group released three studio albums as well as a couple live releases before disbanding in 1982.

M.I.A. was quite innovative for its time, not only musically speaking but in how the group conducted its entire business model. For example the members supported the group's efforts by teaching music to the general public and succeeded in garnering so much positive criticism that the collective actually sold albums before they were recorded in order to finance the projects and all of this occurred during one of Argentina's darkest chapters of its history during the years of the dictatorship. The band's project revolved around the poetry and lyrical content provided by Alberto Muñoz along with the instrumental contributions of the other members. TRANSPARENCIAS ( Transparencies ) was the group's first album that debuted in 1976 and followed in the footsteps of English symphonic prog as well as the pastoral progressive folk style that had already invaded Argentina influenced by the progressive Italian bands.

TRANSPARENCIAS is an epic sounding album and although M.I.A. utilized many vocalists during its existence, this debut album falls mostly in the instrumental camp which centers on the Western classical music inspirations of pianist Juan Del Barrio who is accompanied by Nono Belvis on bass, Daniel Curto on acoustic guitar, Liliana Vitale on flute and percussion and Lito Vitale who was a multi-tasker handling drums, synths, keyboards, flute and the few vocals on the title track (along with Liliana). This album is on the pastoral side with soft sensual piano lifted by slow tempos, soft atmospheres and flute runs. The album sounds somewhat of a mix between early Focus and softer Italian prog bands like Locanda delle Fate. The title track is the only one to feature vocals from both Liliana Vitale and Nono Belvis but are wordless and only contribute to richer musical textures.

Except for the synthesizers, TRANSPARENCIAS sounds like a mostly acoustic affair reminding a bit of Quebec's Harmonium but maintaining that distinct symphonic prog stylistic approach in the vein of Invisible, Crucis or La Máquina de Hacer Pájaros. The tracks are highly complex yet very melodic and sound like an impressive feat considering the young age of some of the performers and the large number of members in this rotating door. The music is nothing less than beautiful and although primarily on the acoustic side, the 20 minute side swallowing title track features some of the few electric guitar parts to be heard including a nice solo at which time connects the band's style to the symphony prog giants of the Italian scene made all the more so given Argentina's dialect of Spanish is most like the Italian language.

This is simply a stunningly beautiful album that is basically a series of piano arpeggios, symphonic counterpoints, lush flute runs and vocal extras piling up and crafting a very pleasing sum of the parts. The whole affair is made all the more impressive considering that these highly sophisticated compositions were performed by many youngsters who were still just teenagers and in that regard reminds me of the Italian band Semiramis however there is nothing wild and crazy going on here. This is sensual and beautiful and carefully crafted to nurture every melodic cadence and bring out its full potential. While i've never heard M.I.A. in its original vinyl release form, i have to say that the Belle Antique remastered version is sheer perfection as it sounds like a modern release where every sound is crystal clear. What a beautiful debut from one of my favorite Argentinean prog bands.

MIA were a group of young prog fans from Argentina who were lucky enough to have their parents lend a hand with studio space - key members Lito and Liliana Vitale were still teenagers when they put out this third album. It's a real lost gem of the often-overlooked South American prog mini-boom of the late 1970s, with the epic title track taking in a range of styles from Genesis-esque pastoral prog to ELP-esque synthesiser madness to Zappa-esque avant-garde vocal harmony experiments, and somehow makes these diverse ingredients work together as a whole. Fans of 1970s prog should take special note of this one, because it's been overlooked for rather too long.

MIA can't be called as one of the best prog bands form Argentina, and it is because I think their albums aren't constant. Transparencias was a nice effort with high level compisitions but lacking some spirit and emotion. Magicos Juegos Del Tiempo is completely out of place, compositions and lyrics are poor. But for Cornonstipicum it would seem that MIA learned from everything; they took all the bad, threw it away and made the best parts better. It is another purely instrumental album like Transparencias, the instrumentation and compositions are a lot better, and yes, this I would rank as one of the best from Argentina, also a bit rare while LP pressing was very limited. Side 1 begins with La Coronaci'n del Farre (Farre's Crowning) and it is named after a doggy named Farre (whose picture even appears in the inner art along with the pictures of the other members and the chorus). It is a great intro for the album with changing moods between guitars, keys and a great flute-recorder tuple. Imagen III (Image III) is eventually from the Imagen series (Imagen II is in Transparencias and I'm not sure if they ever recorder Imagen I), it is a beautiful soft piece, with soft guitars, more keys and some accordion (played by Lito). Crifana Y Tam'lstenes is the highlight of side 1. The lalala vocals remind the Canterbury sound, and again the keys take the spotlight. Las Persianas No is short and silly (just look at the title, it means "Not The Blinds", you know, window blinds). Piedras de Color (Color Stones) is a short piano piece played entirely by Lito. And so the general highlight, the Cornonstipicum suite. Some new keys as well as the chorus are introduced. There is a mid soft part with again the flute-recorder duo. There is no time to rest here, constant changes are always present, great guitars, keys at all times and solo and chorus vocals make this an unforgettable piece. If you like Italian prog or great keys then this is a must for you. And if not, it will be a good addition for your collection.