ALTABLANCA

Altablanca biography
ALTABLANCA was the name of a fabulous symphonic band from Argentina, more specifically, the beautiful city of Mendoza. It existed between 1976 and 1983, with numerous line-up changes along the way: guitarist Mario Mátar was the only recurrent individual member through all these changes. For instance, the drummer's position switched from Natalio Faingold to Eduardo Aveni, and then Carlos Carvajal, or at some point there were two guitarists instead of just Mátar. The band was usually comfortable adding a flutist to the habitual guitar-bass-keyboards-drums scheme, and also a female singer (Susana Nalldi, a.k.a. "Turca") was part of the total equation from 1979 onwards. It is a pity this whole series of changes and evolutions was not accompanied with recording contracts. The only official ALTABLANCA recording ever published is a live album entitled "En Vivo, Mendoza '81", with 3 studio demo recordings added as bonus tracks. Viajero Inmóvil, with production by Mátar himself and Erni Vidal (bassist of ZONDA PROJECKT), was the label that made this possible in the latter half of 2013. You can tell that this material is full of musical dexterity, energy and artistic intelligence, and so here is another proof of the relentless unfairness that rules the music industry in every country of the world.

ALTABLANCA's prog style was based on a solid, melodically driven mixture of symphonic, jazz-rock and fusion, with occasional excursions in pastoral moods (something not precisely alien to the majority of Latin American art-rock bands). From the symphonic side, links to CAMEL, PFM, PINK FLOYD and GENESIS can be found, as well as compatriot bands such as M.I.A. and INVISIBLE, while the jazz-rock element is inspired by both the American scene (RETURN TO FOREVER) as well as the Cantebury scene (GILGAMESH, NATIONAL HEALTH). Appreciating ALTABLANCA is taking due note of some of the best prog music that stemmed from Argentina's provincial underground in those 70s and 80s years.