Gustavo Santoalalla

Biography

Gustavo Alfred Santaolalla, an Argentine musician, learned as a teenager how to play the charango and ronroco, two variations of an Argentinean guitar made from the shell of an armadillo. In the 1960s he co-founded Arco Iris, a band that pioneered the merger of rock with Latin American folk. Members of Arco Iris followed a disciplined way of life, (no meat, alcohol, or drugs), and have often been considered a yogic commune. The way of life was eventually too restrictive for Santaolalla. He left in 1975. He has been jailed several times by the military government for subversive behavior; often the subversion in question was the introduction of rock ‘n roll to the country, which threatened forces committed to the preservation of homeland values. Today, he lives in the United States and is part of the neo-tango movement. He has won two Academy Awards for soundtracks, one for “Brokeback Mountain” and one for “Babel.”